Intensive & critical care nursing : the official journal of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Oct 2003
Critical care nursing practice regarding patient anxiety assessment and management.
Anxiety is common in critically ill patients and can adversely affect recovery if not properly assessed and treated. The objectives of this study were to: (1) identify the clinical indicators that critical care nurses consider to be the defining attributes of anxiety in critically ill patients; and (2) delineate the interventions that critical care nurses use to alleviate anxiety in their patients. A total of 2500 nurses who worked in adult critical care areas were randomly selected from the membership of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. ⋯ The three major anxiety management strategies were: (1) care techniques; (2) improving knowledge and communication; and (3) support. Critical care nurses reported numerous and distinctive anxiety indicators and management strategies. Further research is needed to examine exactly how appropriate and effective these assessment indicators and management strategies are.
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Oct 2003
Haemodynamic monitoring with pulse-induced contour cardiac output (PiCCO) in critical care.
Haemodynamic monitoring is essential for the management of the critically ill. Effective monitoring can give data that permit analysis of key circulatory functions and the anticipation of deterioration so that pro-active treatments can be initiated. There are many methods of monitoring the haemodynamic status of patients. ⋯ This has been chosen due to the authors' particular interest in the additional parameters which can be monitored using PiCCO. With the PiCCO system it is possible to measure intrathoracic blood volume (ITBV), extravascular lung water (EVLW) and cardiac function index (CFI). These parameters are of interest as they are considered to be the most specific measures of cardiac preload, pulmonary oedema and contractility and a global indicator of cardiac performance.