Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

A Benchmark Project On Early Mobility In The Intensive Care Unit, Millicent Odhiambo

MSN Capstone Projects

Introducing early mobility interventions in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a crucial measure to improve patient outcomes and optimize care delivery in the critical care setting. The objective of this project is to tackle the difficulties caused by extended periods of immobility in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), with the aim of diminishing complications, shortening the duration of ICU stays, and enhancing the functional recovery of patients.

Medical Device-Related Pressure Injury (Mdrpi) Prevention In The Intensive Care Unit (Icu): An Evidence Based Practice Quality Improvement Project, Sana Shah

DNP Projects

Introduction: All intensive care unit (ICU) patients utilize various medical devices for care and treatment, placing them at high-risk for medical device-related pressure injuries (MDRPIs), which can lead to life-threatening infections, wounds/scars, and consumption of additional time and products to rectify these issues. Lack of appropriate decompression measures and improper bedside handoff report was recognized in the ICU at a hospital in Connecticut (CT).

Method: A literature search using CINAHL, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews was conducted, restricting the search to the period between 2018-2022. The keywords searched were: “pressure injuries,” “adult patients,” “intensive care …

Using Debriefs To Reduce Nursing Burnout In Nurses Caring For The Oncology Population, Courtney M. Wilkes

MSN Capstone Projects

Nurses are a critical part of healthcare and make up the largest section of healthcare professionals in the United States. According to the World Health Organization (2020), there are approximately 29 million nurses and midwives globally. The increasing need for nurses is not a new discovery. According to the American Association of College of Nurses, more registered nursing jobs will be available through 2022 than any other profession in the United States. The number of nurses leaving the workforce each year has been growing steadily from around 40,000 in 2010 to nearly 80,000 in 2020. Nursing burnout is a known …

The Effectiveness Of A Webinar To Improve Icu Nurses’ Competency In Palliative Care, Justine Kirschner

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Student Works

Patients with serious illness lack access to quality patient-centered care despite the growth in palliative care awareness and services. Palliative care is an interdisciplinary care system intended to optimize the quality of life of patients with serious, life-limiting illness and their families. Patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) are facing critical illnesses and can benefit from palliative care integration into their care. This DNP quality improvement (QI) project, grounded in Benner’s Novice to Expert nursing theory, aimed to increase ICU nurse competency in palliative care from novice to competent through a continuing education webinar. The study analyzed nurses’ …

Generating Evidence Of Critical Care Nurses' Perceptions, Knowledge, Beliefs, And Use Of Music Therapy, Aromatherapy, And Guided Imagery, Annie Heiderscheit, Shawna Vernisie, Wendy L. Magee, Helen Shoemark

Faculty Authored Articles

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of Trauma Service Guideline For The Use Of Phenobarbital In The Management Of The Non-Icu Trauma Patient At Risk Or Experiencing Severe Alcohol Withdrawal, Joseph Rappold, Julianne Ontengco, Stephen Tyzik, Suneela Nayak, Ruth Hanselman, Amy Sparks

Operations Transformation

The trauma service in a large academic tertiary medical center admits a large proportion of patients with the secondary diagnosis of alcohol use disorder. Given the successful use of phenobarbital in the critical care unit for withdrawal prophylaxis and treatment of acute withdrawal, a quality improvement project was established to create and implement guidelines for the non ICU patient.

A root cause analysis demonstrated several issues to include inconsistent clinical decision documentation. As a result, several countermeasures were initiated to address the various issues.

Post implementation of countermeasures, a decrease in the amount of severe alcohol withdrawal as well as …

Reduction Of Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (Cauti) In A Critical Care Setting, Deborah Jackson, Lindsey Lucas, Shawn Taylor, Jonathan Archibald, Stephen Tyzik, Suneela Nayak, Ruth Hanselman, Amy Sparks

Operations Transformation

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common type of healthcare associated infections. Seventy five percent are related to indwelling urinary catheters. These infections come with increased morbidity and mortality risk. A team of intensive care providers at a large academic tertiary medical center initiated a quality improvement project to reduce the number of CAUTIs.

Baseline data established the total number of catheter days and CAUTIs by month. A subsequent root cause analysis was completed and several counter measures were developed to include a KPI implementation to track that all intensive care providers are educated in CAUTI and creation of …

Critical Care Nurses’ Suggestions To Improve End-Of-Life Care Obstacles: Minimal Change Over 17 Years, Renea L. Beckstrand, Kacie Hart Hadley, Karlen E. Luthy, Janelle L. B. Macintosh

Faculty Publications

Background: Critical-care nurses (CCNs) provide end-of-life (EOL) care on a daily basis as 1 in 5 patients dies while in intensive care units. Critical-care nurses overcome many obstacles to perform quality EOL care for dying patients.

Objectives: The purposes of this study were to collect CCNs’ current suggestions for improving EOL care and determine if EOL care obstacles have changed by comparing results to data gathered in 1998.

Methods: A 72-item questionnaire regarding EOL care perceptions was mailed to a national, geographically dispersed, random sample of 2000 members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. One of 3 qualitative questions …

The Emotional Intelligence Of Registered Nurses Commencing Critical Care Nursing, Yvette Nagel, Amanda Towell, Elzabe Nel, Fiona Foxall

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: Critical care is described as complex, detailed healthcare in a unique, technologically rich environment. Critical care nursing requires a strong knowledge base and exceptional clinical and technological skills to cope in this demanding environment. Many registered nurses (RNs) commencing work in these areas may lack resilience, and because of the stress of the critical care environment, coping mechanisms need to be developed. To prevent burnout and to enable critical care nurses to function holistically, emotional intelligence (EI) is essential in the development of such coping mechanisms.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the EI …

Analysis Of End-Of-Life Content In Critical Care Nursing Textbooks, Karin T. Kirchhoff, Renea L. Beckstrand, Prashanth Reddy Anumandla

Faculty Publications

Nurses have identified a need for improving their knowledge and skills in providing end-of-life care. Critical care nursing textbooks can serve as an important source of information on end-of-life care for critical care nurses. Hence, an analysis of end-of-life content in 14 critical care nursing textbooks was conducted. Critical care nursing textbooks used for review were published in 1995 or later and identified from the libraries at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Brigham Young University. The end-of-life content areas identified by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), under which the AACN end-of-life competencies for undergraduate nursing students can …