Dynamics (Pembroke, Ont.)
-
Dynamics (Pembroke, Ont.) · Jan 2011
Increased mortality among the critically ill patients admitted on weekends: a global trend.
Critical illness and injury have no concept of time and do not always occur within regular business hours or at times conducive to optimal hospital function. In fact, it is a global trend that critically ill patients admitted to hospitals on weekends suffer higher mortality rates than those admitted during the week. ⋯ Possible solutions include moving to a "closed" ICU system, increasing nurse staffing, intensivist coverage and diagnostic accessibility, and creating a true seven-day hospital system. Finally, it is unclear exactly how to solve the nurse staffing portion of this problem, as it appears internally linked to the nursing profession and externally to hospital management, recruiting difficulties and financial restraints, and a problem that will take more than change in nursing management strategy to resolve.
-
Dynamics (Pembroke, Ont.) · Jan 2011
Conversations about challenging end-of-life cases: ethics debriefing in the medical surgical intensive care unit.
Clinicians frequently encounter and grapple with complex ethical issues and perplexing moral dilemmas in critical care settings. Intensive care unit (ICU) clinicians often experience moral distress in situations in which the ethically right course of action is intuitively known, but cannot be acted on. Most challenging cases pertain to end-of-life issues. ⋯ Process changes were implemented based on the group's suggestions. The process changes resulted in increased awareness of the benefits, increased frequency of sessions and demonstrated utility. Lessons learned from the MSICU experience will inform the development of education curricula to help critical care nurses with challenging end-of-life situations.
-
Dynamics (Pembroke, Ont.) · Jan 2010
Development, dissemination and implementation of a sedation and analgesic guideline in a pediatric intensive care unit...it takes creativity and collaboration.
Sedation and analgesia are administered to critically ill children to provide comfort and pain relief, decrease anxiety and to promote patient safety in relation to life-saving treatments. A comprehensive practice guideline focused on ways to implement evidence-based sedation and analgesia practices was developed, disseminated and implemented by an interprofessional team in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) in Ottawa, Canada. The goals of this quality of care initiative were to (1) reduce inconsistent practices, (2) improve patient outcomes related to comfort, and (3) enhance collaboration among health care team members caring for critically ill children. ⋯ The quality of patient care initiative focused on consistent use of (a) validated sedation and analgesia assessment tools, (b) a goal-directed approach by identifying daily therapeutic target scores and titrating interventions accordingly, and (c) non-pharmacologic, pharmacologic and adjunctive measures. The authors describe their experience in the development, dissemination and implementation of an interprofessional guideline directed at improving sedation and analgesia and patient safety in the PICU. Tools developed to support the practice change, challenges and lessons learned are shared.