American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
-
Communication in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) between families and the health care team affects the family experience, caregiver psychological morbidity, and patient outcomes. ⋯ The PICU Supports intervention is feasible to implement and study and is viewed favorably by parents.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Relationship Between Intensive Care Unit Delirium Severity and 2-Year Mortality and Health Care Utilization.
Critical care patients with delirium are at an increased risk of functional decline and mortality long term. ⋯ Increased delirium severity and days of delirium or coma are associated with higher mortality risk 2 years after discharge.
-
In this presentation, I will share my unconventional journey, starting from my first job as a critical care staff nurse to my current role as tenure-track faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I hold a joint position with the Institute for Applied Life Sciences and the College of Nursing. Throughout this journey, I have had many opportunities to participate in interdisciplinary clinical outcomes research and medical product development as a staff nurse, clinical nurse specialist, and project lead from the clinical, industry, and academic perspectives. While passionate about my central clinical research interests in technology innovation and its responsible use in critical and acute care, the foundation of my approach is dedicated to the values and lessons of my earliest experiences in critical care bedside nursing: supporting and preserving the dignity and humanity of person-centered patient care. ⋯ As the nation's largest group of health care professionals, nurses use more products than any other health care professional, and thus nurses have a uniquely practical and care-sensitive perspective on the development and design of medical products. Nurses, especially critical care nurses, are in a unique position to identify and address everyday health care issues, challenge assumptions and the status quo, address unrecognized and unarticulated needs, and ensure that clinical outcomes research serves as the foundation for validating the effectiveness of medical product innovation. My goal is to share lessons learned and to help participants to see the many different ways that critical care nursing knowledge can be used to improve patient care.
-
Critical care nurses routinely care for dying patients. Research on obstacles in providing end-of-life care has been conducted for more than 20 years, but change in such obstacles over time has not been examined. ⋯ The same end-of-life care obstacles that were reported in 1999 are still present. Obstacles related to family behaviors increased significantly, whereas obstacles related to intensive care unit environment or physician behaviors decreased significantly. These results indicate a need for better end-of-life education for families and health care providers.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Safety and Effectiveness of Early Oral Hydration in Patients After Cardiothoracic Surgery.
Patients fast after cardiothoracic surgery because of concerns for nausea, vomiting, dysphagia, and aspiration pneumonia; fasting, however, causes thirst, a distressing symptom. To our knowledge, no studies exist to guide hydration practices in this population. ⋯ This research provides new evidence that oral hydration (ice chips and water) soon after extubation is safe and significantly reduces thirst in particular patients.