Essays on Intensive Care

Is Hand washing more effective in Infection Reduction versus Gel Hand Sanitizers?

Is Hand washing more effective in Infection Reduction versus Gel Hand Sanitizers?

Introduction

Today, the burden of health care-associated infections (HCAIs) are drawing attention not only from governments and health care regulatory bodies but also from patients and more so from health care practitioners (HCPs) themselves. This phenomenon is not merely because of the magnitude of the problem regarding the associated incidences of mortality, cost, and complexity of treatment, and morbidity, but also due to the growing recognition and understanding that, most of these complications are preventable. The medical fraternity is thus witnessing in tandem unprecedented improvements in the spread ...

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 ...

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 ...

Rapid Appraisal

The impacts of nursing inputs on the quality care provided in nursing homes was investigated and found that mix staffing process can effectively optimize the organization standard and reduce the patient adverse outcomes (Hendrix, 2001, para.25). The statistical outcomes of this study present valuable data that is relevant to the proposed issue. The study outcomes demonstrated that the costs of care for decubitus ulcers significantly reduces with the presence of RNs and NAs while it increases with the LPN presence, indicating the significance of delegating appropriate staff for appropriate work as it can effectively improve patient outcomes and reduce ...

Introduction

Sentinel events occur unexpectedly within the working areas. When this event occurs, they can lead to serious injuries or deaths at a time. The injuries can be physical or psychological depending on the extent of injury (Valentin et al. 2006). However, the Joint Commission defines sentinel event as any unexpected incident in the health care sector, which can end in demise or solemn physical or mental damage to the patient in place. Nevertheless, sentinel events are not in any case related to the natural sickness of the patient neither the illness result into the occurrence of sentinel events. The ...

The complexity of healthcare settings demands that care organizations have a definitive manner in which care is delivered. There are many forms of care delivery methods in nursing, but Finkelman (2012) outlines various distinct methods: total patient care/case method, team nursing, primary nursing, progressive patient care, functional nursing, care and service team models, among others. Some of the models are no longer in use in nursing practice, but they have made a significant contribution to the current models. Also, some of the models have maintained their main characteristics, but have been adapted to fit the modern demands of healthcare. ...

NR451 RN Capstone Course

Term and Year Skin-to-Skin Contact for Neonates The separation of mother and neonate for non-urgent medical reasons is a growing trend in nursing practice. However, research has indicated that the practice can have a deleterious long term effect on the healthy infant and mother with regard to breast feeding, cardio-respiratory stability, and blood glucose levels (Moore, Anderson, Bergman, & Dowswell, (2014). The solution to the problem is to initiate skin-to-skin contact at birth (Moore, et al., 2014). The nursing focused plan is to introduce the practice of skin-to-skin contact following birth, which entails placing the naked infant prone on the ...

The healthcare sector in the U.S has significantly reviewed and modified its technical, policy and structural capabilities to help improve quality of outcomes and patient safety. There has been so much focus on the need to ensure that the healthcare system achieves the optimal value for money though eliminating the cases of illnesses, infections and injuries that have previously occurred within the settings. Despite these measures, the cases of hospital acquired Illnesses and infections have been rife. This has been associated with poor outcomes namely, high mortality rates, high morbidity rates and more glaringly the erosion of the public ...

A matter of ongoing ethical concern for nurses, doctors and other medical professionals is the need for clear guidelines when it comes to the decision to suggest that a patient or family consider filling out a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) order. These kinds of advanced healthcare directives are becoming ever more common as our population ages. While it has been widely accepted that medical professionals should respect legally implemented end-of-life treatment preferences for those patients whose lives are drawing to a close for those who suffer a sudden and nonrecoverable illness, the technical and practical aspects of how these ...

Point 1

Article 1 The first article selected, Burden of Hospital Acquired Infections and Antimicrobial Use in Vietnamese Adult Intensive Care Units, highlights a situation where patients tend to experience economic burdens associated with hospital-acquired infections. Phu et al (2016) provide readers with a background analysis of the impacts associated with such types of infections especially on matters associated with health care costs. One key aspect that the authors note when undertaking their study is that Vietnam lacks a national surveillance system for hospital-acquired infections. Thus, the number of infections occurring on an annual basis, especially when dealing with public hospitals, ...

