Critical care nursing clinics of North America
-
Injury in older adults is a looming public health crisis. This article provides a broad overview of geriatric trauma across the continuum of care. After a review of the epidemiology of geriatric trauma, optimal approaches to patient care are presented for triage and transport, trauma team activation and initial assessment, inpatient management, and injury prevention. Special emphasis is given to assessment of frailty, advanced care planning, and transitions of care.
-
Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am · Jun 2015
ReviewAdvances in cerebral monitoring for the patient with traumatic brain injury.
A brief overview of the most common invasive and noninvasive monitoring tools collectively referred to using the term "multimodal monitoring" is provided. Caring for the critically ill patient with traumatic brain injury requires careful monitoring to prevent or reduce secondary brain injury. Concurrent to the growth of the subspecialty of neurocritical care, there has been a concerted effort to discover novel mechanisms to monitor the physiology of brain injury. The past 2 decades have witnessed an exponential growth in neurologic monitoring in terms of intracranial pressure, blood flow, metabolism, oxygenation, advanced neuroimaging, and electrophysiology.
-
Mass casualty incidents are events where the number of injured patients exceeds the resources of the health care institution to the degree that care may not be available or may be limited for a portion of the casualties. Mass casualty incidents are increasing in frequency throughout the United States. ⋯ This article focuses on intentional explosive disasters and the nursing and institutional response to these incidents. This information is of value to nursing professionals and other health care providers.
-
Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am · Jun 2015
ReviewIntimate partner violence: the role of nurses in protection of patients.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a worldwide epidemic that has been prevalent in society since biblical times. IPV affects women long after the abuse stops, with victims of IPV having generalized worsening of health, including depression and increased thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts. ⋯ Through regular screening and education clinicians can detect the violence before it is too late. Health care professionals have a unique opportunity to stop the cycle of abuse by intervening, promoting safety, and preventing the death of IPV victims.