American Journal of Critical Care

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Excessive electrocardiographic alarms contribute to "alarm fatigue," which can lead to patient harm. In a prior study, one-third of audible electrocardiographic alarms were for accelerated ventricular rhythm (AVR), and most of these alarms were false. It is uncertain whether true AVR alarms are clinically relevant. OBJECTIVES: To determine from bedside electrocardiographic monitoring data (1) how often true AVR alarms are acknowledged by clinicians, (2) whether such alarms are actionable, and (3) whether such alarms are associated with adverse outcomes ("code blue," death)...

BACKGROUND: The unplanned removal of medical devices poses a risk of harm to critically ill patients. OBJECTIVE: To determine rates, causes, and consequences of unplanned medical device removal, as well as factors mitigating harm to patients, in critical care units in the United Kingdom by reviewing patient safety incident reports. METHODS: Incidents of unplanned medical device removal in critical care units in North West England between 2011 and 2016 were retrospectively reviewed and classified...

BACKGROUND: Standards for interfacility transport in the United States recommend that each transport request be triaged to ensure that each patient is transported by an appropriate mechanism and by the appropriate clinicians in order to meet the patient's intratransport needs. No instrument currently exists to meet that need. The Transport Triage Tool, a novel instrument, has been designed to determine the clinician (paramedic, registered nurse, or advanced practice registered nurse) who will best meet the patient's needs during transport...

BACKGROUND: The death of an infant or child has been described as the most stressful life event, but few reports exist on the effects on parents' physical health in the year after the death. OBJECTIVE: To examine acute illnesses, use of health services, and medication changes among parents from 3 racial/ethnic groups 1 to 13 months after the death of an infant or child in the neonatal intensive care unit or pediatric intensive care unit. METHODS: In a longitudinal study, 96 parents (41% black, 32% Hispanic, 27% white) of deceased infants or children were recruited from 4 children's hospitals and death records...

BACKGROUND: Critical care clinicians routinely encounter ethically complex situations. Ethical conflicts sometimes arise from different perspectives regarding goals of care and moral obligations. These conflicts contribute to providers' moral distress and burnout and can erode trust between patients, families, and clinicians. OBJECTIVES: To explore the most disturbing and most frequent types of ethically complex situations; compare clinicians' perceptions of their own, each other's, and shared moral obligations for providing quality care in these situations; and examine perceptions of communication and teamwork...

BACKGROUND: Transthoracic intracardiac catheters are central catheters placed in the operating room at the conclusion of cardiac surgery for infants and children. Complications associated with these catheters (eg, bleeding, migration, premature removal, infection, leakage, and lack of function) have been described. However, no researchers have addressed the nursing management of these catheters in the intensive care unit, including catheter dressing and securement, mobilization of patients, and flushing the catheters, or the impact of these interventions on patients' outcomes...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Subjecting patients to stress has potentially detrimental effects on their physical and psychological recovery. OBJECTIVE: To identify stress-generating experiences that occur in an intensive care unit for patients after cardiac surgery. METHODS: A sample of 16 patients in a 14-bed cardiovascular intensive care unit at a university hospital in upstate New York completed a questionnaire (based on an established survey) asking them to rate 23 experiences on a Likert scale of 0 to 4...

BACKGROUND: Family-witnessed resuscitation is not consistently practiced in critical care despite the fact that it is recommended and research shows that it supports the emotional needs of families and patients and improves decision-making, care, and communication. Nurses support the idea of family-witnessed resuscitation but may not believe it should be standard practice. OBJECTIVES: To examine the attitudes of American community hospital critical care nurses about family-witnessed resuscitation and to identify differences in attitudes between nurses who have and have not experienced it...

BACKGROUND: Septic shock is one of the main causes of mortality in intensive care units worldwide. Nutritional support can affect the survival of patients with sepsis. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether resting energy expenditure, respiratory quotient, and oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production (measured by indirect calorimetry) differ between critically ill patients with vs without sepsis. METHODS: A total of 205 patients receiving mechanical ventilation were evaluated consecutively within the first 48 hours of admission...

Delirium, one of the most common manifestations of acute brain dysfunction, is a serious complication in patients receiving care throughout the hospital and a strong predictor of worse outcome. Although delirium monitoring is advocated in numerous evidence-based guidelines as part of routine clinical care, it is still not widely and consistently performed at the bedside in different patient care settings. In a debate on delirium monitoring in hospitalized patients at the 7th American Delirium Society meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, June 2017, areas related to the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of routine delirium monitoring of hospitalized patients were identified, and arguments both for (pro) and against (con) the practice were presented...

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BACKGROUND: Prehospital frailty has been associated with adverse hospital outcomes in critically ill adults. Although frailty assessment in intensive care units depends on patients' surrogates, frailty assessments by surrogates and researchers have not been compared. OBJECTIVES: To compare agreement and validity between surrogates' and researchers' assessments of frailty in critically ill older adults. METHODS: An observational cohort study of adults (aged ≥ 50 years) admitted to a medical/surgical intensive care unit was conducted...