The Nursing clinics of North America
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A review of rural-based critical care nursing has demonstrated that quality critical care can be delivered within the constraints of rural practice. The barriers most often found affecting rural care have been described. ⋯ The rural nurse manager has the opportunity to create a critical care nursing service with high levels of accountability, that can quickly respond to change, and that produces quality patient care. By accomplishing these goals, rural critical care nurses will leave a meaningful legacy of enhanced lives and improved health for their rural communities.
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Care of the terminal lung cancer patient will be more effective when a multidisciplinary approach is used. Planning for terminal care should not be delayed until the last few hours or days of life. ⋯ Caring support to alleviate pain and prevent suffering is the goal of nursing care for the terminal cancer patient. Nursing interventions should be directed toward allowing the patient to retain decision-making authority in care for as long as possible.
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Nurs. Clin. North Am. · Mar 1992
Designing a critical care unit: description of a multidisciplinary process.
Overall we are pleased to find that what sometimes seemed like hopeless space restrictions could be overcome by a combination of prudent compromise and innovative design. Even though the process consumed much time, the design of this new ICU turned out to be a satisfying process, marked by a true cooperative spirit among a group with diverse backgrounds and skills, all working toward a common goal.
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Patients with pain are not a new phenomena. For centuries, the incidence of pain has been well-documented. Responsibility for pain management has not been a universal priority for health care providers; however, pain management must be considered an integral part of the nursing role. ⋯ In this article, the theoretical foundation and conceptual model used in the expansion of this knowledge is presented. Further, the physiologic and pharmacologic principles related to this patient care issue are discussed. Appropriate consideration of the nurse's significant part in the management of pain is emphasized.
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Pharmacologic advances in anesthesia over the last decade have focused on drug safety, shorter durations of action, reversibility, and ease of administration. This is reflective of major changes in the focus of patient care from inpatient to outpatient settings as well as from available risk management data that support the investigation of these new drugs. The pharmacologic advances discussed included those drugs in current practice as well as experimental drugs yet to be released for general clinical use. ⋯ As research continues, new drugs will be incorporated into the practice of anesthesia, ones that will promote rapid uptake, low toxicity, intense analgesia, easy reversibility, shorter durations, and fewer side effects. One measure of success relative to pharmacologic development in anesthesia is the recent and dramatic decreases in patient morbidity and mortality figures over the last decade. This attests to the rapid growth and development of not only improved patient monitoring systems but also newly improved "agents of sleep."