Aust Crit Care
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The aim of this paper is to review the differences and similarities in critical care nursing staffing, education and practice standards in the US, Canada, UK, New Zealand and Australia. ⋯ There is a lack of evidence to support nursing staffing with post registration specialty qualifications. Existing standards are predominantly opinion based rather than supported by research. The expected standards for nursing practice are fundamentally similar.
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The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Liaison Nurses (LNs) emerged as a member of the multidisciplinary team to: assist in the transition of patients from ICU to the ward, respond to the deteriorating patient in an appropriate and timely manner, and in some instances act as an integral member of Rapid Response Teams (RRT). ⋯ Whilst many hospitals across Australia have introduced an ICU LN service, the staffing, hours of service, job classifications, reporting lines, referral processes and APN activities undertaken by the ICU LN, vary between hospitals, highlighting the diverse nature of ICU LN services across Australia.
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The increasing and widespread use of complementary and alternative medicine in the general population requires health-care professionals to have a knowledge and appreciation of their use to ensure that decisions about care are appropriate, safe and meet patients' needs. This is also the case for critical care nurses. Presently, healthcare professionals including nurses have limited formal education on complementary and alternative medicine. Critical care nurses' role in relation to complementary and alternative medicine is important for two patient care reasons: some can adversely interact with conventional medicines and others can potentially improve patient's well-being. Australian critical care nurses' knowledge of complementary and alternative medicine is unknown. ⋯ Critical care nurses although supporting a number of therapies also identified a need for increased knowledge and understanding. As the findings also suggest that patients and families are requesting a range of therapies there is a need to investigate the provision of appropriate educational resources for critical care nurses to ensure safe and evidence-based care.
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Observation charts are critical to detecting patient deterioration. Research suggests their design has a dramatic impact on user performance in terms of failure rates for detecting abnormal vital signs and how quickly users can interpret recorded observations. In this study, we examined the design preferences of professional chart users to assess their alignment with objective performance data. In addition, we tested the assumptions of prior knowledge that chart designers appear to have made about chart users. ⋯ It is dangerous to rely solely on subjective opinions - even those of experienced health professionals - when developing patient observation charts, as optimal design may be counterintuitive and some preferences may merely reflect familiarity. Objective performance data is also required. In addition, the level of assumed knowledge required to use a chart should be minimized.