Approximately 8 million healthcare workers in the U.S. are working in environments that place them at risk of exposure to hazardous drugs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). The risk to healthcare workers increases yearly as new non-antineoplastic pharmaceuticals are added to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s alert list of hazardous drugs (Connor, MacKenzie, DeBord, Trout & O’Callaghan, 2014). The addition of new hazardous drugs requires continually updating of procedures to prevent an increasing diverse range of potential exposures (Connor, et al., 2014). The purpose of this paper is to examine the study of ...

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 ...

Infections in hospital settings are a challenge in nursing because of the potential dangers that they pose to a wide number of patients. Bloodstream infections from central lines are particularly hazardous as they affect patients that are already vulnerable, meaning that they contribute to morbidity and mortality in the hospital setting (Rinke et al., 2012). Although the rates of central-line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) can be reduced by up to 67% through the introduction of checklists (Schulman et al., 2011), the issue continues to be important in a wide number of hospital settings. It is also important to understand the ...

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. ...

1, why was this study done?

According to Al-Thaqafy et al. (221), the ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the intensive care units (ICUs) on the patient who have been mechanically ventilated. This condition has the potential of increasing health burden to the critically ill patients due to the long hospital stay and the high cost of treatment. Although several techniques have been employed to curb this illness, the mortality and morbidity rates associated with VAP keeps rising due to lack of a definite strategy on how to address this disease. Therefore, this study was done to ...

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 ...

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 ...

Abstract

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, central line-associated bloodstream infections lead to the deaths of thousands of people every year in the United States. These infections actually represent about 10% of all hospital-acquired infections translating to about 71, 900 infections per year in US hospitals. Also, this condition adds billions of dollars to the total health care system costs. However, these infections are actually preventable. This paper analyzes literature related to this topic and tries to establish the best method for solving the problem of central line-associated bloodstream infections. The paper suggests the standardization of central ...

Introduction

Fundraising has been essential for a lot of organizations, particularly charities and non-profit making organizations. Numerous organizations opt to host fundraising events to gather for expenses for needed programs or services. Raising funds have several other benefits besides securing funds for the entities. A consistent and solid fundraising plan assists the organization to spread its mission and to achieve its goals (Larson, & Gray, 2011). This paper will examine Student Fundraising-Project Case Study and discuss and study next steps that the Council of Fraternities and Sororities (CFS) need to take. It will also evaluate three fundraising projects CFS can take ...

Banner health is a non-profit health organization in the U.S with its headquarters based in Phoenix in Arizona. This organization is currently operating in seven states in the country, that include Arizona, California, Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming, and Nebraska. The organization is operating 25 acute-care facilities and several other special facilities. Banner health organization is also operating clinics, hospital care, emergency care, hospice, ambulatory surgery centers, rehabilitation services, long-term care, home health agencies, clinical laboratories and primary care (Banner Health, 2013). This organization has made itself unique as a healthcare institution in the sense that it’s committed to ...

Abstract 3

Introduction 4 Statement of the problem 4 Literature Review 4 Research Question 6 Research Design 6 Study Instruments 7

References 8

Abstract Visitation in the Intensive Care Unit in health facilities has been a controversial issue for a long time. There has been continuous wrangles between the health practitioners and the patient’s family and friends over the issue of visitation, which means that a solution has to be sought. The proposal is to seek an intervention method and policy that will ensure visitation is allowed and that it is carried out with necessary regulations. The proposal paper, therefore, seeks to ...

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 ...

Abstract

Medication errors are common medical errors in healthcare settings that often lead to patient harm. Medication errors transpire during ordering, administration, and transcription of medications. Healthcare information technology is a promising strategy for prevention of these errors. In this paper, an article that reports on the application of technology to prevent medication errors was analyzed. The article is entitled “Effect of bar-code technology on the safety of medication administration”. It is authored by Poon et al. (2010) and reports on the methods and findings of a study that examined the impact of the use of eMAR technology on rates ...

