American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
-
To investigate the relationship of locus of control, parental age, and state anxiety to parental coping and activities performed during hospitalization of a child in a pediatric critical care center. ⋯ Appropriate strategies to bolster coping and reduce stress of parents need to be constantly reassessed because coping mechanisms vary according to parental age, locus of control, anxiety level, and parental involvement in child-care activities. More research is needed in the changes of parental coping mechanisms with time and child-care activity, to assess the benefits of interventions planned to encourage a problem-focused approach.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Clinical comparison of two- and three-wavelength systems for continuous measurement of venous oxygen saturation.
To evaluate clinically the accuracy of continuous SvO2 systems to reflect reference SvO2 values over a 24-hour period. ⋯ The results of this clinical study confirmed a previous study in dogs, showing that SvO2 is measured more accurately by the three-wavelength continuous monitoring system.
-
Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Evaluation of a system for intragastric pH monitoring of intensive care unit patients: preliminary report.
A new pH probe-tipped nasogastric sump tube is available to monitor gastric pH conveniently. This study assesses its ability to measure gastric acidity accurately. ⋯ The GrapHprobe ST measured gastric pH within reasonable accuracy in this small series.
-
The intensive care unit is set apart from other hospital patient care areas by (1) physiological instrumentation that permits better assessment and more effective therapy and (2) more intensive nursing. These capabilities allow nurse and physician intensivists to evaluate tissue perfusion and tissue oxygenation by the temporal patterns of oxygen delivery and oxygen consumption, as well as hemodynamics. ⋯ Using artificial intelligence-based systems, complex clinical algorithms--tailored to specific patient conditions--have been developed and are described. These algorithms are based on both invasive and noninvasive monitoring systems and on clinical experience with a large series of high-risk surgical patients.