American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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Intensive care unit follow-up clinics are becoming an increasingly widespread intervention to facilitate the physical, cognitive, psychiatric, and social rehabilitation of survivors of critical illness who have post-intensive care syndrome. Developing and sustaining intensive care unit follow-up clinics can pose significant challenges, and clinics need to be tailored to the physical, personnel, and financial resources available at a given institution. Although no standard recipe guarantees a successful intensive care unit aftercare program, emerging clinics will need to address a common set of hurdles, including securing an adequate space; assembling an invested, multidisciplinary staff; procuring the necessary financial, information technology, and physical stuff; using the proper screening tools to identify patients most likely to benefit and to accurately identify disabilities during the visit; and selling it to colleagues, hospital administrators, and the community at large.
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Music can benefit the neurodevelopmental and clinical care of newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit. Newborns in the cardiac intensive care unit experience similar stressors to those in the neonatal intensive care unit, but music therapy has not been widely studied in the cardiac intensive care unit population. ⋯ Nurse-led music therapy was highly feasible for hemodynamically stable newborns recovering from cardiac surgery. Parents and nursing staff responded positively to the music therapy.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged health care professionals, especially those working in intensive care units (ICUs). ⋯ This thematic analysis identified several concerns of ICU nurses related to caring for patients in the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ensuring adequate supplies, staffing, and administrative and emotional support are provided to frontline health care providers during the ongoing pandemic remains essential.
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Few studies have explored the utility of screening for cognitive impairment near hospital discharge in intensive care unit survivors. ⋯ Assessing for cognitive impairment at hospital discharge may help identify intensive care unit survivors at higher risk of severe physical disabilities after critical illness.
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The Junior Peer Reviewer program of the American Journal of Critical Care provides mentorship in the peer review process to novice reviewers. The program includes discussion sessions in which participants review articles published in other journals to practice and improve their critical appraisal skills. The articles reviewed during the first year of the program focused on caring for patients with COVID-19. ⋯ Hospitals caring for patients needing prolonged ventilation should use evidence-based, standardized care practices to reduce mortality. The burden on uncompensated caregivers of COVID-19 survivors is also high, and such caregivers are likely to require assistance with their efforts. Reviewing these articles was helpful for building the peer review skills of program participants and identifying actionable research to improve the lives of critically ill patients.