American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
-
Family satisfaction with intensive care is a measure of patient experience and patient-centered care. Among the factors that might influence family satisfaction are the timing of patient admittance to the intensive care unit (ICU), the ICU environment, and individual health care providers. ⋯ Family satisfaction with an ICU admission was not influenced by the timing of the admission. Overall satisfaction with the ICU was high. The qualitative analysis points to the importance of collecting qualitative data in addition to using standard survey tools to capture the richness of patient experience. Ongoing efforts to engage with families remain critical to the practice of family- and patient-centered care in the ICU.
-
For patients with head and neck cancer who have undergone microvascular free flap surgery, securing a tracheostomy collar onto the neck using the traditional method (ie, with tracheostomy ties) is contraindicated because the ties may compress the newly vascularized tissue. However, no clear guidance exists for the use of other methods in these patients. Current techniques often use safety pins, which can cause injury to staff members. ⋯ Several practical methods exist for securing a tracheostomy collar in patients with head and neck cancer who have undergone free flap surgery. These methods may be good alternatives to the use of safety pins.
-
The quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) coach role was developed for hospital-based resuscitation teams. This supplementary team member (CPR coach) provides real-time, verbal feedback on chest compression quality to compressors during a cardiac arrest. ⋯ The quality CPR coach training intervention significantly increased coach presence on code teams, which was associated with clinically significant improvements in some metrics of quality CPR delivery in real cardiopulmonary arrests.