Heart & lung : the journal of critical care
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Effectiveness of a music therapy intervention on relaxation and anxiety for patients receiving ventilatory assistance.
To test the effects of music therapy on relaxation and anxiety reduction for patients receiving ventilatory assistance. ⋯ A single music therapy session was found to be effective for decreasing anxiety and promoting relaxation, as indicated by decreases in heart rate and respiratory rate over the intervention period with this sample of patients receiving ventilatory assistance.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
A comparison of intravascular pressure monitoring system contamination and patient bacteremia with use of 48- and 72-hour system change intervals.
To determine the incidence of culture positivity in intravascular monitoring systems by comparing 48- versus 72-hour intervals for flush solution, stopcocks, and catheters on removal. ⋯ Our results showed that increasing the change interval to 72 hours did not increase the risk of catheter-associated infection or catheter-associated bacteremia. Chi-square analysis did not show an association between culture-positive stopcocks, the incidence of culture-positive catheter tips, entries into the system, or catheter-related bacteremia and a change interval that was increased to 72 hours. Thus, increasing the change interval to 72 hours does not increase the risk of infection.
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Comparative Study
Pain and distress among elderly intensive care unit patients: comparison of patients' experiences and nurses' assessments.
To investigate elderly intensive care unit (ICU) patients' experiences of pain and distress, as well as interventions aimed at reducing these conditions, and to compare these experiences with the way nurses and assistant nurses, respectively, assess their patients' responses related to these issues. ⋯ Nurses need more systematic procedures to assess patients' distress and pain experiences. To reduce the discrepancies observed between nurses and assistant nurses, organization of care should optimize the possibilities for the caregivers to carry out the desired assessments and interventions with a high degree of continuity and communication among staff.
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Comparative Study
Decision making of nurses practicing in intensive care in Canada, Finland, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, and the United States.
In this study, our intention was to describe the decision making of nurses practicing in intensive care, and the differences of nurses' decision making in Canada, Finland, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, and the United States. The instrument used in the study was a 56-item Likert-type questionnaire that has been used in previous studies and has proved to be a reliable tool. The target group comprised a nonrandom sample of nurses (N = 314) from five countries. ⋯ In contrast, decision making related to the implementation and evaluation of nursing is quite similar in the different countries. Canada and the United States on the one hand, and Finland, Northern Ireland, and Switzerland on the other, showed more similarities with each other in data collection, problem definition, and nursing planning related to decision making. Neither experience nor nurse's knowledge structure was associated with different decision-making approaches.
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Pneumonia is the second most common nosocomial infection in the United States and the leading cause of death from nosocomial infections. Intubation and mechanical ventilation greatly increase the risk of bacterial pneumonia. ⋯ Nurses caring for patients treated with mechanical ventilation must recognize risk factors and include strategies for reducing these factors as part of their nursing care. This article summarizes the literature related to VAP: its incidence, associated factors, diagnosis, and current therapies, with an emphasis on nursing implications in the care of these patients.