scholarly journals Institutional Challenges and Solutions to Evidence-Based, Patient-Centered Practice: Implementing ICU Diaries

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 47-56
Author(s):  
Julie Rogan ◽  
Megan Zielke ◽  
Kelly Drumright ◽  
Leanne M. Boehm

Background Although diaries are an evidence-based practice that improves the quality of life of patients in an intensive care unit and their loved ones, centers in the United States are struggling to successfully implement diary programs in intensive care units. Currently, few published recommendations address how to facilitate implementation of a diary program, and how to effectively sustain it, in an intensive care unit. Objectives To discuss challenges with implementing diary programs in intensive care units at 2 institutions in the United States, and to identify solutions that were operationalized to overcome these perceived difficulties. Methods The teams from the 2 institutions identified local barriers to implementing diaries in their intensive care units. Both groups developed standard operating procedures that outlined the execution and evaluation phases of their implementation projects. Results Barriers to implementation include liability and patient privacy, diary program development, and implementation and sustainability concerns. Various strategies can help maintain clinical and family member engagement. Conclusion Through a team’s sustained dedication and a diligent assessment of perceived obstacles, a diary program can indeed be implemented within an intensive care unit.

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (11) ◽  
pp. 1235-1240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Koffman ◽  
Fred Rincon ◽  
Joao Gomes ◽  
Sarabdeep Singh ◽  
Yitian He ◽  
...  

Objective: Research on continuous electro-encephalographic monitoring (cEEG) in the intensive care unit (ICU) has previously focused on neuroscience ICUs. This study determines cEEG utilization within a sample of specialty ICUs world-wide. Methods: A cross-sectional electronic survey of attending level physicians across various intensive care settings. Twenty-five questions developed from consensus statements on the use of cEEG in the critically ill sent as an electronic survey. Results: Of all, 9344 were queried and 417 (4.5%) responses were analyzed with 309 (74%) from the United States and 74 (18%) internationally. Intensive care units were: medical (10%), surgical (6%), neurologic/neurosurgical (12%), cardiac (4%), trauma (3%), pediatrics (29%), burn (<1%), multidisciplinary (30%), and other (5%). Intensive care units were: academic (65%), community (18%), public (3%), military (1%), and other (13%). Specialized cEEG teams were available in 71% of ICUs. Rapid 24/7 access and cEEG interpretation was available in 32% of ICUs. Interpretation changed clinical management frequently (28%) and sometimes (45%). Conclusions: Despite guideline recommendations for cEEG use, there is a discordance between availability, night coverage, and immediate interpretation. Only 27% have institutional protocols for indications and duration of cEEG monitoring. Furthermore, cEEG may be underutilized in nonneurologic ICUs as well as ICUs in smaller nonacademic affiliated hospitals and those outside of the United States.


Diagnosis ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-383
Author(s):  
Steven Liu ◽  
Cara Sweeney ◽  
Nalinee Srisarajivakul-Klein ◽  
Amanda Klinger ◽  
Irina Dimitrova ◽  
...  

AbstractThe initial phase of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the United States saw rapidly-rising patient volumes along with shortages in personnel, equipment, and intensive care unit (ICU) beds across many New York City hospitals. As our hospital wards quickly filled with unstable, hypoxemic patients, our hospitalist group was forced to fundamentally rethink the way we triaged and managed cases of hypoxemic respiratory failure. Here, we describe the oxygenation protocol we developed and implemented in response to changing norms for acuity on inpatient wards. By reflecting on lessons learned, we re-evaluate the applicability of these oxygenation strategies in the evolving pandemic. We hope to impart to other providers the insights we gained with the challenges of management reasoning in COVID-19.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (10) ◽  
pp. 1304-1306 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Weber ◽  
David van Duin ◽  
Lauren M. DiBiase ◽  
Charles Scott Hultman ◽  
Samuel W. Jones ◽  
...  