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 ...

Increase Number of Fails in Delirious Patients in ICU

Introduction The submission criteria supported by this journal were well spelled out. Precisely, the author needed to present a brief description of the research proposal in an abstract. The content of the abstract had to be concise and detailed. Additionally, the originality of the articles presented had to be unquestionable, therefore, the authors needed to submit authentic materials to the journal before the evaluation process began. The criteria mentioned that the author needed to provide an outline of the methodology to be used in the presentation of the project. As a result, there was a need to mention the ...

The identification of the program of study and professional development plan (PDP) is critical when pursuing graduate study. The PDP and the program have to be in line with the personal and professional goals (Thompson, 2011). This assignment will be highly significant in describing my educational and professional background and look keenly into the professional and personal goals about my course and the practicum.

Educational and Professional Background

My name is XXXX, and I wish to begin with a brief description of my personal life. I currently reside in XXXX. I am married, I have children, and I work in a neonatal intensive ...

Abstract

This paper presents the review of the requirements on authors before posting a journal article on The Online Journal of Issues in Nurses. The review encompasses the requirements on the preparation of the abstract and the qualifying manuscript. The journal often indicates the topics for which journal article submissions are required and among the things that they insist on most is the language used in the journal article, the manuscripts, and the abstract. The paper also illustrates how the manuscript should be structured for it to be accepted for publication in The Online Journal of Issues in Nurses. The ...

Abstract

In today's world, there are hundreds of developments that are taking place in medicine and nursing. These advances are made possible through thorough research and verifications using clinical projects. The steps in propelling forward the field of medicine are made upon identification of an individual problem that gives researchers a basis for their research, or rather a problem statement. One of the problems that have been identified is the CLABSI (Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections). Many patients suffer severe infections that arise during treatment of an initial infection. Most of these infections, especially when not handled appropriately lead ...

English II-Pre Ap

Introduction Assisted suicide is a term used where doctors knowingly provided a patient or helps a person commit suicide. This can be done through inducing lethal drugs to the patients. Assisted suicide occurs in many cases due to some circumstances that leave the doctors with a choice to either save a person’s life or not (Asch 123). When doctors have to induce the assisted suicide, there has to be an agreement reached with patients, patient’s family and the doctors in order to ensure that the case is not conducted without the knowledge of the patients. When there ...

Mechanisms by which Incompatible Red Cells may be Cleared from Circulation

Introduction One of the leading causes of transfusion-associated mortality is related to haemolytic transfusion reactions.1 Many factors that account for haemolytic transfusion, and complement activation is the most widely studied and documented feature linked with such reactions and fatalities, and many researchers have focused on the role of complement initiation, activation and regulation with respect to these reactions. Others have focused on the underlying strategies involved in mitigating the complement modulation, in the event of an incompatible red blood cell transfusion.1 Many reports have stated that incompatible red blood cell (RBC) transfusions are the leading cause of death in ...

Business process re-engineering

Business process re-engineering

Summary of the case study

The article “Business process re-engineering in healthcare management: a case study” by Massimo Bertolini, M. Bevilacqua, F.E. Ciarapica and G. Giacchetta is driven by the purpose of carrying out a business process re-engineering (BPR) in a given surgical ward to improve the efficiency of operations in the unit. The authors argue that health care, just like any other industry has become very complex regarding operations. This has therefore made the management in many institutions to come up with clear strategies for managing this form of complexity. Despite the efforts made, there is the difficulty of fusing ...

Shortage in the staffing of nurses is a significant challenge for healthcare systems all over the world. Although most studies associated with inadequacies in nurse staffing have been conducted in the USA, other studies in the same area have also been done in other parts of the world with similar findings; New Zealand (North et al., 2013), Malawi (Bradley et al., 2015) and Hong Kong (Chau et al., 2015). Nursing shortages have been associated with poor medical services, poor patient outcome, high stress levels and burnout among nurses, low retention rates and high turnover of nurses. Evidence from numerous ...

