Essays on Critical Care

The high percentage of death in intensive care unit is always attributed to the withdrawal of life support machine. In Australia, research shows that a significant proportion of deaths that occurred in the intensive care unit preceded a decision supporting the withdrawal of the life support and this is a case in many countries across the globe including Australia. Withdrawal of life support refers to the process of discontinuing critical care treatment for a patient who is terminally ill, and the decision can be made by the family, government or doctor (Way, Anthony, & Curtis, 2002). The family can make ...

The use of skin care bundle among hospitalized adult sick people can reduce the risk of skin breakdown compared to standard care of practice Pressure ulcers are a common problem in acute care hospitals, specifically among obese patients in intensive care units. Pressure ulcers or sores are common, serious but preventable health issues in the healthcare system. Pressure ulcers are associated with low quality of life, increased expenditure, increase hospital stay, and poor health outcomes (Bhattacharya & Mishra 2015). Hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPU) are preventable if repositioning and turning techniques. However, the evidence on the effectiveness on these techniques is ...

Do-not-Resuscitate orders are given to patients, who are present for surgery or other anesthetic procedures in the clinical setups (Bartlett, 2015). Both the doctors and patients share common misconceptions about the benefits and dangers of being subjected to the resuscitation (Santonocito et al., 2013). The case below illustrates how the dilemmas emerge in DNR. The case description I was taking care of a competent patient, who signed DNR without his family’s knowledge. Doctors were aware of the situation. He specifically requested the staff not to inform his family regarding the DNR; otherwise, they would make him withdraw from ...

Prior to taking my first nursing course in college, I set a goal to one day become a nurse anesthetist. This has been an educational and professional goal ever since I shadowed a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) prior to applying to nursing school. My desire to become a CRNA has increased exponentially since gaining experience in the critical care nursing field. I strive to take on the challenge, knowledge, and responsibility of advancing my professional career to the highest level of nursing. CRNAs have the responsibility of providing safe anesthesia in the operating room and communicating effectively with ...

Problem Statement

Nurse residency programs prove to be an effective means of facilitating the smoother transition of the qualified nurse professionals to clinical practice. This critical analysis explores the systematic requirement of developing the nurse residency programs with the objective of helping the nurse graduates in joining nurse residency following the successful accomplishment of their advanced practice degree program.

Recommendation

The configuration of multiple stages of a nurse residency program requires the systematic development of the program infrastructure in the context of evidence-based literature. Consistent execution of the nurse residency program requires its periodic evaluation and dissemination of the findings between the ...

(Author, Department, University,

Corresponding Address and email)

Hypernatremia and hyponatremia Hypernatremia and hyponatremia are among the most common electrolyte disorders in older people. Hypernatremia is caused by an increase in the concentration of the sodium in extracellular serum to more than 145 mEq per L. On the other hand, hyponatremia is caused by a decrease in the concentration of sodium in body, i.e. less than 135 mEq per L. Hyponatremia can be acute or chronic (Buttaro, 2013). Both hypernatremia and hyponatremia are commonly found clinical problems in critically ill patients. They are often asymptomatic, but in some patients their symptoms appear that can ...

Introduction

The emergency department provides the urgent services to the ill patients. In the emergency department, the doctors provide the enhanced care to the patients when they are in the critical situation. With the advancement in the technology, the health care professionals provide the advanced treatment to the patients in the emergency department (Petrillo-Albarano & Little, 2010). On the other hand, intensive care units are also called ICU. The patients who are in a critical condition are admitted to the ICU. At first, the patients are treated in the emergency department, but if they cannot recover from the emergency department they ...

Nantsupawat, A., Nantsupawat, R., Kulnaviktikul, W., & McHugh, M. D. (2015). Relationship between nurse staffing levels and nurse outcomes in community hospitals, Thailand. Nursing & health sciences, 17(1), 112-118. The study examines the relationship that exists between the staffing levels of nurses and the subsequent nurse outcomes whereby the study was conducted in various community hospitals in Thailand. According to the author understanding the various factors that influence nurse outcome especially job dissatisfaction as well as emotional exhaustion could enable policy makers as well as hospital administrators in developing strategies to enhance the satisfaction of nurses and minimize emotional exhaustion ...

