American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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Few investigators have evaluated pain assessment tools in the critical care setting. ⋯ Although similar in content to other behavioral pain scales, the FLACC can be used across populations of patients and settings, and the scores are comparable to those of the commonly used 0-to-10 number rating scale.
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Reliance on physiological monitors to continuously "watch" patients and to alert the nurse when a serious rhythm problem occurs is standard practice on monitored units. Alarms are intended to alert clinicians to deviations from a predetermined "normal" status. However, alarm fatigue may occur when the sheer number of monitor alarms overwhelms clinicians, possibly leading to alarms being disabled, silenced, or ignored. ⋯ Although alarms are important and sometimes life-saving, they can compromise patients' safety if ignored. This unit-based quality improvement initiative was beneficial as a starting point for revamping alarm management throughout the institution.
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Catheter-related bloodstream infection remains an important health problem for hospitalized children. Although placement of a central venous catheter is a life-saving intervention for critically ill children, these same central catheters are a potential source of infection. ⋯ The results of this project suggest that infection control efforts may be most appropriately focused on processes rather than on products.
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To review studies of anxiety in critically ill patients admitted to an intensive care unit to describe the level of anxiety and synthesize the psychometric properties of the instruments used to measure anxiety. ⋯ Midlength scales, such the anxiety subscale of the Brief Symptom Inventory or the shortened state version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory are best for measuring anxiety in critical care patients.