Mechanical Prophylaxis Essay

Critically ill patients that require mechanical ventilation are at risk of developing secondary infections that may increase length of stay and possibly even morbidity. This fragile patient population requires special attention and meticulous adherence to established nursing standards of care. These standards of care are founded on evidenced based practices. It is important that nurses receive education about why these standards are in place and what consequences can result due to not following the established care protocols.

Patient safety is number one in hospitals. Every staff member that comes into contact with a patient should always have the question, “Will the patient be safe?” in the back of

3.4: Describe ways in which individuals and carers can be supported to overcome their fears.

If care provided to a patient is not safe, than the intervention is ineffective and therefore not helping to improve that patient’s quality of life. To help provide a safe environment, observation and communication are extremely important. Inform the patient and family of any interventions before proceeding with them to insure the patient

Flames of evolution in patient care have been fanned into a wholesome revolution in the nature of nursing care due to the ever changing healthcare needs and demands of patients. This has led to a paradigm shift from generalized patient care to a patient centered approach. The increase in interaction and individualized patient management has improved healthcare delivery. However, on the flipside, this has not come with new challenges. Healthcare providers are increasingly being exposed to new health hazards as new and sophisticated treatment approaches are developed. Injuries due to sharps are of significance in nursing practice. The International Healthcare Workers Safety Center (2010) reports that an average of 27.97 per 100 licensed beds sharps injuries occurred in 2007 while in 2008 17.2 per 100 licensed beds sharps injuries were recorded. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2010), 385,000 healthcare workers are injured due to sharps annually in the United States. This puts the healthcare personnel at risk of contracting infections such as Hepatitis C and B from contaminated objects. In regard to this concept, this paper will explore sharps safety at the clinical site with a view of using evidence based practice to creating awareness on the need for sharps safety in hospital settings.

An informal survey of perioperative nurses, physicians and patients was performed regarding the use of thigh-length versus knee-length SCD’s. The surgical services management team, clinical nurse educator, surgeons, and materials management were also involved in the process of using only knee-length SCD’s on all surgical patients. The surgeons, staff, and patients were perceptive and willing to use only knee-length SCD’s. The perioperative nurses were hesitant at times to call the physician for an order to place knee-length SCD’s on the surgical patient. This was a barrier to the suggested change project.

VMPS has helped patient safety teams reduce the incidence of patient falls and bedsores. Prevention resources are brought to the bedside of patients determined to be at-risk, hourly rounding is done, and there is staff education and training. VM reduced patient falls from 3.33 falls per 1,000 patient days in 2006 to 2.48 falls per 1,000 patient days in 2009. Nationally, about 15 percent of patients will acquire a bedsore in a hospital or nursing home. At VM, bedsores were reduced from 8 percent to 2 percent.

Unfortunately, “VTE comprised of DVT and/or PE represent a serious public health challenge, affecting up to 600,000 Americans annually. The consequences can be deadly; VTE has been identified as the most common cause of preventable mortality in hospitalized patients, accounting for up to 10% of hospital deaths” (Shermock et al., 2013, p. 1) It is imperative that all patients admitted to the ICU should be assessed for VTE. The assessment should be done frequently. It is important to assess both subjective and objective data. Past medical history is very important. It is essential to find out if the patient has any predisposition to a VTE including any trauma to veins, any varicosities, obesity, COPD, HF. Certain medications can also put a patient at risk for VTE such as oral contraceptives, hormone therapy, tamoxifen, or raloxifene. Also, any recent surgeries such as orthopedic, gynecologic, gastric, or urologic and past surgeries involving veins or a central venous catheter can put a patient at risk. Objective data includes fear, anxiety, and pain. Monitor vital signs frequently. Check the integumentary system for symmetry; taut, shiny, warm skin, erythematous, tender to palpation. Not every patient

Every year, up to 249,000 BSIs occur within hospitals in the US. Apparently, 32.2% of these BSIs do occur in the ICUs (Chopra, Krein, Olmsted, Safdar & Saint, 2013)The apparent bias in prevalence of BSIs within the ICUs is associated with the increased utilization of the CVCs within these units since they deal with a majority of critical care situations.

Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) is a disease that embodies both pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). On the side of research, VTE is the most common preventable cause of hospital-associated mortality and is both the second most common medical complication and cause of excess length of hospital stay (LOS). Furthermore, with appropriate evidence-based prophylactic measures, the occurrence of hospital-associated VTE (HA-VTE) can be reduced by as much as seventy percent. Subsequently, there are approximately between 200,000 and 300,000 VTE-related deaths annually, which is greater than the yearly rate of mortality for breast cancer,

There are many people that suffer from venous thromboembolism. Venous thromboembolism includes both deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. This is the third most common cause of vascular death after a myocardial infarction, also known as a heart attack, and stroke. This article examines the possibility of either full or low intensity anticoagulation therapy versus aspirin. This was a randomized study that consisted of 3,396 individuals who have venous thromboembolism. These individuals either received rivaroxaban, which is an anticoagulant, or 100 mg of aspirin once a day. The individuals in this study completed 6-12 months of anticoagulation therapy and were eligible for inclusion in the study if they were 18 years of age or older. The

Thank you guys for the response. Working as a beside nurse and having that holistic belief, I found myself being upset when every patient upon admission is started on pharmacological DVT prophylaxis in addition to mechanical prophylaxis. The reason for that is that those two orders are a part of EPIC admission order set and I do not agree with it. I strongly believe that an admitting physician or whoever is responsible for the admission process should asses the patient first and based on the assessment prescribe what is needed, instead of just following EPIC. Maybe in years to come we are going to be able to make some changes and educate our physicians about the fact that care really need to be provided based on the current need for that person.

The Brigade Support Medical Company plays a variety of roles in its scope of work. This paper seeks to discuss and identify the manner in which the Brigade Support Medical Company can offer Force Health Protection to outlying COPs. The main roles of the company are that: they act as a unit level medical care; and they offer basic primary health care as per the Army Healthcare System and support to all BCT units that operate within the AO of the brigade (Menter, 148). The company also plays the above two roles on al BCT units that lack organic medical assets. The BSMC is led by a commander who leads supervision of the

Although a definite risk factor for DVT can easily be identify in a patient, but there may be more than one factor that could cause DVT in the same patient. Some of the most common risk factors that the nurse practitioner should look for in any patient includes a history of immobilization, long term hospitalization that may require bed rest, any case of recent surgery such as total hip replacement, total knee replacement and hip fracture surgery (Yong, et al 2016). Others include obesity, history of previous diagnosis of venous thromboembolism, stroke, lower extremity trauma, malignancy. In female patients, the nurse practitioner should look out for the use of oral contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy, pregnancy or postpartum status

BTEC Apprenticeship Assessment Workbook Level 2 Health & Social Care 1. HEALTH AND SAFETY 2 This sequence of activities will allow you to demonstrate your knowledge of health and safety policies and procedures in your workplace. As a health and social care worker, it is important that you are competent in assessing risks and hazards and implementing good practice on health and safety. KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING These activities assess your knowledge of health and safety.