A hospital is not just an institution where one can get professional examination and treatment, this type of medical organization is also to provide excellence in medical research, patient case and medical education services. Some hospitals serve as outstanding examples of high-quality and well-planned health system management within a wide clinical network and are consistently expanding the range of multispecialty services. This paper reviews the policy and principal daily operations that relate to the area of ethical and fiscal responsibility of health care assistants (HCAs). Management system of any medical institution presupposes that HCAs are competent stewards of resources ...

Simulation in Nursing Education

The concept of simulation in healthcare education has been since the time of world II. The basic concepts of simulation in associate’s or bachelor’s nursing program comprised of CPR manikins, role playing, static manikins, and conventional techniques based on the utilization of various taught concepts were used as a teaching modality since over 5 decades (Norman J. 2012). The concept of high-fidelity education has been in place for over 2 decades but it is new and unique in the nursing education. The process involves the use of simulation with the help of high-end computer technology including simulation ...

The battle of culture and beliefs versus nursing profession

The nursing professional is consistently challenged with science and cultural beliefs of patients. A patients set of religious and personal beliefs could interfere with the nurses’ empirical and scientific knowledge (Ammouri, et al. 2015). In a culturally diverse globe, many beliefs act as barriers in performing necessary medical interventions. Nurses may play a crucial but minimal role in such cases of cultural and religious belief. In emergency care and life-threatening situations, some religions do not permit for medical procedures which puts the attending nurse in a dilemma between cultural beliefs and ethical conduct. However, in most cases, nurses are ...

Introduction

The nursing profession is one of the chief cornerstones of health care delivery worldwide. The role that nurses play in delivering heath care to populations cannot be overemphasized, which makes the profession such an integral part of the medical sector. One of the basic tenets of the nursing profession is that it comprises an integrated approach to various nursing models that work to ensure the effectiveness of the professionals while ensuring patient safety. This paper explores the models and their importance to the overall health care delivery system. Specifically, it reviews journal articles that examine both the synergy and ...

What do you believe is the greatest achievement that the health care industry has made from both the patient and provider perspectives? Why? In the past decade, there has been significant improvement in the maternal and infant health with respect to the healthcare industry. The rate of neural tube defects and infants born with heritable or metabolic disorders have reduced owing to new diagnostic and treatment modalities. In the early 1990’s, the US government led to the implementation of folic acid fortification in all cereal grains that were termed as enriched. This movement led to the reduction of ...

A Proper understanding of the pathophysiology of diseases and conditions is essential in their treatment as well as management. Every disease has a way of affecting the normal functioning of the body. Some disorders attack the whole body while others affect specific organs. Therefore, it is crucial to study the pathophysiology of diseases. It is also essential to understand the relationship between related diseases. This helps in understanding the interactions between the diseases. This paper is set to examine the pathophysiology of pneumonia, hypoxemia, as well as thyroid cancer. Additionally, the paper analyses the relationship between these diseases.

Pathophysiology of Pneumonia

Pneumonia ...

Increasing Septic Screening Compliance

Increasing Septic Screening Compliance

Abstract

There is a growing medical challenge within the confines of medical service facilities that if not addressed may lead to unnecessary loss of life. There has been a growing rate of sepsis infections, especially those who are admitted in the hospital. It is a baffling problem as one would image that the hospital is the last place where one’s sickness gets worse. Delving further into the probable causes of the increase of septic infection cases, once would discover that the methodologies that are being used to detect and address these infections are undependable. As ...

Conducting a literature search is a major step towards acquiring the required information to be used in carrying out a particular research. This study dwelt much on locating scholarly quantitative and qualitative articles that provided information on how to address the clinical problem which in this case was the strategies that will have to be employed in tackling ventilator-associated pneumonia. I focused much on the use of authoritative nursing databases like PubMed online (King et al., 2016). Also, I made use of search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and Google Scholar in getting the required articles. I however narrowed ...

