American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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Stress and burnout are plaguing critical care nurses across the globe and leading to high levels of turnover. Resilience-building strategies such as mindfulness, self-care, and well-being can help shield nurses from the negative effects of workplace stress. As the first line of defense, nursing schools could provide students with strategies that build resilience; however, little is known about the availability of such resources in nursing education. ⋯ Training in practices to build resilience and prevent burnout is essentially absent from accredited nursing schools. This highlights an important opportunity to modify existing curricula to include preventative strategies-such as developing positive coping skills- that could mitigate symptoms of workplace stress in future generations of nurses.
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Dyspnea (breathing discomfort) is commonly experienced by critically ill patients and at this time is not routinely assessed and documented. Intensive care unit nurses at the study institution recently instituted routine assessment and documentation of dyspnea in all patients able to report using a numeric scale ranging from 0 to 10. ⋯ Our study shows that nurses understand the importance of routine dyspnea assessment and that the addition of a simple patient report scale can improve care delivery and does not add to the burden of work-flow.
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Pain, agitation, and delirium are associated with negative outcomes in critically ill patients. Reducing variation in pain, agitation, and delirium management among institutions could improve care. ⋯ Variation in assessment and management of pain, agitation, and delirium in British Columbia intensive care units highlights opportunities to improve care.