Intensive & critical care nursing : the official journal of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Dec 1994
ReviewChildren visiting members of their family receiving treatment in ICUs: a literature review.
Occasionally people ask if children can visit members of their family who are patients in our intensive care unit (ICU). To allow us to devise a unit policy based on research, the author felt it necessary to review literature concerning child visitors to ICUs, more specifically the reasons why they should or should not be allowed to visit. ⋯ The literature reviewed suggested that no reasons have been found not to allow children to visit but that advice should be given to the parents allowing them to come to the final decision. If the parents then decide to allow the child to visit, further support for all the family should be given.
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Intensive care units (ICUs) are now present in most acute care hospitals. While long-term studies on patients admitted to these units have been performed to identify mortality, functional outcome and quality of life, there is little information on the recovery period in the weeks immediately following discharge. The aim of this study was to identify and describe the sequelae found in patients at 3 months after leaving the ICU. ⋯ Financial problems were reported by a small number of patients. Depression, irritability or a feeling of loneliness were present in over one-third of the group. More than half the patients required referral for further assessment. 34% of patients had no recollection of their ICU stay. 16 patients (29.6%) reported unpleasant memories including nightmares and hallucinations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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There has been an increasing awareness over the past few years of malnourishment in hospital patients (Horwood 1990, Wallace 1993). Critically ill patients are a particularly vulnerable group as their physical problems can mean depleted energy reserves and an increase in energy consumption. ⋯ To give critically ill patients the best possible chance of survival, intensive care staff need to be aware of recent developments in clinical nutrition. A multidisciplinary approach to nutrition is essential to achieve the best possible outcome for patients in intensive care units (ICUs).
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At Liverpool Hospital in 1989, mortality from cardiopulmonary arrest was 71% in the general wards, and 64% in the Emergency department. In an attempt to identify and treat seriously ill patients before they progressed to cardiac arrest, a medical emergency team (MET) was established. The MET replaced the existing cardiac arrest team and comprised a nurse from the intensive care unit (ICU), a resuscitation registrar (an anaesthetics trainee), a medical registrar and a senior registrar from the ICU. ⋯ The number of correct responses varied between scenarios from 17-73%. Hypotension did not appear to alert nurses to summon emergency assistance. Some nurses, despite the presence of severe deterioration and patient distress, called the resident rather than the MET.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Jun 1994
An interview study of nurses' assessment and priority of post surgical pain experience.
Caring for patients in postoperative pain is an important part of clinical practice for nurses. Patients often fail to receive adequate pain relief which causes unnecessary pain experience. The aim of this study was to describe how nurses experience their clinical practice management with postoperative patients who experience pain. ⋯ All the conditions are interrelated and influenced the nurses' handling of pain management in nursing practice. It appeared that these conditions reflected the nurses' possibilities of relieving patients' postoperative pain. An important element was the reflection of hospital management policy which makes the nurses, in spite of their desire to relieve the patients' pain, choose to have the attitude that the patient should be prepared to accept a little pain.