Burn injuries are a common source of morbidity and mortality in the United States, with an estimated 450,000 burn injuries requiring medical treatment, 40,000 requiring hospitalization, and 3,400 deaths from burns annually in the United States. Patients with severe burns are at high risk for local and systemic infections. Furthermore, burn patients are immunosuppressed, as thermal injury results in less phagocytic activity and lymphokine production by macrophages. In recent years, multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens have become major contributors to morbidity and mortality in burn patients.Since only limited data are available on the incidence of both device- and nondevice-associated healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in burn patients, we undertook this retrospective cohort analysis of patients admitted to our burn intensive care unit (ICU) from 2008 to 2012.


2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 748-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deron C. Burton ◽  
Jonathan R. Edwards ◽  
Arjun Srinivasan ◽  
Scott K. Fridkin ◽  
Carolyn V. Gould

Background.Over the past 2 decades, multiple interventions have been developed to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). The CAUTI prevention guidelines of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee were recently revised.Objective.To examine changes in rates of CAUTI events in adult intensive care units (ICUs) in the United States from 1990 through 2007.Methods.Data were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System from 1990 through 2004 and the National Healthcare Safety Network from 2006 through 2007. Infection preventionists in participating hospitals used standard methods to identify all CAUTI events (categorized as symptomatic urinary tract infection [SUTI] or asymptomatic bacteriuria [ASB]) and urinary catheter–days (UC-days) in months selected for surveillance. Data from all facilities were aggregated to calculate pooled mean annual SUTI and ASB rates (in events per 1,000 UC-days) by ICU type. Poisson regression was used to estimate percent changes in rates over time.Results.Overall, 36,282 SUTIs and 22,973 ASB episodes were reported from 367 facilities representing 1,223 adult ICUs, including combined medical/surgical (505), medical (212), surgical (224), coronary (173), and cardiothoracic (109) ICUs. All ICU types experienced significant declines of 19%–67% in SUTI rates and 29%–72% in ASB rates from 1990 through 2007. Between 2000 and 2007, significant reductions in SUTI rates occurred in all ICU types except cardiothoracic ICUs.Conclusions.Since 1990, CAUTI rates have declined significantly in all major adult ICU types in facilities reporting to the CDC. Further efforts are needed to assess prevention strategies that might have led to these decreases and to implement new CAUTI prevention guidelines.


2011 ◽  
Vol 115 (6) ◽  
pp. 1349-1362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee P. Skrupky ◽  
Paul W. Kerby ◽  
Richard S. Hotchkiss

Anesthesiologists are increasingly confronting the difficult problem of caring for patients with sepsis in the operating room and in the intensive care unit. Sepsis occurs in more than 750,000 patients in the United States annually and is responsible for more than 210,000 deaths. Approximately 40% of all intensive care unit patients have sepsis on admission to the intensive care unit or experience sepsis during their stay in the intensive care unit. There have been significant advances in the understanding of the pathophysiology of the disorder and its treatment. Although deaths attributable to sepsis remain stubbornly high, new treatment algorithms have led to a reduction in overall mortality. Thus, it is important for anesthesiologists and critical care practitioners to be aware of these new therapeutic regimens. The goal of this review is to include practical points on important advances in the treatment of sepsis and provide a vision of future immunotherapeutic approaches.


2017 ◽  
Vol 171 (3) ◽  
pp. e164396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey D. Horbar ◽  
Erika M. Edwards ◽  
Lucy T. Greenberg ◽  
Kate A. Morrow ◽  
Roger F. Soll ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Swasti Bhattacharyya

Discussing religious views from within any tradition is challenging because they are not monolithic. However, it is worth exploring religious perspectives because they are often the foundation, whether conscious or not, of the reasoning underlying people’s decisions. Following a brief discussion on the importance of cultural humility and understanding the worldview of patients, the author focuses on Hindu perspectives regarding the care of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Along with applying six elements of Hindu thought (underlying unity of all life, multivalent nature of Hindu traditions, dharma, emphasis on societal good, karma, and ahimsa), the author incorporates perspectives of Hindu adults, living in the United States, who responded to a nationwide survey regarding the care of high-risk newborn infants in the hospital.


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