Revista de enfermería (Barcelona, Spain)
-
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation consists of the integration of treatment for cardiorespiratory arrest as a set of standardized steps, whose objective is to first substitute, and later restore, spontaneous respiration and circulation. This calls for a sequential development; this implies that there are not a series of actions which for prematureness influences their order, but these should be applied sequentially at the right time. There are different criteria among the recommendations by the ERC (European Resuscitation Council) and the AHA (American Heart Association). ⋯ There are also agreements on the incorporation of some terms so we will more frequently read the term Basic Vital Support instead of Basic Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation or Advanced Vital Support instead of Advanced Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. This article is the first of a series of four articles on cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. The remaining articles will appear in later editions of our magazine.
-
Sudden cardiac death in adults remains a challenge in cardiovascular medicine. Cardiac arrest often drives neurological damage resulting from cerebral hypoxia, causing a series of cellulose tissue alterations that lead to brain injury. Therapeutic hypothermia decreases oxygen demand acting as protection to the brain. ⋯ Hypothermia is a viable therapy for patients who have undergone cardiopulmonary arrest. It is important to make a specific assessment of each case as well as agree the track record of care applied to these patients to subsequently allow their assessment.
-
Whether the cause is primary or secondary, cardiac arrest requires cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques in order to avoid brain lesions. Cardiac compressions combined with the control of the air passageway and artificial respiration have made it possible to reverse clinical death status in a patient. In this article, the authors review various proven methods including heart pump, thoracic pump, asynchronous respiration, abdominal contrapulsation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation by means of coughing, MAST, ADC, pneumatic vest, etc. which are currently in use.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
[Comparison of the effectiveness and cost of treatment with humid environment as compared to traditional cure. Clinical trial on primary care patients with venous leg ulcers and pressure ulcers].
The discovery of moist environment dressings as alternatives to the traditional treatments based on exposing wounds to air, opened new expectations for the care and treatment of chronic wounds. Over the years, these expectations have led to the availability of new moist environment dressings which have made it possible to improve the care provided to patients suffering this kind of wounds, as well as providing important reasons to weigh in terms of cost-benefit-effectiveness at the time of selecting which type of treatment should be employed. The lack of comparative analysis among traditional treatments and moist environment treatments for chronic wounds among patients receiving primary health care led the authors to perform an analysis comparing these aforementioned options of treatment on patients suffering venous leg ulcers or pressure ulcers. ⋯ The results of this randomized clinical trial demosntrated that the moist environment treatment group was more effective and had a better cost-benefit ratio than the traditional treatment group in the treatment of pressure ulcers and venous leg ulcers on patients cared for by nursing personnel in primary health care centers all of which agrees with publications consulted by authors.
-
Critically ill patients often suffer from malnutrition y loss of muscle weight throughout the whole time they are ill, even when they receive nutritional therapy, due to the tremendous amount of stress they undergo accompanied by a high degree of hypercatabolism. The most recent theories all coincide in the importance of the intestine as the preferred way for nutrients to enter the bodies of these patients because besides fulfilling its function to absorb and digest nutrients, the intestine plays an important role as a barrier to bacteria and their toxins. For these reasons, enteral nutrition should be the first option to consider whenever we must feed a critically ill patient by artificial means.