Patient safety is a critical element in the health care since it guarantees the wellbeing of a patient while receiving treatment and ensures their hospitalization period is short and free from any harm. Thus, it is the responsibility of nurses and other health practitioners to carry out frequent assessments of health facility status to assess the safety and quality of clinical practices. As such, research in a clinical setting is essential in identify problems which have the potential of diminishing wellness of the patients and provide solutions to address the identified clinical problem. Therefore, nurses have to advance their ...

Various researches have been carried out in order to be able to address the issue of nursing shortages as a cause of an unhealthy working environment for the nurses and this then reciprocates in harmful effects on the patients as a whole. In this paper, I will critically analyze the research that was carried out by Leslie Vaughan and Trisha Slinger was aimed at ensuring that the issue of shortage of nurses is addressed and able to provide the solutions that may enable the institution, government, and the society as a large(Vaughan and Slinger, 2012). With this research, ...

Ventilator Associated Pneumonia

VENTILATOR ASSOCIATED PNEUMONIA Ventilator associated pneumonia can be described as infection of the Lungs developing in a patient who has been kept on ventilator. Ventilators are used to help patients in proper breathing by administering oxygen with the help of a tube which is placed in the mouth nose or through a hole made in front of neck of the patient. Infection may develop due to entry of the germs through the tube and as a result, the germs may gain entry into the lungs of the patient leading to an infection. In order to bring down the rate ...

Root cause analysis

The healthcare system recognizes its first priority as the safety of the patient and the ability to afford the patient groups quality care. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has an obligation to ensure that healthcare facilities live to this expectation and one of the methods that have been employed over time to oversee the sustenance of quality and safe care is the requirement that all healthcare facilities regularly conduct root cause analysis of their facility (Chen, Schein & Miller, 2015). The RCA process is based on the need to determine any existing misses and errors that ...

Abstract

The current government has consistently been trying to reduce the costs of healthcare and at the same time improve its quality. This paper focuses on the current state of healthcare through an extensive research on the population. The research uses a cross sectional design to collect data and come up with relevant conclusions. The research project aimed at using a homogenous population to come up with accurate results. Such a population involves participants who have the same knowledge about the subject. Such participants are easily obtained through a referral process where one participant refers another. A total of 50 ...

The critical care units of hospitals treat frequently treat patients by administering oxygen via the insertion of tubes into tracheostomies, the nose, or the mouth; nosocomial infections may result, leading to ventilator-associated pneumonia, or VAP (CDC.gov, 2015). The infection is not generally associated with non-sterile techniques during insertion, but rather from tube contamination. The nosocomial infection is most often diagnosed in intensive care departments and research has been directed toward identifying methods of oral care as a means of prevention. Comparisons of the effectiveness of sodium bicarbonate swabs with that of chlorhexidine swabs have been made and the hospital ...

Cystic fibrosis is a chronic, progressive and often deadly genetic disease that affects the body’s mucous glands. It follows that cystic fibrosis (CF) is evident in the body’s digestive and respiratory systems, particularly in children and young adults (Flume et al., 2007). In some cases, it affects the reproductive system and the sweat glands. A CF-like disease has been known over the past two centuries, but it was in 1938 that the term cystic fibrosis was first used. CF may also be considered to be an autosomal-recessive disease. Its estimated heterozygote occurrence is one for every twenty ...

Ventilator-associated pneumonia

Abstract The intensive care unit in most hospitals plays the role of providing care to patients dealing with life-threatening conditions. The technological and other set ups in these hospital units are vital in ensuring that these patients continue to receive the best regarding care while with the intentions of having them emerge with desirable outcomes. There are however challenges relating to the care that these patients receive since, in most cases, they are usually under mechanical ventilation. A patient under this condition faces the risk of developing ventilator-associated pneumonia if the ventilators are not handled with the required care. ...

Part 1

For the objectives of a particular project to be achieved, there is the need for carrying out an assessment of how far the program has moved. In this direction, therefore, it is important that program evaluation be done which is a crucial step towards checking on the efficiency and the effectiveness of that project. Program evaluation is an essential step in any program since it produces timely, credible, relevant and objective findings of a project by making use of reliable and valid data collection and analysis (Posavac, 2015). Additionally, carrying out program evaluation lays down the framework for which ...

