International journal of nursing studies
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The hospital-based palliative care team model has been implemented in most Western countries, but this model is new in Taiwan and there is little research to evaluate its outcomes. ⋯ The findings indicated the hospital-based palliative care team can improve the care for patients in relation to symptom management and spiritual well-being. The hospital-based palliative care team is a good care model for patients and worth implementing in clinical practice in Taiwan. The results also provide a general understanding about how the hospital-based palliative care team works in Taiwanese culture.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Warming with an underbody warming system reduces intraoperative hypothermia in patients undergoing laparoscopic gastrointestinal surgery: a randomized controlled study.
Intraoperative hypothermia is a common event during laparoscopic abdominal surgery. On one hand, intraoperative hypothermia can delay the metabolism and prevent tissue damage. One the other hand, long-term and severe intraoperative hypothermia may also lead to perioperative complications, such as increasing of peripheral resistance, coagulation dysfunction, intraoperative hemorrhage and postoperative shivering. Maintenance of normothermia during surgical procedures may improve the quality of patient care. ⋯ Cutaneous warming with an underbody warming system is a feasible and effective method to prevent intraoperative hypothermia during laparoscopic gastrointestinal surgery.
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An important role of the registered nurse is to identify patient deterioration by monitoring the patient condition and vital signs. Increasingly, this is supplemented with continuous electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring. Continuous monitoring is inefficient in identifying deterioration because of the high number of false and nuisance alarms. Lack of strong evidence or formal guidelines for the care of patients receiving ECG monitoring has led clinicians to rely too heavily on this technology without consideration of its limitations. The nursing workload associated with alarm management remains unexamined. ⋯ Nurses routine practices related to monitoring continue to reveal gaps in practice related to alarm management. Observations of practice also revealed the difficulties and complexities of managing alarm systems and the range of nursing interventions associated with managing alarms.
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Family caregivers have a significant responsibility in the care of their child in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Parents staying with their child in the PICU have particular needs that should be acknowledged and responded to by clinicians. Several studies have been conducted in the USA and Europe to try to understand the experience of family caregivers of children admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. There are no such studies in Lebanon or the Middle East where the culture and support systems differ from other countries. ⋯ This qualitative study adds to the knowledge that would help health care workers understand the experience of Lebanese parents with a child in PICU and to highlight the significance of this experience to them. The findings could be used to inform the development of a PICU parental satisfaction instrument for the sample group.
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Indwelling urinary catheters (IUC) are the primary cause of urinary tract infection in acute care. Current research aimed at reducing the use of IUCs in acute care has focused on the prompt removal of catheters already placed. This paper evaluates attempts to minimise the initial placement of IUCs. ⋯ More work is needed to establish when the initial placement of an IUC is appropriate in order to better understand when IUCs are overused and inform the development of methodologically robust research on the potential of interventions to minimise the initial placement of IUCs.