American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
-
The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented conditions for clinicians providing end-of-life care in acute care settings, yet almost 2 years since the start of the pandemic, little is known about its impact on clinicians. ⋯ The findings highlight the sustained and cumulative emotional challenges and burden clinicians are still shouldering more than 2 years after the start of the pandemic.
-
After an intensive care unit (ICU) admission, nearly 20% of survivors of chronic critical illness require admission to a long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) for continued subspecialty care. The effect of the burden of medical comorbidities on discharge disposition after LTACH admission remains unclear. ⋯ Severity-of-illness scores on admission to an LTACH can be used to predict patients' likelihood of being discharged home.
-
High-quality chest compressions are essential to favorable patient outcomes after in-hospital cardiac arrest. Without frequent training, however, skill in performing compressions declines considerably. The Timely Chest Compression Training (T-CCT) intervention was introduced in 2019 as a quality improvement initiative to address this problem. The long-term impact of the T-CCT is unknown. ⋯ The results of this study suggest that the T-CCT has a lasting effect on the psychomotor skills of orderlies 10 months after initial exposure. Further research should investigate the impact of the intervention on patient outcomes after in-hospital cardiac arrest.
-
The few studies of associations between fever and outcomes in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients have conflicting findings. Associations between hypothermia and patient outcomes have not been studied. ⋯ These findings provide evidence that the manifestation and characteristics of fever and hypothermia are independent predictors of adverse outcomes in PICU patients.