This research paper is one which is meant to show my individual leadership assessment and further to show how the findings from my test may be advantageous in an instance that I am able to advance in my nursing practice. Assessing Emotional Intelligence

Authentic Leadership

Authentic Leadership is the defined as the kind of leadership that leads to the proper and more comfortable working environment for the various staff of the hospital or institution (Shirey, 2006). However, these styles of leadership may differ in one way or the other, depending on whether the style is transformational, transactional or an authentic leadership ...

Implementation of the VAP project is a significant step aimed at ensuring that the objectives of giving patients outmost care, improvement of nursing practices and achieving desirable patient’s outcomes on the mechanically ventilated patients in the critical care unit are realized. Nevertheless, there is the need for making sure that all the relevant implementation stages have been followed and adequately taken into consideration. This will ensure any possible hitches that may affect project execution along the way are equally addressed. Additionally, it will be imperative that well-informed decisions are made with the intentions of ensuring that all the ...

Part A

Hospital Acquired Infections Health care system is a very dynamic field that changes periodically; the practices that were deemed to be the most effective a decade ago may be rendered less useful or obsolete in the present day care. The changes are basically due to changes in patient needs, the emergence of new technologies, improved science research findings that develop new care methods as well as changes in healthcare policies and regulations. For example in the United States, the increase in the size of an aging population means an increase in number of patients that will suffer from chronic ...

Literature review – VAP

Part 1

The theory of goal attainment which was developed by Imogene Kings, it focuses on the interaction between patients and the care providers taking care of them. The goals that are focused on desirable patient outcomes are developed by ensuring that there is an existing communication process which ensures that a mutual interaction between nurses and their patients exists (Current Nursing, 2012). This theory can be used as a basis the assessment and the maintenance of desirable, healthy systems that which overall result in patients achieving their wellbeing goals.

Question 1

This theory is made up of a series of ...

Intimidation is not a necessary toolbox and is unethical when used to protect self-interests. Fairness and equality must be afforded to all case scenarios and patients. Coercive means that are used to intimidate others should be brought to the attention of the authorities. There is a need to protect the rights of the patients as well as those that are afforded to the workers. Health care professionals need to exercise restraint in all that they do so as to maintain harmony in the workplace while upholding best practices (Charles n.d). Power is an important consideration that has a critical ...

About myself

I am a college student finishing my nursing education at the College of New Rochelle, who is very passionate about the career as I love helping others. I am also a hardworking well-rounded person, and I believe that I have gained adequate knowledge in the field that will assist in my professional development. Choosing to be a nurse was one of the greatest decisions that I made, and I have never regretted. I plan on completing my Bachelor of Science in nursing degree this May, and I already know the great advantages as well as the incredible career opportunities ...

Mechanical ventilation (MV) causes oxidative stress that is responsible for adverse consequences on organs. In a situation of MV, the excessive pressure impairs the function of the mitochondrial respiratory chain leading to oxidative and nitrosative stress (Kavazis, 2009; Hafner et al., 2014). MV is commonly associated with hyperoxia where an excess of oxygen is provided. In such a case an oxidative stress can be induced when the oxygen pressure in the alveolar exceeds that of the normal breathing conditions because the biological system is not able to readily detoxify the environment from components such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) ( ...

Leadership concepts

Health communication professionals, as well as researchers, have developed a variety of tools and methods of intervention at the individual level of the behavioral process associated with health and to advance systematic improvement related to the preface of healthcare organizations and issues within society in general. Crucial illustrations were the formation of the Health Commission Division of the international commission Association. Current perspective on health communication includes analyses of communication processes from the vantage of senders, channel servicers, and feedback. These processes occur at the individual level of communication in health context or setting. At the individual level, health ...

Introduction

The professional organizations and associations in nursing plays a crucial role towards promoting advanced and better health care. They’re charged with the responsibility to generate the energy, organization of ideas, and pre-emptive work required to sustain a healthy profession that promotes the needs and preferences of the nursing profession, nurses, and the patients. The associations improves the trust of society concerning health care matters. The paper will shed light on defining the scope of professional organizations in nursing, examine the scope, discuss the trending issues, and offer an analysis of the future of the nursing profession.

Define the scope of the issue

The role ...