AND

THE “DEAD-DONOR RULE” IN THE ETHICS OF ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION Abstract Organ transplantation has given rise to numerous questions in the minds of the medical professionals of the world across the globe. There have been an enormous number of unanswered questions regarding the ethical issues about the concept of organ donation and organ transplantation. In this paper, we will discuss the role of dead donors rule and brain death in the context of organ donation. It has been seen since years that different parts of the world and different people of the medical fraternity have different definitions of death. For ...

Medical facilities have advanced immensely since times due to ever increasing demands related to health issues and sudden tragedies involving accidents, burns, etc. The critical care is one such medical department that treats cases with extreme illnesses and serious conditions. But, the treatments in the critical care units are not the only effect left on patients being treated. Rather, the complex technical equipment used for treatment, the high dosage medicines administered to treat the medical conditions and a longing to be with the loved ones may leave a long term impact on the patient’s mental framework. It does ...

Abstract

Nursing shock patients in the Intensive Care Unit entails medication accuracy and critical judgment to save the lives of the patients. As such it is important to know the nature, pathophysiology and types of shock, which are named as hypovolemic, cardiogenic, neurogenic, and distributive tasks. Also it is important to know the roles of ICU nurses in the health care service for the shock patients, from the time the patient is sent to the ICU up to the monitoring and communication with the relatives of the patients. This paper is intended for a qualitative literature review which follows ethical ...

PICOT question is an approach used to identify the components of any clinical issue. Pressure Ulcer that is also commonly referred to as bedsore is an injury of the skin or tissues caused by moisture, friction, and pressure. The disease arises when a patient does not have space for mobility or cannot change its position on his own by lying on the bed.

PICOT question for Pressure ulcers in the hospital is as follows:

Does turning and repositioning of critically ill patients after regular intervals help to prevent pressure ulcers as compared to pressure redistributing support surfaces?P: Critically ill patientsI:  Repositioning and Turning patient at regular intervalsC: Pressure redistributing support ...

Based on the first case, Mrs. Lewis acted correctly by contacting a lawyer. When inappropriate activity occurs in the workplace, and management does not act upon it, then someone has to act. Mrs. Lewis is a whistleblower, which is defined as “an attempt by a member or former member of an organization to issue a warning to the public about a serious wrongdoing or danger created or concealed by an organization” (Davis & Konishi, 2007). By taking a stand, Mrs. Lewis is advocating for the abused patients of the nursing home. In the vignette, Mrs. Lewis hired a lawyer to ...

Central Line-associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI)

Introduction to CLABSI The central line associated blood stream infection is a confirmed laboratory illness that attacks the bloodstream of human beings. The infection attacks patients who have been on the central line within a timeframe of 48 hours before the bloodstream infection develops. The central line is a hollow pipe positioned in a huge vein located at the torso, groin, neck, or arm. The tube’s main use is to pass liquids, medications, withdrawn blood, or to observe the conditions of the patient. The central line is usually different from other standard intravenous lines because it penetrates deeper ...

Introduction to healthcare-associated infections

Hospital associated infections (HAI) a patient safety issue of concern to all hospitals The Joint Commission considers the reduction of hospital-associated infections as an essential intervention in the provision of safe patient care. Prevalence of HAI as reported in Magill et al. (2014)

In 2011, 722,000 HAIs were reported in American acute care hospitals

One in every twenty-five hospital patient gets at least one HAI on any given day More than 50% of the HAIs occur outside intensive care units Effect of HAIs on health care system An estimated 75,000 HAI patients die while hospitalized (Magil et al., 2014) HAIs lead to longer length of stay HAIs are associated ...

Standards-Based Approach

I was assigned to offer nursing care to a patient with intra-aortic balloon pumping (IABP) that needed a detailed cared. The name of the patient was Jassim, aged 63 years old; diagnosed with post-operative myocardial infarction. The indication for IABP was supported by the presence of acute left ventricular failure post cardiac surgery. The patient had low cardiac output syndrome after cardiac surgery. Having received training on the care of patients with IABP, I was confident that I would provide safe and effective care. However, it turned out to be a little challenging than I had expected. My aim ...

