Australian Critical Care : Official Journal of the Confederation of Australian Critical Care Nurses

BACKGROUND: Umbilical catheters are commonly inserted in newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) yet are associated with serious adverse events (AEs) such as malposition, migration, infection, thrombosis, hepatic complications, cardiac effusion, and cardiac tamponade. There is a need to determine the incidence and risk factors for AEs to inform safe practice. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to determine the incidence and risk factors for AEs (all-cause and individual types) associated with umbilical venous catheters (UVCs) and umbilical arterial catheters (UACs) in the NICU...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine physiotherapists' current practices and perspectives regarding their role in caring for people who are potential lung donors in the intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS: A qualitative descriptive design was used. Qualitative data were collected through audio-recorded, semistructured focus groups with a purposive sample of physiotherapists with experience working with people who are potential lung donors in ICUs. Two investigators completed independent thematic analysis to identify themes...

UNLABELLED: A qualitative study that provides evidence of the institutional support required by intensive care unit (ICU) nurses as second victims of adverse events (AEs). BACKGROUND: The phenomenon of second victims of AE in healthcare professionals can seriously impact professional confidence and contribute to the ongoing occurrence of AEs in hospitals. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to describe the coping trajectories of second victims among nurses working in ICUs in public hospitals in Chile...

BACKGROUND: Family partaking in writing practices, such as writing intensive care unit (ICU) patient diaries, personal diaries/journaling, social media, or instant messaging services, during ICU admission may allow the family to unintentionally participate in a form of expressive writing. These writing practices could provide structure for the family authors to explore emotions and manage significant life events, including death of a loved one. Limited studies have explored the family's postmortem experiences and perceived value of writing practices maintained during an ICU admission...

BACKGROUND: Peer support is a promising intervention to mitigate post-ICU disability, however there is a paucity of rigorously designed studies. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to establish feasibility of an in-person, co-designed, peer-support model. METHODS: Prospective, randomised, adaptive, single-centre pilot trial with blinded outcome assessment, conducted at a university-affiliated hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Intensive care unit survivors (and their nominated caregiver, where survivor and caregiver are referred to as a dyad), >18 years of age, able to speak and understand English and participate in phone surveys, were eligible...

BACKGROUND: There is increasing use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in intensive care, where nurses provide the majority of the required ongoing care of cannulas, circuit, and console. Limited evidence currently exists that details nursing perspectives, experiences, and challenges with workload in the provision of ECMO care. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate intensive care nurses' perceptions of workload in providing specialist ECMO therapy and care in a high-volume ECMO centre...

INTRODUCTION: Prognosis in oncology has improved with early diagnosis and novel therapies. However, critical illness continues to trigger clinical and ethical dilemmas for the treating oncology and intensive care unit (ICU) doctors. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate the perceptions of oncology and ICU doctors in managing critically ill cancer patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional web-based survey exploring the management of a fictitious acutely deteriorating case vignette with solid-organ malignancy...

BACKGROUND: Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) has been used as a primary or supportive treatment in critical paediatric patients during the clinical course of many diseases. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to characterise the indications, complications, and outcomes of critically ill children who received TPE in a tertiary referral paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). METHODS: This retrospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary referral 13-bed PICU of a university hospital...

BACKGROUND: Intensive care nurses experience many difficulties in caring for patients with delirium. Thus, it is valuable to conduct in-depth research on the factors that influence the difficulties faced by intensive care nurses in caring for those with delirium as doing so can result in tangible improvements in patient outcomes. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to explore the difficulties faced by intensive care nurses in caring for patients with delirium in light of the demographic, clinical, and professional and management characteristics of nurses...

BACKGROUND: Mechanically ventilated patients are at risk of developing inspiratory muscle weakness (IMW), which is associated with failure to wean and poor outcomes. Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) is a recommended intervention during and after extubation but has not been widely adopted in Dutch intensive care units (ICUs). OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to explore the potential, barriers, and facilitators for implementing IMT as treatment modality for mechanically ventilated patients...

BACKGROUND: Tidal volume (Vt) delivery during mechanical ventilation is influenced by gas compression, humidity, and temperature. OBJECTIVES: This bench study aimed at assessing the accuracy of Vt delivery by paediatric intensive care ventilators according to the humidification system. Secondary objectives were to assess the following: (i) the accuracy of Vt delivery in ventilators with an integrated Y-piece pneumotachograph and (ii) the ability of ventilators to deliver and maintain a preset positive end-expiratory pressure...

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: Intensive care outreach nurses are required to work as part of an ad hoc team to review and manage patients who are deteriorating outside of critical care environments. Nontechnical skills, such as those encompassed by crisis resource management principles, are essential when working in these situations. Used commercially for entertainment, escape rooms have recently been utilised by clinical educators to teach both technical and nontechnical skills. OBJECTIVE: This exploratory study evaluates how advanced clinicians, intensive care outreach nurses, experience an escape room scenario designed to consolidate crisis resource management (CRM) principles...

BACKGROUND: Continuous haemoglobin, venous blood oxygen saturation, and haematocrit (Hct) monitoring is currently not applied during continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). Such Hct monitoring enables estimation of changes in blood volume as percentage change (ΔBV%) from therapy start time and is incorporated into intermittent haemodialysis machines but not CRRT machines despite its potential to optimise fluid management in CRRT patients. METHODS: To overcome this problem, we used a standalone monitor (CRIT-LINE®IV, Fresenius Medical Care, Concord, USA) with an associated in-line blood chamber (CRIT-LINE®IV Blood Chamber, Fresenius Medical Care, Concord, USA) and designed our own adaptor connection piece (TekMed and Morriset, Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia) to allow these readings at the vascular access outflow and recorded data for estimated Hct and derived ΔBV% during CRRT...

BACKGROUND: Critically ill patients experience intense physical and psychological stressors in the intensive care unit (ICU). More than half of ICU survivors report overwhelming mental health symptoms after ICU discharge, such as post-traumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, and depression. Relaxation-inducing integrative therapies such as guided imagery, massage, therapeutic touch, music therapy, and spirituality-based healing practices have the potential to promote comfort and relaxation and improve patient outcomes...

BACKGROUND: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have amongst the highest incidence of sepsis globally. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to describe the characteristics, short- and long-term outcomes of non-Indigenous, Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander Australians admitted with sepsis to an intensive care unit (ICU) to inform healthcare outcome improvement. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of 500 consecutive sepsis admissions to the Cairns Hospital ICU compared clinical characteristics, short-term (before ICU discharge) and long-term (2000 days posthospital discharge) outcomes...

BACKGROUND: Deceased organ donation saves lives. Donation processes in New Zealand operate under an opt-in system, which requires consent from families of patients diagnosed with brain death or circulatory death while in the intensivecare unit. The donation demand and supply mismatch is a global phenomenon. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to understand the determinants of deceased organ donation decisions in the adult intensive care setting from the perspectives of staff and families...

BACKGROUND: Older adults constitute the majority of patients admitted to COVID-19 intensive care units (ICUs). The knowledge and attitudes of ICU nurses towards older adults diagnosed with COVID-19 significantly impact the quality of treatment and nursing care they deliver. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the ICU nurses' knowledge and attitudes towards older adults with COVID-19. METHOD: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted between February and October 2021...