Nursing in critical care
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Nursing in critical care · May 1997
ReviewThe needs of parents with a child on an adult intensive therapy unit.
This review examines, by means of a literature search, the needs of parents who have a critically ill child on adult intensive therapy units. These needs are compared with the needs of relatives of adult patients in ITUs. Whether nurses trained in adult nursing have the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes to care for the parents is also discussed. Recommendations for ensuring care of the parent point to addressing skills gaps in adult-trained nurses and to reappraising visiting policies.
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Nursing in critical care · May 1997
ReviewNurses' under-medication of analgesia in cardiac surgical patients: a personal exploration.
This paper examines aspects of care which may account for some of the reasons why critical care nurses fail to relieve patients' pain following cardiothoracic surgery. Factors that may influence the critical care nurses' decision regarding the amount of opiate analgesia to give a patient are examined using the 'Theory of Planned Behaviour' as a framework for enquiry. The skills required by the critical care nurse in planning how to play the phenomena of 'the doctor-nurse game' may be a key element in meeting the goal of pain relief for the patient following cardiac surgery.