Abstract

PRN narcotics combined with massage therapy represent a typical clinical practice used to manage acute pain. Nonetheless, PRN narcotics have come under increasing scrutiny because of their association with safety and dependence problems. The present study presents a review of current literature on the use of massage as a pain management technique. Researchers have identified the effectiveness of foot massage, touch massage, vibration therapy combined with adjunctive massage, and rhythmical massage in the control of stress and postoperative pain. In a recent study, patients with back pain have reported experiencing chronic pain for about one to eight years following ...

ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF A HEALTH CARE FACILITY

Hospitals are complex business structures in addition to complex medical organizations. The structure of the hospitals is very important to ensure that all departments are properly supervised and functioning. Hospitals are sorted by bed count and on average a medium size hospital contains an inpatient unit of approximately 200 beds . Regardless of bed size all hospitals need certain departments functioning to be able to provide services and meet the overriding regulations that are required. The following organizational chart serves most hospitals well. Of course, larger hospitals may find that the departments need to be separated further and other managers ...

Introduction

Pain is one of the common problems that affect many old people worldwide (Tse, Leung & Ho, 2012). Despite the high number of old people who are affected by it, this condition is normally undertreated. According to the Maslow Hierarchy Model of Needs, the high pain prevalence is likely to affect negatively the fulfillment of the psychological needs (Tse, Leung & Ho, 2012). This challenge comes in the wake of an increase in the life expectancy of senior citizens aged 65 years and above in the past few decades. Since 1999, the life expectancy of these group has improved by 11 ...

Nursing

Differences between Quantitative and Qualitative Research Quantitative and qualitative researches differ in their approach to the nature of phenomenon they study. Quantitative research is based on the measurement of quantity or amount and is applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity. On the other hand, qualitative research is concerned with qualitative phenomena, and is concerned about discovering the underlying motives and desires of the subjects (Kothari, 2004, p.3). Qualitative research studies smaller groups that are not randomly selected, while quantitative research studies larger and randomly selected groups. Qualitative research is holistic, looking at the big ...

(Author, Department, University,

Corresponding Address and email)

Introduction Methillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infection is caused by staphylococcus bacteria that is resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics (e.g. penicillin, methicillin, and amoxicillin), which are normally used to treat staphylococcus infections. Studies have shown that about 40% of Staphylococcus aureus strains have developed resistance to methicillin (Durai, Ng, & Hoque, 2010). Most of the MRSA infections occur in people, who have been admitted in hospitals or other such healthcare settings as, for example, dialysis centers and nursing homes. In case of the development of infection in healthcare settings, it is also known as healthcare-associated (HA) MRSA infections. Usually, ...

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 ...

Denise, Lemke(2007) Sympathetic Storming After Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. Critical Care Nurse 2007;27;30-37 Brain injury is very common in traumatically injured people. They sometimes require sedation and intubation to reduce the brains workload. They could be restless and agitated in association with signs and symptoms like posturing, tachycardia, fever, diaphoresis, hypertension, papillary dilatation, tachypnea and hyperthermia. This is referred to as sympathetic storming. It is seen in about 1/3rd of comatose patients with severe traumatic brain injury. Sympathetic storming could occur within a day post injury and could last up to weeks afterwards. It is thought ...

The risk of death by patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) stems not only from their critical illness but also from nasocomial infection. Among the critically ill patients, pneumonia is one of the most common nasocomial infections, affecting 27% of the patients (Cai, 2011). Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) or ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) as it is commonly referred occur 48 hours or more after admission and endotracheal intubation (mechanical ventilation) of the patient (Drakulovic, 1999). The frequency of nasocomial pneumonia varies among the types of ICUs with high incidences of VAP mortality reported in children’s pediatric intensive care unit ( ...

