Dynamics (Pembroke, Ont.)
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Dynamics (Pembroke, Ont.) · Jan 2014
Case ReportsVasopressor stewardship: a case report and lesson shared.
A case report, focused on vasopressor use and presented in this article, is likely to resonate with many critical care nurses. In this article the authors describe opportunities to enhance safety with vasopressor therapy. ⋯ Vasopressors constitute the mainstay of therapy for nearly every hemodynamically unstable patient in critical care. It is hoped that the lessons and information shared help empower critical care nurses to facilitate vasopressor stewardship within their facilities and, ultimately, enhance patient safety.
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Dynamics (Pembroke, Ont.) · Jan 2013
Multicenter StudyConsenting to pediatric critical care research: understanding the perspective of parents.
Pediatric clinical research is dependent on obtaining consentfrom the parents or legal guardian of eligible patients. Little is known about parents' perspectives and the process by which they make the decision to enroll their child in a pediatric critical care trial. ⋯ Pediatric critical care researchers can improve the parental consent encounter experience by considering how parents perceive the approach to consent for a research trial for their child to balance the need to support parents with the need for participants in pediatric critical care research trials.
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Dynamics (Pembroke, Ont.) · Jan 2013
Reflective debriefing to promote novice nurses' clinical judgment after high-fidelity clinical simulation: a pilot test.
Novice nurses are increasingly beginning their career paths in critical care areas, where they are expected to care for patients whose lives are potentially threatened. They are unable to benefit from years of experience to facilitate their clinical decisions. Reflection after simulation could possibly improve nurses' clinical judgment in complex situations. ⋯ The results of this pilot test provide preliminary information that reflective debriefing may be a safe and potentially effective way for novice critical care nurses to learn from a clinical experience and enhance clinical judgment.
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Dynamics (Pembroke, Ont.) · Jan 2012
ReviewDelirium in the intensive care unit: role of the critical care nurse in early detection and treatment.
Critically ill patients are at increased risk of developing delirium, which has been considered one of the most common complications of intensive care unit (ICU) hospitalization. Despite the high occurrence of delirium in the ICU, researchers have shown it is consistently overlooked and often undiagnosed. An understanding of delirium and the three clinical subtypes of hyperactive, hypoactive and mixed-type delirium that exist are key to early detection and treatment. ⋯ The importance of the use of validated assessment tools, such as the Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU) and the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC) to detect key features of delirium development is emphasized. Recommendations to improve the practice of critical care nurses include continuing education regarding the causes, risk factors and treatments of delirium, and education sessions on the use of validated assessment tools. Early prevention strategies, such as modification of the ICU environment to promote normal sleep/wake cycles, including reduction of unit noise and nighttime interruptions, are examined as interventions to avoid the development of delirium.
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Dynamics (Pembroke, Ont.) · Jan 2012
Journal club in a critical care unit: an innovative design triggering learning through reading and dialogue.
Journal club has been used for decades to incorporate reading clinical and research articles into professional practice of numerous health care providers to disseminate knowledge and to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice. In this article, the authors describe how such activity was implemented by and for the nursing team of an intensive care unit. ⋯ The authors describe the phases of this project: the co-development of the journal club, the implementation of the activity and its results. The authors detail how this journal club format incorporated additional teaching aids during each session and used narrative pedagogy as a conceptual framework.