Dimensions of critical care nursing : DCCN
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Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Jan 2013
ReviewA retrospective study evaluating response time and survival from a cardiopulmonary arrest: a creative inquiry project with undergraduate nursing students.
Cardiopulmonary arrest is a major health problem that claims lives daily in the United States. The adoption of a new standard of care or healthcare technology needs to be evaluated based on patient outcomes. This review focuses on this problem and possible solutions. ⋯ Students take ownership of their projects and take the risks necessary to solve problems and get answers. This review indicates areas of concern that need to be improved to create better patient outcomes. Findings include that improved documentation will provide data elements for review analysis that then may be utilized to improve care related to cardiac arrest.
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Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Jan 2013
Comparative StudyHow effective is "code freeze" in post-cardiac arrest patients?
The use of therapeutic hypothermia or "code freeze" dates back to over 100 years in attempts to resuscitate injured soldiers, preserve limbs, and to provide analgesia for amputations. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of code freeze through a retrospective review of 187 charts of patients who had a cardiac arrest while hospitalized in a 1-year period. ⋯ Mortality rates between the 2 patient populations were also compared. The results from this study are presented in this article.
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Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Jan 2013
ReviewLiterature review: patients' and health care providers' perceptions of stressors in critical care units.
The purpose of this article was to provide a historical review and analysis of the research literature focusing on patients', nurses', and health care providers' perceptions of stressors in the critical care setting. A narrative historical literature review method was used. ⋯ Several studies investigated perceptions of stressors using the Environmental Stressors Questionnaire and the findings did not show any significant changes of stress perception over time since 1989 until the present. There is a need to further investigate stress perceptions in the health care setting using a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach to provide a more precise description of stressors and stress perceptions in the critical care setting.
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This article presents the results of a project conducted by senior nursing students to determine if oral care could reduce the number of complications suffered by patients in critical-care units. The students also helped develop an evidence-based policy for oral care.
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Sepsis is a complicated syndrome that manifests within the complex adaptive system that is the human body. Complexity theory and the recently emerged applied complexity science illustrate these phenomena and the body's response in light of understanding these complex systems. Provision of careful observation by the nurse may recognize signs of moving into a nonadaptive or declining status, facilitating detection before complete sepsis or chaos. Systems or tools that aid the bedside nurse in prompt identification of sepsis and facilitate standardized evidence-based interventions are proving to be a valuable means in the care of the septic patient.