American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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To describe psychological reactions, neurological sequelae, and family adjustment following sudden cardiac arrest during the first year of recovery. ⋯ To develop intervention programs to aid adjustment, healthcare providers need to take into account psychological reactions, neurological deficits, and family coping of sudden cardiac arrest survivors and their family members.
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To examine structural and organizational characteristics at two ICUs with marked differences in risk-adjusted survival. ⋯ The methods used in this study can identify organizational problems and potential means for improvement. The best practices and suggestions for improvement at these units provide examples of methods for improving ICU management.
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We describe an algorithm to aid clinicians in making ethical decisions regarding interventions. Logically sequenced questions about competency, advance directives, treatment benefit, and patient and family preferences guide the decision maker to nine specific scenarios. Each scenario includes guidelines for action based on legal and ethical consensus.
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Postoperative pain is one of the major obstacles in the prevention of complications during patient recovery. Pain and its management have gained great interest among researchers, clinicians and policy-makers. ⋯ Certain patient conditions such as length of time after surgery and ventilator status affected nurses' assessment and management of pain. Nurses' knowledge about pain assessment and management may affect patient care and outcomes.
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Comparative Study
Injectate port selection affects accuracy and reproducibility of cardiac output measurements with multiport thermodilution pulmonary artery catheters.
To compare the accuracy and reproducibility of thermodilution cardiac output measurements obtained from the injectate and infusion ports of a multilumen pulmonary artery catheter. The thermodilution results were compared with an independent measure of flow obtained from an electromagnetic flow meter. ⋯ The use of the infusion port for the measurement of thermodilution cardiac output measurements may result in nonreproducible and inaccurate results.