American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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Exposure to noise in a critical care unit may trigger a response by the sympathetic nervous system, thereby increasing cardiovascular work in patients recovering from cardiac surgery. ⋯ Results of this study support the idea that noise annoyance is a highly individual phenomenon, influenced by a transaction of personal and environmental factors. Use of a music intervention with cardiac surgery patients during the first postoperative day decreased noise annoyance, heart rate, and systolic blood pressure, regardless of the subject's noise sensitivity.
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Nurses experience stress and suffering when they care for critically ill and dying patients. Moral distress occurs when nurses are unable to translate their moral choices into moral action. In response to this stress, nurses may experience burnout. ⋯ (1) Suffering among caregivers occurs and must be recognized, (2) measures must be taken to reduce the stress and distress of healthcare professionals as they provide care to patients who cannot recover, and (3) in addition to these measures, society must provide guidance to healthcare professionals, especially concerning the care of patients who are permanently unconscious.
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Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Preoperative ICU tours: are they helpful?
Although preoperative education decreases the anxiety of patients and family members, the usefulness of a preoperative tour of the ICU has not been studied. In this study, the effect of an ICU tour on the anxiety levels of patients (n = 92) and family members (n = 91) before and after cardiac surgery was examined. ⋯ ICU tours are included in many cardiac surgery educational programs. The majority of patients in this study perceived a benefit or a future benefit from an ICU tour, even though the tour did not significantly reduce the anxiety of the patients or family members.
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Recently, a change in anticoagulation therapy occurred that is still partially ignored by the healthcare community. Understanding the controversy over the use of the internal normalized ratio in monitoring patients receiving warfarin therapy is important for nurses who provide care to these patients. ⋯ The international normalized ratio is the most appropriate way to evaluate the effects of warfarin therapy. All healthcare providers should use this ratio as the standard in evaluating the effects of anticoagulation therapy.