Articles: critical-care.
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Neuromuscular disorders are important causes of prolonged morbidity in intensive care unit. Specific disorders facing the neurologist in the intensive care unit may have been present before admission to the unit or develop as a secondary complication of their stay. ⋯ Among the neuromuscular disorders that confront the clinician in the unit are motor neuron disease, acute polyneuropathies including acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (Guillain-Barré syndrome) and critical illness polyneuropathy, neuromuscular transmission disorders including myasthenia gravis, and specific myopathies. This chapter reviews the differential diagnosis and the unique features of neuromuscular conditions that may complicate critical illness and admission to the intensive care unit.
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Oct 1996
Review Case ReportsThe nurse's role in pain assessment and management in a coronary care unit.
Nurses play an important role in the assessment and management of pain, but some have many misbeliefs about the pain experience (Watt-Watson & Donovan 1992) and pain management, which may affect their judgment when dealing with a patient's pain. This review of literature on pain assessment and management includes pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment. A case study highlights the nurse's role in assessment and management of pain in patients admitted to a coronary care unit. Recommendations are made as to how the nursing management of pain can be improved.
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Comparative Study
Full-cost determination of different levels of care in the intensive care unit. An activity-based costing approach.
We applied an activity-based costing methodology to determine the full cost of intensive care service at a community hospital, a university hospital and a health maintenance organisation (HMO)-affiliated hospital. A total of 5 patient care units were analysed: the intensive care unit (ICU) and surgical ICU (SICU) at the university setting, the ICU at the community setting, and the SICU and cardiac care unit at the HMO setting. ⋯ The analysis revealed a marked increase in patient-minute cost associated with mechanical ventilation. Higher costs associated with prolonged neuromuscular blockade have important economic implications with respect to selection of an appropriate neuromuscular blocking agent.
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Critical care medicine · Oct 1996
How to keep up with the critical care literature and avoid being buried alive.
To provide practical suggestions for accessing, utilizing, and storing the rapidly expanding literature on critical care. ⋯ Efficient access, appraisal, and application of the literature on intensive care are basic skills for intensivists, who have adopted a variety of resourceful and pragmatic methods for "keeping up."