Critical care nursing clinics of North America
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Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am · Dec 2006
ReviewImplementing best practice strategies to prevent infection in the ICU.
Critically ill patients are at high risk for infection because of many factors. Quality and regulatory groups have published guidelines regarding infection prevention in the ICU. ⋯ Bundles of intervention along with daily rounds an assessment are essential program components. Ongoing surveillance and re- education and reinforcement are also part of a strong infection prevention program.
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Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am · Dec 2006
Developing and implementing quality initiatives in the ICU: strategies and outcomes.
The Institute of Medicine identifies quality health care as care that is safe, time, effective, efficient, equitable, and patient centered. In the ICU, where patients who have complex, high-acuity are at increased risk of complications, morbidity, and mortality, promoting quality-focused case is especially important. This article describes several performance-improvement initiatives that were developed and implemented a Midwestern community hospital during a 4-year period. The initiatives to reduce catheter-associated blood stream infections, to identify early sepsis, and to promote evidence-based care.
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Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am · Dec 2006
Implementing a rapid response team: factors influencing success.
Rapid response teams (RRTs), or medical emergency teams, focus on preventing a patient crisis by addressing changes in patient status before a cardiopulmonary arrest occurs. Responding to acute changes, RRTs and medical emergency teams are similar to "code" teams. ⋯ Although RRTs are acknowledge as an important initiative, implementation can present many challenges. This article reports on the implementation and ongoing use of a RRT at a community health care setting, highlighting important considerations and strategies for success.
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Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am · Dec 2006
ReviewVentilator-associated pneumonia and pressure ulcer prevention as targets for quality improvement in the ICU.
The health care culture must change. Florence Nightingale wrote [8] "deep-rooted and universal is the conviction that to give a medicine is to be doing something, or rather everything and to give air, warmth, cleanliness etc. is to do nothing." Hygiene care practices and mobility activities are fundamental and independent care components in the nursing profession. ⋯ It is time to claim and demonstrate the importance of consistent delivery of the fundamentals of basic nursing care. Interventional patient hygiene is an effective framework to ensure the the basics of nursing care are consistently applied to improve patient outcomes.