American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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Multicenter Study
Predictive Modeling of Pressure Injury Risk in Patients Admitted to an Intensive Care Unit.
Pressure injuries are an important problem in hospital care. Detecting the population at risk for pressure injuries is the first step in any preventive strategy. Available tools such as the Norton and Braden scales do not take into account all of the relevant risk factors. Data mining and machine learning techniques have the potential to overcome this limitation. ⋯ The model effectively predicts risk of pressure injury. This allows nurses to focus on patients at high risk for pressure injury without increasing workload.
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In this presentation, I will share my unconventional journey, starting from my first job as a critical care staff nurse to my current role as tenure-track faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I hold a joint position with the Institute for Applied Life Sciences and the College of Nursing. Throughout this journey, I have had many opportunities to participate in interdisciplinary clinical outcomes research and medical product development as a staff nurse, clinical nurse specialist, and project lead from the clinical, industry, and academic perspectives. While passionate about my central clinical research interests in technology innovation and its responsible use in critical and acute care, the foundation of my approach is dedicated to the values and lessons of my earliest experiences in critical care bedside nursing: supporting and preserving the dignity and humanity of person-centered patient care. ⋯ As the nation's largest group of health care professionals, nurses use more products than any other health care professional, and thus nurses have a uniquely practical and care-sensitive perspective on the development and design of medical products. Nurses, especially critical care nurses, are in a unique position to identify and address everyday health care issues, challenge assumptions and the status quo, address unrecognized and unarticulated needs, and ensure that clinical outcomes research serves as the foundation for validating the effectiveness of medical product innovation. My goal is to share lessons learned and to help participants to see the many different ways that critical care nursing knowledge can be used to improve patient care.