Abstract

Telemedicine can be said to be the use of information of a medical nature, shared by one site to another via the internet or intranet or any mass medium to help in the strengthening of the patients’ health (Sharpe, 2011). This involves the use of modern technology to communicate with patients and health practitioners. This may be through the use of e-health, videoconferencing, patients’ portals, still images and many others.

This technology results to the improved access by the patients to health care and improves the productivity of the health practitioners if well installed. It has also ...

Introduction Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) are defined as infections that occur mainly when a patient is catheterized and germs invade the blood steam via the catheter that is placed in a large vein to ensure the patient gets the necessary fluids, medication or even blood and speedy medical tests in some cases(vdh.virginia.gov). The severity of the infection depend on various factors, like hospitalization length and catheter-related factors, among many others (vdh.virginia.gov).

According to the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, a Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, about 18,000 ICU patients experienced CLABSIs and another 23,000 patients ...

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 ...

Nosocomial infections are infections acquired by patients and staff within a hospital or other health care settings. The World Health Organization (WHO, 2002) defined nosocomial infection as an infection acquired by a patient in a health care facility who was admitted for a different reason than the infection, and which must not be present or incubating at the time of admission. It may be alternately defined as any infection that develops 48 hours after admission or within 48 hours after the patient has been discharged (Shaikh et al., 2008). These infections are also referred to as healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) (Calfee, 2012). Nosocomial ...

Abstract

Early ambulation is now recognised as an intervention that confers many positive benefits to patients following cardiac surgery. However, there is lack of clarity as to the optimum time for the patient to perform early ambulation. A focused question was developed to ascertain whether early ambulation within 24 hours after extubation is more effective compared to ambulation 24 hours or more following extubation. The clinical question guided the search and retrieval of 6 studies that were subsequently appraised. There are benefits and many limitations of the chosen studies and do not provide sufficient evidence to answer the clinical question ...

Nurses are often confronted by various ethical challenges or dilemma situations during their professional practice. It is therefore important that they be familiar with the ethical codes of conduct and decision-making. As one of the most trusted professions, the nursing ethical codes of conduct were first adopted by the International Council of Nurses in 1953. The codes guide nurses in decision-making whenever they face barriers in executing their professional obligations. One of the difficult situations in which these codes help nurses to navigate through is in maintaining patients’ privacy and confidentiality. This is particularly true for student nurses who ...

Abstract

The safety of the healthcare provider (s) and that of its clients (patients) remains to be of uttermost importance. The increasing incidence of acquired infection within the health facilities due to the use of contaminated materials as well as transfer of communicable diseases is become notably identified scenario. Dealing with the incidences of acquired infection through the process of healthcare delivery is becoming a world health organizations’ (WHO) major concern, (Weston, 2013). Over the past decade the rising complains on the diseases related from acquired infection was identified. This shows that there is need to draw a close attention towards saving ...

Part 1. Differences between quantitative and qualitative research

Research is the parlance used to refer to the search of knowledge. It is described by Kothari (2004) as both a scientific and systematic search for information and an art of scientific investigation. There are two approaches used in research, namely quantitative and qualitative research and they vary greatly on how the research is done. Quantitative research only uses measurable data to analyze while the qualitative research approach mainly uses data that are narrative and subjective. The goal or research objective of quantitative data is to use statistical models using a systematic procedure. This approach uses various steps to progress logically ...

Quantitative Article Critique

Methods, Results, Data Analysis and Findings The quantitative research article chosen to be discussed was entitled Predictive Values of Semi-Quantitative Pro-Calcitonin Test and Common Biomarkers for the Clinical Outcomes of Community-Acquired Pneumonia. The respondent population was mainly composed of people who have been hospitalized as a result of having been diagnosed with Community Acquired Pneumonia between August 2010 and October 2012 using the semi-quantitative serum PCT Test. The objective of the research was to determine whether there is an existing relationship between the semi-quantitative serum pro-calcitonin (PCT) test (BRAHMS PCT-Q) and the clinical outcomes of patients with community acquired ...