Abstract

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is an infection which often develops as a result of poor handling of mechanical ventilation. Such as, poor nursing practice in caring for patients with difficulty in breathing can lead to microorganisms entering patient’s body through a tube inserted especially via mouth and nose of the patient. When these microorganisms get into the respiratory system they cause lung infection which is referred to as ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). In preventing this infection, it is important that nurses adopt best practices to reduce the incidence of VAP and provide quality care that is aimed at improving the ...

The transition process of nurses from being a student at the university to registered nurse has been of great interest in the recent past mainly because of the challenges encountered. This period of transition is regarded as a time when new nurses experience significant stress as they undertake to gather their nursing knowledge and master the medical skills required at work. The transition period of most new nurses is marked by swift self-development, increased anxiety, and reality shock mainly because of the schooling values that tend to conflict with those in the workstation. According to research, graduate nurses in ...

Abstract

Ventilation Associate pneumonia is a nosocomial infection that affects immobile patients, especially those admitted in the Intensive Care Unit. The management of these patients has been challenged and it triggered numerous studies on the most efficient ways of managing such patients. In the ward care of a patient that is ambulant and can describe changes in their condition it is easy not to pay attention to the positions of the patients. However, in the acute wards, the positioning of such patients is significant in prevention of complications. One of the main challenges is pneumonia. The positioning of the head ...

A key factor that healthcare providers have to take into consideration while taking care of the patients is the development of a culturally competent character. It is imperative that care providers to not only have a good understanding about the physiological needs of the patient but also having a better understanding of the ethnic background and the spiritual needs of the patient. These strategies are aimed at ensuring that the concept of holistic care is achieved on the patient being provided with care. Many physicians however lack the wisdom and the expertise required to address patients with these problems. ...

Nursing Class Name

Introduction The importance of a successful research summary lies in attaining a balanced study appraisal. Summaries allow readers to explore the strengths and weaknesses of techniques applied as well as the paper’s applicability to clinical settings. This paper is a summary of Jill Cox’s (2011) study on the predictors of Pressure Ulcers (PU) in adult patients under critical care. It proves that the author provides content that fits the logic and objectivity of scientific inquiry in PU research.

Background

Ingham-Broomfield (2009) states that a good study contains a precise background information that is precise in addressing its basic ...

Introduction

Staffing issues in nursing that occur because of the growing shortage of nurses and huge budget cuts has been an ongoing concern for a long period (American Nursing Association, 2013). Registered nurses have acknowledged that the issue has led to longer working hours for nurses as they take care of sick patients. The situation puts both the safety of patient and nurses at risk. This has brought the need for adequate staffing levels to achieve the optimal nurse to patient ration that is now a national priority. The projected outcome of safe staffing include; reduced medication errors, a decrease ...

Ethical problem

Stacy (2012) reviewed a case study of an irreversible case of pneumococcal pneumonia who had become mechanical ventilator support dependent. The male patient had decided to be removed from the ventilator and allowed to die with full knowledge of his irreversible condition and the eventual death that will come upon him after all life-maintaining support were removed. Although the family did not agree on the removal of the life-support treatment, they acceded to the wish of their father and approved the gradual removal of the ventilator referred to as terminal weaning. This case, unlike most controversial cases that leads ...

Intensive Care Unit- ICU

Introduction As I walk to work, I often get to wonder how busy the intensive care unit gets. I have worked as a critical care nurse, for the last six years, in the intensive care unit. The acuity of the patients is unpredictable. Patients get admitted with a variety of medical conditions.

An ICU patient faces life-threatening injuries or illnesses that require critical care. It requires a specialized team of health care professionals to provide the treatments and care needed for such patients in the ICU. The team of healthcare professionals in the ICU includes; doctors, residents, interns, APRN's, nurses, respiratory ...

The plight of the American woman Karen Dove, an uninsured lady depicted in the PBS video Critical Care, is unfortunately a common example of the horrendous status of the healthcare system policies and planning in the United States. After physicians had denied her consultation, treatment, and access she finally took it upon herself to initiate seeking medical help by contacting an organization dedicated to cancer. Should seeking and receiving adequate medical care in a modern ...

