Critical care nursing quarterly
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A lot of resources are spent on the development of new staff in the intensive care unit (ICU). These resources are necessary because the environment in the ICU is complex and the patients are critically ill. Nurses need an advanced knowledge base, the ability to accurately define and change priorities rapidly, good communication and teamwork skills, and the ability to work in a stressful environment in order to succeed and give their patients quality care. ⋯ A nurse who is able to think critically will give better patient care. Various strategies can be used to develop critical thinking in ICU nurses. Nurse leaders are encouraged to support the development of critical-thinking skills in less experienced staff with the goal of improving the nurse's ability to work in the ICU and improving patient outcomes.
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The professional practice of registered nurses (RNs) and their professional role competence are key variables that have an impact on quality and patient safety. Organizations in which RNs practice must have the capacity to fully support the professional role of those RNs in exercising their legitimate power derived through nurse licensing laws and professional standards and ethics. The interplay of individual RN practice and organizational practice, and measurement thereof, are the essence of organizational capacity. Two models are discussed that tie together the attributes of healthy workplace environments and provide the structure to guide and sustain organizational capacity.
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Review Case Reports
Teaching staff nurses the CAM-ICU for delirium screening.
The confusion assessment method for the intensive care unit (CAM-ICU) is a tool for screening for delirium in ventilated patients that with proper training can be administered quickly by staff nurses in the ICU. Unrecognized delirium can have a range of negative consequences, and in the elderly patients, it may be the first sign of an acute illness that, if left untreated, could result in death. ⋯ Preparatory decisions include (1) how the tool will be used, (2) defining the process for identifying and recording baseline mental status, and (3) defining how documentation will occur. On the basis of the experience of teaching this tool to staff nurses, a 6-step process is explicated to facilitate integration: (1) putting it in context, (2) defining the features, (3) talking about tough cases, (4) doing the assessment, (5) documenting the assessment, and (6) continuing to discuss.
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Most patients with heart failure (HF) respond within a matter of hours to days to available medical treatments. Nursing's current challenge in HF inpatient care is their short length of stay and content dense patient education needs. ⋯ Pragmatically viewed, we need to turn the 5 key areas upside down to meet our HF patient's needs during early hospitalization: (1) recognizing symptoms, (2) pacing rest and exercise, (3) daily weights, (4) restricting sodium and fluids, and (5) managing medications. This "organizing" issue is important to our success and costly to all those who accepted the published order as prescriptive for their video, audio, and printed discharge education materials.
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Interdisciplinary healthcare teams have become the new model for patient care delivery in today's complex healthcare environment of increased specialization and disciplinarity of healthcare providers. Research to support the efficacy of this model has been problematic because of poorly conceptualized interdisciplinary teams as well as methodological problems conducting the research. Findings from organizational studies and healthcare interdisciplinary research can be integrated into a theory-based model to design an educational workshop to develop team members. Development of team members is proposed as a means to enhance collaboration among team members and therefore reduce the risk of team failure.