American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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An important, but not well characterized, population receiving intermediate care is that of medical patients admitted directly from the emergency department. ⋯ Emergency medical patients with moderate severity of illness and comorbidity can be admitted to an intermediate level of care with relatively infrequent transfer to intensive care and relatively low mortality.
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Strategies for preventing delirium include early identification and avoiding or modifying patient, environmental, and iatrogenic factors. Minimal research exists on a prescriptive delirium prevention bundle that details elements or strategies for each bundle component. Even less research has been focused on nurse-driven interventions or components. ⋯ The delirium prevention bundle was effective in reducing the incidence of delirium in critically ill medical-surgical patients. Further validation studies are under way.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Feasibility of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Surgical Intensive Care Unit Personnel.
Surgical intensive care unit personnel are exposed to catastrophic situations as they care for seriously injured or ill patients. Few interventions have been developed to reduce the negative effects of work stress in this environment. ⋯ Workplace group interventions aimed at decreasing the negative effects of stress can be applied within hospital intensive care units. Despite many constraints, attendance at weekly sessions was high. Institutional support was critical for implementation of this program.
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Research published in 2016 identified strategies to enhance acute and critical care, initiated discussions on professional roles and responsibilities, clarified complex care issues, and led to robust debate. Some of this important work addressed strategies to prevent delirium and pressure ulcers, considerations for pain management within the context of the opioid abuse crisis, strategies to guide fluid resuscitation in patients with sepsis and heart failure, and ways to enhance care for family members of intensive care patients. ⋯ Other research topics include interprofessional collaboration and shared decision-making as well as nurses' role in family conferences. Resources such as policies related to medical futility and inappropriate care and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses' healthy work environment standards may inform conversations and provide strategies to address these complex issues.
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Society demands competent and safe health care, which obligates professionals to deliver quality patient care using current knowledge and skills. Participation in continuous professional development programs is a way to ensure quality nursing care. Despite the importance of continuous professional development, however, critical care nurse practitioners' attendance rates at these programs is low. ⋯ Attitude relating to attending a continuous professional development program can be changed if critical care nurses are aware of the program's importance and are involved in the planning and implementation of a program that focuses on the nurses' individual learning needs.