American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Intensive care diaries and relatives' symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder after critical illness: a pilot study.
Relatives of patients recovering from critical illness are at risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder. ⋯ Provision of a diary may help psychological recovery in patients' families after critical illness.
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Observational studies have consistently revealed wide variation in nutritional practices across intensive care units and indicated that the provision of adequate nutrition to critically ill patients is suboptimal. To date, the potential role of critical care nurses in implementing nutritional guideline recommendations and improving nutritional therapy has received little consideration. ⋯ Future research and quality improvement strategies are required to correct these deficits and successfully empower nurses to become nutritional champions at the bedside. Using nurses as agents of change will help standardize nutritional practices and ensure that critically ill patients are optimally fed.
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A collaboration led by the American Heart Association recently released the scientific statement "Prevention of Torsade de Pointes in Hospital Settings." Patients receiving proarrhythmic drugs, who have electrolyte disturbances, or who have bradyarrhythmias require QT-interval monitoring. Prior studies have demonstrated that physicians have a poor level of proficiency at calculating QT intervals. The ability of nurses at calculating QT intervals remains untested. ⋯ Our study results demonstrate that nurses' baseline ability to perform QT interval monitoring is extremely poor. An unacceptable amount of error persists after an educational intervention. Accurate computer-assisted methods are needed to reduce the error associated with manual QT-interval monitoring.
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To describe the relationships among sedation, stability in physiological status, and comfort during a 24-hour period in patients receiving mechanical ventilation. ⋯ Level of sedation most likely does not affect the stability of physiological status but does have an effect on comfort.