American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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Although nurse educators and nurse managers have disagreed about which clinical competencies are necessary for new graduates to begin working in critical care, the competencies are in need of revision and reassessment. ⋯ The agreement between nurse educators and nurse managers supports a competency list for baccalaureate nursing curricula and hospital inservice programs to integrate new graduates into critical care.
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To document the impact of routine daily chest radiographs on treatment decisions in a medical ICU. ⋯ Routine daily chest radiographs may be justified in critically ill patients in a medical ICU because for a large proportion of these patients management decisions are made on the basis of information obtained from the chest radiograph. This observation may be applicable only to ICUs that have a high turnover of patients who are in the unit for a short time.