In the case study examined, the patient was vomiting intermittently in postoperative care while receiving Morphine intravenously. The patient’s nurse Pamela is not responsible or trained for prescribing medication, so she decides to seek advice from a senior nurse. The senior nurse Jane orders Pamela to cease the Morphine administration and changes the protocol to 10mgs of Metoclopramide. While Pamela stops the Morphine administration, she refuses to administer Metoclopramide without a prescription. Despite the warnings against administering regulated medication, Jane proceeds to act on her decision and administers the Metoclopramide intravenously, which causes the patient to respond with an allergic ...

“ARE RIGHT AND WRONG CONVERTIBLE TERMS, DEPENDANT UPON THE POPULAR OPINION”? : A famous quote by William Lloyd Garrison poses a critical question to each one of us. Certain questions carry a lot of dimension to look through and in such cases there are enough supportive reasons to justify the rightness of each dimension. One such question stands whether it is ethically justifiable to use narcotics to speed up the end of life. Right from its inception the question has been a cause celebre and continues to exist as one. Effective pain relief especially at the end of life has always ...

Introduction

End-of-life care dilemmas have in recent years become a major cause of concern for nurses and other physicians. With the emergence of modern technology that can help sustain life even at the point where there is little hope, life-sustaining measures such as resuscitation and feeding tubes have been applied to help prolong the lives of the patient at this stage (Meisel et al., 2000). However, the decisions on the use or application of these life-sustaining measures are solely dependent on the patient's preferences or those of their family. This is coupled with the guided decision-making process between the nurse and ...

Introduction

Shortage of nurses and various other quality and cost related issues have resulted in a boom of research and studies, related to staffing alternatives. In order to develop a workforce that can actually help to overcome the obstacles faced by the nursing industry and to ensure quality management in nursing practices, there are initiatives like supplemental staffing which are being accepted widely. It is important to understand that addressing the nursing related issues will not only help to improve the quality of health care but will also help to increase the productivity and reduce the effect of shortage of nurses, ...

Introduction

One of the most important elements in leadership is continuous personal development. This is achieved through engaging in professional development and from feedback and experience (Zuzelo, 2010 p. 3). Through this, this paper will discuss the development of problem-solving skills. Driscoll’s model of reflection will be used in this case. This is because Driscoll’s model allows for asking of the “what” question (what happened in the situation). This is then moved on to the so what (what was the feeling, was it a good or a bad one) and now what (if the situation ever occurs again, what ...

Patients receiving acute care typically go through different levels of care encountering numerous health care providers in the process. For example, a stroke patient who undergoes cranial surgery will be admitted into the PACU. Once stable, he is admitted into the medical-surgical unit and then discharged into long-term rehabilitation. Prior to being sent home, he is advised to see his primary care physician for follow-ups. Throughout the many transitions in each health care experience, handoffs occur between health care professionals working in each unit during changes in shift. Handoffs also take place between providers of one unit or level of ...

Health professionals make decisions with legal and ethical consequences each day (Furlong, n. d.; Reamer, 2005). This paper will analyse the actions of health professionals in two case scenarios for their ethics and legality. The first case scenario involves a 12-year old boy who has terminal cancer and has accepted he is going to die. His parents have; however, having talked with the physician consented to a trial therapy which the nurse consequently administers. The second scenario involves a physician who admits to a nurse that he routinely prescribes antidepressant medication to new residents of a nursing home. He further instructs the nurse to ...

Introduction

Hospitals are homes to different patients who require different attention. This means that there must be people who are qualified for different roles in the medical field. In this connection, hospitals are not required as a block where all patients are handled in the same room. Instead, departments should be formed where each of them operates in support of the other to ensure patients are handled and treated accordingly. This has resulted to existence of various experts for specific duties in the hospital. Among the most common departments in hospitals are Dermatology, Oncology, Gastroenterology, Pulmonary, Cardiology, Endocrinology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, ...

High Costs of Cancer Medications

In this paper, the plan of action to be followed in addressing the problem of high costs of cancer medications will be outlined and its components described. The following aspects will also be addressed in the paper, my personal role in the plan of action, anticipated barriers and contingency measures for addressing these barriers, and the role of technology in budgeting and nursing management contingent to the plan.

