American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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Satisfaction With Elimination of all Visitation Restrictions in a Mixed-Profile Intensive Care Unit.
Open and patient-tailored guidelines have been recommended as the preferred visitation model in critical care settings; however, many critical care units continue to restrict visitation. ⋯ Elimination of even minimal restrictions on visitation hours improved family satisfaction and improved nurses' perceptions of family satisfaction with the visitation policy. Nurses' satisfaction did not change. These findings support open and patient-centered visitation guidelines in critical care settings.
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Mechanical ventilation is associated with atrophy and weakness of the diaphragm. Ultrasound is an easy noninvasive way to track changes in thickness of the diaphragm. ⋯ Use of ultrasound to measure thickness of the diaphragm in 8 intensive care patients undergoing various modes of mechanical ventilation was feasible and yielded reproducible results. Ultrasound tracking of changes in thickness of the diaphragm in this small sample indicated that the thickness decreased during assist-control mode and increased during pressure support mode.
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PubMed/MEDLINE (1966-November 2014) was searched to identify relevant published studies on the overall frequency, types, and examples of medication errors during medical emergencies involving cardiopulmonary resuscitation and related situations, and the breakdown by type of error. The overall frequency of medication errors during medical emergencies, specifically situations related to resuscitation, is highly variable. ⋯ Because of the chaos of the resuscitation environment, errors in prescribing, dosing, preparing, labeling, and administering drugs are prone to occur. System-based strategies, such as infusion pump policies and code cart management, as well as personal strategies exist to minimize medication errors during emergency situations.
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Comparative Study Observational Study
Microbiological Diagnosis of Sepsis: Polymerase Chain Reaction System Versus Blood Cultures.
To compare the utility of a multiplex polymerase chain reaction system (SeptiFast) and blood cultures for detecting bacteria and fungi in blood samples from patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. ⋯ The SeptiFast test provided quicker microbiological diagnosis and identified significantly more microorganisms than blood cultures did, particularly when samples were collected after antibiotic therapy had started or infections were due to resistant bacteria and yeast.