British journal of nursing (Mark Allen Publishing)
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Intensive care unit (ICU) diaries are increasingly being used in UK hospitals as a therapeutic means to address the psychological effects of an ICU stay on patients. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends that services are developed to meet the psychological needs of patients following critical illness. This article discusses ICU diaries as a service to meet these needs. ⋯ To gain an insight into the use of patient diaries, an audit was conducted at one ICU, which found compliance with completing them was poor. This article gives an overview of the available literature. Recommendations are made to improve the use of ICU diaries for clinical practice in the future.
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Over 50 % of tape-secured feeding tubes are inadvertently lost. The impact of nasal bridle securement on nasogastric (NG) and nasointestinal (NI) tube loss, outcome and duration of use was determined from 1 October 2014 (NG) and 1 January 2010 respectively to 31 December 2017. ⋯ In a single-room intensive care unit, inadvertent tube loss dropped from 53% to 9% and tube redundancy (tube no longer required) rose from 20% to 64%. UK-wide bridle securement, by reducing premature tube loss and the need for replacement by 40%, could be associated with 1422 fewer pneumonias or pneumothoraces and 768 fewer deaths.
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The wearing of compression garments is an essential aspect of the management of lymphoedema. Patients however, do not always receive the requested garment on an NHS prescription from their general practitioner (GP). ⋯ The audit standard was not met in any of the audits and the conclusion made is that compression garments are difficult to find on NHS electronic prescribing systems leading to a delay in patients receiving their prescription and a risk of error due to the wide range of options available. Further work is necessary to ensure that electronic prescribing systems address the problem of product recognition for compression garments so that the process of obtaining compression garments is smooth, accurate and timely for patients and their GPs.
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Totally implantable venous access device (TIVAD) lumen occlusion is a long-term complication of central venous catheters, associated with risks of infection, therapy interruptions and increased healthcare costs. The role of flushing and locking in maintaining TIVAD patency is paramount. ⋯ The study aimed to describe the effects of prolonged FIs in a cohort of 317 patients with cancer. The authors found no significant difference in terms of TIVAD problems between long (>45 days) and short (≤45 days) FI groups, which raises questions over the validity of current practice.
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This article describes an evidence-based literature review, comparing upper arm and forearm blood pressure measurements using non-invasive devices on obese patients. The focus on blood pressure monitoring was in response to regularly witnessing inappropriately applied blood pressure cuffs on obese patient's upper arms in practice. An inaccurately obtained blood pressure measurement can result in the misdiagnosis and treatment of hypertension. ⋯ The article discusses the development and execution of a search strategy, as well as the critical appraisal of a selected article. The results of the review demonstrated that forearm blood pressure measurements in obese patients do not replace upper arm blood pressure measurements taken with an appropriate cuff. It is recommended that further research is undertaken in order to identify suitable alternatives for obtaining an accurate non-invasive blood pressure measurement in obese patients.