Intensive & critical care nursing : the official journal of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses
-
Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Apr 2008
Controlled Clinical TrialThe impact of offering a relatives' clinic on the satisfaction of the next-of-kin of critical care patients-a prospective time-interrupted trial.
Families have been shown to be dissatisfied with the frequency of doctor communication in the Critical Care setting. Discussions with families are often conducted in an ad-hoc fashion. We hypothesised that the offer of a formal daily weekday clinic for the relatives of Critical Care patients would increase the relatives' satisfaction. ⋯ Offering a relatives' clinic does not significantly improve the satisfaction of the next-of-kin in this setting. Other means of improving satisfaction have been highlighted as a result of the study.
-
Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Apr 2008
ReviewRisk factors for intensive care delirium: a systematic review.
Delirium has been a recognised syndrome in the intensive care unit for some years. This systematic review reports risk factors for delirium studied in the intensive care unit. ⋯ The APACHE II score and hypertension were the only factors reported twice. Risk factors for the development of intensive care delirium were understudied and underreported in the literature.
-
Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Apr 2008
National Patient Safety Agency: improving patient safety across all critical care areas.
The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) reviews patient safety incidents throughout the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom and aims to initiate preventative measures. Recent alerts include injectable medication, oral syringes for enternal administration, preventing hyponatraemia in children and anticoagulation. This article gives an insight into the rationale and steps currently being undertaken to respond to these recommendations.