Articles: intensive-care-units.
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Annual review of medicine · Jan 1989
ReviewBurn unit treatment of acute, severe exfoliating disorders.
In this chapter, we review the experience gained in the burn unit treatment of two of the severe exfoliating disorders, toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) and the Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS). Septic mortality was higher if high doses of corticosteroids were given versus the current protocol, which avoids these drugs. Current controversies include the role of topical therapy, leukopenia, and invasive catheters in septic complications as well as nutritional requirements. Concomitant viral infection and the macrophage may each play a role in the etiology of TEN and SJS.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 1989
Comparative StudySurvival compared to the general population and changes in health status among intensive care patients.
In order to evaluate intensive care, all adult patients (980) admitted to a multidisciplinary intensive care unit (ICU) during 1 year were followed prospectively. The ICU mortality was 9.6%. One year after admission the survival was 73.6%. ⋯ Increased age and length of stay in the ICU were associated with higher mortality but not with changes in health status. We conclude that the outcome of intensive care can be evaluated by studying only the survival, since the survival rate is correlated to changes in health status among survivors in the different admission groups. One year after admission most of the surviving patients had regained their previous health status and their further survival was almost the same as that of the general population.
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This article details the development of an instrument designed to assess the impact of certain environmental stressors in the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) on parents of hospitalized children. A theoretical framework based on stress theory and developed by the authors provided the framework for this project. This 62-item scale assessing seven dimensions of the PICU environment was developed in three stages. ⋯ In the third phase of the project, the revised instrument was administered to 510 parents while their children were in one of five pediatric ICUs. Factor analysis provided seven orthogonal, invariant factors. An alpha coefficient of .95 was obtained for the total instrument; subscale coefficients ranged from .72 to .99 providing support for internal consistency and construct validity.
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This study investigated parents' and health care providers' perspectives of their communicative interactions when a seriously ill infant is treated in an intensive care nursery. Both parents and health care providers stressed the importance of keeping parents informed of their child's condition. Concerns regarding the provision of medical information to parents in an understandable manner, the lack of time health care providers have to spend interacting with parents, and the possibility that parents' emotional involvement interferes with their understanding of the child's condition were raised. Implications for pediatric health care providers relative to their interactions with parents of young chronically ill children are raised.
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Dimens Crit Care Nurs · Jan 1989
Retention technique #4. Developing retention strategies within your internship program.
Internship programs are a well-established method of recruiting and preparing nurses for practice in critical care. This author describes how to incorporate strategies into a program that may enhance the retention of the nurse, following the internship program.