Enfermería intensiva
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Enfermería intensiva · Oct 1998
Review[Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in pregnant women: peculiarities].
This review main purpose is to show nursing the present knowledge about cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in pregnant women because of the scarce information published by Spanish Nursing Publications. The bibliographical research was made using both the Medline (from January 1982 to March 1998) and Index de Enfermería databases. There, we can find 32 references from which only 23 were selected (all of them belong to the Medline database) in spite of 3 chapters that had already been selected from other different books. ⋯ This review describes the physiological changes that take place during pregnancy and have an incidence into CPR. The article also includes the conclusions about the checked papers and the peculiarities that have to be taken into account in each CPR, such as the fetal viability evaluation, right CPR position, airway and breathing, desfibrillation, external cardiac compression and use of pharmacologic therapy and intravenous fluids. Moreover, there is a special mention of the perimortem cesarean delivery features: antecedents, foetus-maternals consequences and managements, due to the fact that this surgical operation should be included inside the CPR protocols of the pregnant.
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Enfermería intensiva · Oct 1998
[Quality of life and mortality of patients in intensive care. Indices of quality of life].
At present there is no single practical standardized scale for measuring quality of life (QL). Any proposal should include the patient's physical impairment, level of independence, and subjective perception of happiness. We combined three previously published scales to define a quality of life index (QLI) that we propose as a standard quantitative instrument. The applicability and usefulness of QLI for the measurement of the level of deterioration of patients after admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) was examined. We prospectively evaluated QL before patient admission to determine if it influences mortality, as well as long-term changes in the QL and the factors conditioning te deterioration of patients released from the UCI as evaluated by QL indicators. ⋯ QLI was a useful instrument for obtaining a quantitative estimate of the QL of critically ill patients.
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Enfermería intensiva · Oct 1998
Comparative Study[Effect of age on postoperative care in patients following heart surgery under extracorporeal circulation].
The mean age of patients with heart disease who require surgical treatment is increasing. In conjunction with the development of surgical and postoperative care techniques, the mortality rate of these patients has decreased. In our intensive care unit (ICU), we proposed to determine if older patients undergoing cardiac surgery had more morbidity and required more care than other patients. ⋯ Patients over 70 had more frequent arrhythmias and difficulties in maintaining an optimal respiratory function. Such patients require more nursing care and a longer hospital stay. However, it is concluded that age per se is not a contraindication for heart surgery.