American Journal of Critical Care

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

The theory of posttraumatic growth arose from accounts of various trauma survivors experiencing not only distress but also growth and change. An intensive care unit admission is an unplanned, sudden, and traumatic experience, and many survivors have posttraumatic stress that can lead to posttraumatic stress disorder. Survivors leave the intensive care unit with new functional impairments that drive depression, and they frequently experience anxiety. Amidst the stress of understanding the trauma of an intensive care unit admission, survivors can grow in their world views, relationships, and sense of self...

PURPOSE: Critical care nurses caring for patients with a tracheostomy are at high risk because of the predilection of SARS-CoV-2 for respiratory and mucosal surfaces. This review identifies patient-centered practices that ensure safety and reduce risk of infection transmission to health care workers during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: Consensus statements, guidelines, institutional recommendations, and scientific literature on COVID-19 and previous outbreaks were reviewed...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: In response to the coronavirus pandemic, New York State mandated that all hospitals double the capacity of their adult intensive care units In this facility, resources were mobilized to increase from 104 to 283 beds. OBJECTIVE: To create and implement a 3-hour curriculum to prepare several hundred non-critical care staff nurses to manage critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019. METHODS: Critical care nursing leaders and staff developed and implemented a flexible critical care nursing curriculum tailored to the diverse experience, expertise, and learning needs of non-critical care nursing staff who were being redeployed to critical care units during the surge response to the pandemic...

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: Most hospitals lack neuropsychologists, and this lack has hampered the conduct of large-scale, multicenter clinical trials to evaluate the effect of interventions on long-term cognition in patients in intensive care units (ICUs). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility of videophone-assisted neuropsychological testing administered by using an inexpensive high-definition web camera and a laptop. METHODS: This prospective, single-center observational study, conducted at a tertiary care academic hospital, included ICU survivors aged 18 years or older...

BACKGROUND: Most family members of potential organ donors experience the death of their relative in an intensive care unit. While under an emotional burden, bereaved relatives must make a decision that will affect the life of other patients. A better understanding of grief within the context of organ donation will help intensive care unit staff better support families during this process. OBJECTIVES: To empirically describe the emotional reactions of potential organ donors' family members facing a loved one's death and analyze the relationship of these reactions to factors that occur in the process of illness and death...

BACKGROUND: Burnout is a maladaptive response to work-related stress that is associated with negative consequences for patients, clinicians, and the health care system. Critical care nurses are at especially high risk for burnout. Previous studies of burnout have used survey methods that simultaneously measure risk factors and outcomes of burnout, potentially introducing common method bias. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the frequency of burnout and individual and organizational characteristics associated with burnout among critical care nurses across a national integrated health care system using data from an annual survey and methods that avoid common method bias...

BACKGROUND: More than half of intensive care unit survivors require assistance from family caregivers after discharge. Caregiving is associated with negative consequences including poor health-related quality of life, psychosocial distress, and burden. Little is known about how family caregivers find satisfaction and meaning in their experience. OBJECTIVES: To explore positive descriptions of the experiences of family caregivers of critically ill patients and to describe factors that family caregivers view as important to a positive caregiving experience from hospitalization to 4 months after discharge...

BACKGROUND: Outcomes in pediatric critical care research are typically selected by the researcher. OBJECTIVES: (1) To identify outcomes prioritized by patients and their families following a critical illness and (2) to determine the overlap between patient-centered and researcher-selected study outcomes. METHODS: An exploratory descriptive qualitative study nested within a longitudinal cohort study conducted in 2 pediatric intensive care units (PICUs)...

BACKGROUND: Family members of patients in intensive care units may experience psychological distress and substantial caregiver burden. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether change in caregiver burden from intensive care unit admission to 3-month follow-up is associated with caregiver depression at 3 months. METHODS: Caregiver burden was assessed at enrollment and 3 months later, and caregiver depression was assessed at 3 months. Depression was measured with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score...

BACKGROUND: Patients experience endotracheal intubation in various settings with wide-ranging risks for postintubation complications such as aspiration and ventilator-associated conditions. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate associations between intubation setting, presence of aspiration biomarkers, and clinical outcomes. METHODS: This study is a subanalysis of data from the NO-ASPIRATE single-blinded randomized clinical trial. Data were prospectively collected for 513 adult patients intubated within 24 hours of enrollment...

BACKGROUND: Nurses in intensive care units are exposed to hundreds of alarms during a shift, and research shows that most alarms are not clinically relevant. Alarm fatigue can occur when a nurse becomes desensitized to alarms. Alarm fatigue can jeopardize patient safety, and adverse alarm events can lead to patients dying. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate how a process intervention affects the number of alarms during an 8-hour shift in an intensive care unit. METHODS: A total of 62 patients from an intensive care unit were included in the study; 32 of these patients received the intervention, which included washing the patient's chest with soap and water and applying new electrocardiography electrodes at the start of a shift...