Intensive & critical care nursing : the official journal of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Feb 2011
Relatives' involvement in nursing care: a qualitative study describing critical care nurses' experiences.
When patients become critically ill it also affects their relatives. The aim of this study was to describe critical care nurses' experience of relatives' involvement in the nursing care of patients in an intensive care unit. ⋯ Aligning the needs of the relatives to be involved in the care with the needs of the patient and the work situation of the nurses requires open communication between all three parties.
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Feb 2011
Factors influencing sleep for parents of critically ill hospitalised children: a qualitative analysis.
The aim of this study was to describe factors affecting the sleep of parents of critically ill children and to determine strategies used to improve their sleep. One hundred and eighteen parents of 91 children recruited during their child's paediatric intensive care unit stay responded in writing to open-ended questions assessing their experiences with sleep and eliciting ideas for strategies to promote sleep to be used by parents and provided by hospital staff. ⋯ Parents described multiple, often competing, demands that affected their ability to achieve sleep, regardless of location. Many more factors that influenced sleep were described than strategies to improve sleep, highlighting the need for nurses to explore with parents the unique barriers and facilitators to sleep they encounter and to develop and rigorously test interventions to improve sleep.
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Feb 2011
Comparative StudyExploring the validity of the bispectral index, the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool and vital signs for the detection of pain in sedated and mechanically ventilated critically ill adults: a pilot study.
This pilot study aimed to explore the validity of the bispectral (BIS) index, the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT) score, and vital signs (mean arterial pressure, heart rate) during rest and painful procedures in sedated and mechanically ventilated ICU adults. A convenience sample of nine patients with various diagnoses participated in this observational repeated measures study. Patients were observed during 2 minute periods at rest (baseline), and during procedures known to be painful: turning and endotracheal suctioning. ⋯ Results from this study support the recommendation that behavioural indicators (i.e. in this case, the use of a behavioural pain scale called the CPOT) be used for the detection of pain in nonverbal ICU patients. However, in some situations (e.g. deep sedation, use of blocking agents), behavioural indicators may no longer be observable, and all that is left are physiologic signs. The BIS seems to be an interesting technique and further research is required in order to establish if it could be used to guide clinicians for the detection of pain in this vulnerable population.
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Feb 2011
Visiting policies in the adult intensive care units: a complete survey of Dutch ICUs.
Treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU) is not only very stressful for the patient but also for the family as well. An open visiting policy, defined as a policy that imposes no restrictions on visiting hours, duration of visits and/or number of visitors, seems to fit very well both patient and family needs. The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the current situation of Dutch ICUs visiting policies. ⋯ Despite several international guidelines, research and literature about unrestricted visiting hours on the ICUs, none of the ICUs in this study operates with such a visiting policy. If we take these results into account then the question rises if ICUs are aware of these patients and family needs on the ICUs.