Plan of Action

Based on the findings of the literature review and interviews of two senior hospital administrators, the following measures for addressing the problem of ever-escalating costs of cancer care will be instituted:

Clinical Care Pathways

...

Introduction

A memorable case written upon the pages of medical history books is Karen Quilain whose parents went to court in order for doctors to remove her ventilator. She lived nine years after this health care intervention, dying from pneumonia (Quinlan, 1977). The health care practice here relates to removing life support. There have been countless research studies showing where blood transfusion practices have been detrimental to patients because either the blood was old or contaminated. Also, organ donation policies regarding the non-heart beating donor often resulted in patients’ relatives opting for donation without prior consent of the unconscious patient ...

Reducing CAUTI through the Houdini Protocol

A. Identification of the Clinical Issue Catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is defined as “a urinary tract infection in a patient who had an indwelling urinary catheter in place at the time of or within 48 hours prior to infection onset” (Amalaradjov & Venkitanarayanan, 2013, p. 357). CAUTI is one of the most common hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) second only to surgical site infections. The most important risk factor to CAUTI is prolonged catheterization. CAUTI is a clinical issue that applies to nursing in the medical-surgical unit as many patients in this setting are catheterized for indications such as surgery, urinary retention, ...

Introduction

Over the past two decades, the roles of the nurse have largely been revolutionized in response to the demands of the healthcare system as it is in the contemporary society. Nurses have for long been regarded as the ‘others’ in the healthcare system; an item that always described them as the subordinates to the system or subjects to other higher ranked professionals such as the physicians (Sanford, 2012). However, the need to integrate nurse into the care system through an open, accountable and independent system that allows them to practice to the best level of their academic knowledge and ...

Trauma Intensive Care Unit

Critical Care Nursing: Trauma Intensive Care Unit Trauma is identified as a disease progression that takes place subsequent to the submission of vigor or energy of a person affected by it. It is also recognized as a type of injury caused by a physical wound or damage originated from an external compelling force that more than a body can seize or indulge. Furthermore, victims of traumatic experiences or accidents need a high multifaceted medical assistance that is why these patients are admitted to the Trauma Intensive Care Unit for the purpose of monitoring their health condition so that they can surmount and overcome the ...

QUANTITATIVE (Statistical) Studies Only

This Research Plan form, version 2.42, must be completed and reviewed before taking steps to collect data and write the dissertation. In the School of Business and Technology, its satisfactory completion satisfies dissertation milestone 5, indicating that the RP proposal has passed the “scientific merit review,” part of the IRB process. Before going any further, review carefully the Research Plan Instructions, v2.4, available on iGuide. It will be difficult to complete the RP without using the Instructions.

Specialization Chair’s Approval after Section 1

When you have completed Section 1 along with initial references in section 8, send the RP to your mentor for review. ...

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Connected Health: A Review Of Technologies And Strategies To Improve Patient Care With Telemedicine And Telehealth

- Joseph Kvedar1, - Molly Joel Coye2 and - Wendy Everett3,* + Author Affiliations - 1Joseph Kvedar is director of the Center for Connected Health at Partners HealthCare System, in Boston, Massachusetts. - 2Molly Joel Coye is chief innovation officer ...

Estimates show that, in the U.S., about 41,000 cases of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) occur in hospitals each year (CDC, 2014). CLABSI is a preventable complication that lengthens the hospital stay and increases the cost of care. It is a cause of patients’ lost productivity and undue suffering. Since 2008, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has also refused to reimburse CLABSI-related care. The negative implications for the patient and the organization call for prevention using evidence-based practice (EBP). Accessing the hub of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) is a common source of infection (Moureau, 2010). This paper ...

Introduction

The healthcare sector has changed significantly due to the rise of chronic and lifestyle diseases, and better educated clients who demand quality services. To meet these challenges nurses have embraced evidence based care to improve quality by enhancing aspects such as safety and efficacy of interventions. One of the most important aspects of delivering quality nursing care is ensuring that nurses have the necessary skills, knowledge and attitude needed to improve care. Giving nurses these skills, knowledge and attitude is the key goal of the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) program. This essay evaluates the clinical management ...