Dimensions of critical care nursing : DCCN
-
Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Sep 2011
ReviewFamily conference in the intensive care unit: a systematic review.
For the past several decades, there has been an emphasis placed on family members of critically ill patients. Patients and families should not be excluded from learning about uncertainty, risks, and treatment choices. The purpose of this article was to review research studies related to family conferences and/or meetings that focus on both adult and pediatric patients in the intensive care unit.
-
Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Sep 2011
Innovative solutions: does preadmission testing prevent delays for first-case starts?
This article describes a quality improvement project performed to determine if preadmission testing prevents patient delays for first-case starts in the operating room. Factors related to delays in first-case starts in the operating room were examined to determine if any of those factors could be affected by patients undergoing preadmission testing. This article presents the results.
-
Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Sep 2011
Multicenter StudyDevelopment of a modified early warning score using the electronic medical record.
The purpose of early warning scores is to help all nurses detect early deterioration in order to rescue patients from unexpected events, which arise from complications during the course of illness and recovery. This article describes one institution's work in developing a modified early warning score in conjunction with an electronic medical record to facilitate scoring and monitoring, in order to improve patient safety.
-
Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Sep 2011
Improving severe sepsis outcomes: cost and time to first antibiotic dose.
This study was conducted to determine the effect of an empiric antimicrobial guide on clinical and economic outcomes related to severe sepsis. As all critical care nurses know, severe sepsis is often life-threatening. The study found that an empiric antimicrobial guide specific for severe sepsis was associated with a reduced length of stay, a significantly earlier time to first dose antibiotic, and significantly lower total and variable hospital costs.
-
Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Sep 2011
Fostering cultural and interdisciplinary awareness with "low-tech" simulation in a fundamentals nursing course to prepare student nurses for critical care clinical rotations.
This article focuses on the advancement of nursing education and practice through implementing "low-tech" simulation in a fundamentals nursing course to foster an awareness of scope of practice and interdisciplinary teamwork and collaboration to prepare student nurses for their critical care clinical experience. The integration of low-tech simulation during the students' first clinical course at 2 different times during the semester was utilized to accomplish this awareness. This article was added to the scant published articles that highlight the benefits of low-tech simulation in a fundamentals of nursing course.