Dimensions of critical care nursing : DCCN
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Dimens Crit Care Nurs · May 2007
Review Case ReportsInnovative solutions: a plurality of vision--integrating the chaplain into the critical care unit.
Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center is a 650-bed quarternary care facility located in the Southwestern United States. It contains 12 intensive care units (ICUs) and experience a high patient acuity as a result of being a referral center for Arizona. The palliative care nurse practitioner and ICU clinical nurse specialist collaborated with the chaplain to entrance his visibility in the ICUs and to incorporate the philosophy of spiritual care assessments in the ICU.
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Dimens Crit Care Nurs · May 2007
Clinical research and the development of new devices: considerations for nurses.
New investigational drugs and devices are commonly used in critically ill patients. The development of new drugs and the role of the critical care nurse caring for subjects in clinical trials are crucial to the success of the research process. The purpose of this article is to discuss the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory approval process for significant risk investigational devices.
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Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Mar 2007
Review Case ReportsAcute iron poisoning: what every pediatric intensive care unit nurse should know.
Iron is a substance commonly found in the homes of many children, leading to a high potential for accidental ingestion. Without proper recognition and treatment, iron poisoning can be fatal. This article reviews the case of a toddler who presents to the pediatric intensive care unit with iron poisoning.
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Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Mar 2007
Comparative Study"Between the fixed and the changing": examining and comparing reliability and validity of 3 sedation-agitation measuring scales.
The goal of the study was to compare the reliability and validity of 3 Sedation Agitation Scale. Two nurses and a physician conducted 130 observations simultaneously. They found an excellent interrater reliability in the Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (r>0.86), and high correlations between the Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale and the Sedation Agitation Scale and Visual Analog Scale scales (r=0.92, r=0.85). The research findings will help to assert Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale as a daily assessment tool in the intensive care unit, and it will pave the way for construction a sedation protocol according to the Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale level.