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The fact that Californias Safe Hospital Staffing Law (AB 394) isnt getting much support from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses hasnt stopped other nursing associations that support the law from encouraging nurses throughout the country to lobby for similar staffing ratio laws.
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A 3-part intervention (guideline development, computerized order templates, and education) led to an overall 17% reduction in test ordering without a change in clinical outcomes.
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Sleep was more fragmented during ventilation with PSV than A/C in a small group of critically ill patients studied with polysomnography.
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With health officials, accreditors, and patient safety groups pushing hand hygiene as never before, the infection control professional is no longer the lone voice in the wilderness, preaching the gospel of Ignaz Semmelweis to the unwashed masses.
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When does critical care become just another emergency department (ED) visit? When you fail to document it properly. You may do all the right things and have a patient in crisis, but if the paperwork isnt done properly, you dont get paid for your efforts.
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Two severely ill patients in the emergency department of your hospital need admission to the ICU, but only one bed is available. Who gets admitted first? Another critical care patient is severely ill, with several coexisting conditions.
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Inhaled drugs are commonly used during mechanical ventilation. The physiologic effects of bronchodilators delivered by nebulizer or pressurized metered dose inhaler (pMDI) are virtually equivalent.
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In this study of a large nationwide database, mortality during hospitalization for acute exacerbation of COPD was 2.5%, which is substantially lower than that reported in previous studies.