Roles And Practices Of An Intensive Care Nurse

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.

ICU patients suffer from a broad range of pathologies, requiring MV, sedation and use of multiples devices, which do not allow patients to protect their airway (Augustyn. 2007; Kollef. 2004).

Fry, M. (2011). Literature review of the impact of nurse practitioners in critical care services. Nursing In Critical Care, 16(2), 58-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-5153.2010.00437.x

The progress of my project to develop a nurse driven sepsis screening tool and an algorithm for implementation on the intensive care unit (ICU) for early identification and prompt treatment of septic patients has progressed remarkably well. I have been productive in gathering current guidelines for sepsis with the aid of my preceptor who is a critical care nurse practitioner on the ICU. With his help, I have been able to assemble key pieces of research to create a sepsis screening tool, and a treatment algorithm with sepsis resuscitation bundles. Extensive research has been conducted to integrate evidence-based practice in my project. I have also spent time with the unit educator, critical care intensivists, and my colleagues in brainstorming and collecting ideas about my project.

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, has been serving the needs of nurses caring for acutely and critically ill patients since 1969. Representing the interests of more than 500,000 nurses who care for acutely and critically ill patients, AACN is dedicated to creating a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families, where acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution (American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 2016).

The nurse is the eyes and ears of the patient and relays information from the patient to the doctor, to the family that cannot be at the bedside, to the rest of the health care team. This outcome helped me determine the importance the nurse has in the hospital. The nurse is the first line of communication to the healthcare team and provides information about complications or progression of care. One assignment that stressed the importance of this outcome was the continuity of care paper that was written for NURS 331.

The goal of this paper is to provide a policy to make changes to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Mercy Hospital

As a specialty ICU, we care for patients with a variety of neurological illnesses, like ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, brain tumors, seizure disorders, degenerative neuromuscular disease, encephalitis, and meningitis. Having seven years of ICU nursing experience has solidified my decision to specialize in acute care. I have found that I work best in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment. In the critical care setting, I am faced with new challenges each day. With these challenges come numerous learning opportunities that allow me to grow and improve as a

Emergency and critical care can be the most challenging parts of nursing and some of the most rewarding as it is carrying out intensive care for patients which may not always end well or may have the best result.

The abstract clearly outlined every aspect of the article in a concise and acceptable manner. Data was obtained through several interviews with nurses that practiced in the Emergency Room. The abstract concludes with the results of this study.

The role of an RN includes a lot of things from basic patient care to advanced care such as administering special medication such as chemotherapy medications, blood and blood products. RN are involved in all patient care from admission to discharge and everything in between. The RN is responsible for the admitting assessment, this is important for patient care because it helps prioritize the patient’s needs. Admission is also the time that the nurse can observe for signs of any other types of problems. As an RN nurses can become certified wound care nurses and offer more wound care than any other member of a care staff. The role of an RN and any nurse is to provide information and education about care that the patient is receiving. RN’s are also able to be charge nurses or case managers in any type of setting.

Nurses enter the workforce to help patients get better. Sometimes those patients require Intensive Care. In those cases, the Critical Care nurse becomes involved. There are costs to the intense treatment though. In 2013, Todaro-Franceschi stated that,

As a nurse, one must be aware of the Activities of Living (AoL), assessment methods and understand how to formulate a Nursing Care Plan (NCP). When tending to a patient, it is important to understand the AoL as well recognising how they are affecting the patient, how to assess one’s condition and what ‘care needs’ are priority when treating a patients symptoms. By having this knowledge a nurse is able to develop a NCP more easily, therefore give the patient a greater quality of care. When creating a NCP, one must assess, set goals, plan, implement and evaluate the measures taken as well as incorporate a multi-disciplinary team, to ensure the patient receives the best care possible. (Holland et al. 2015, p.2), (Doenges, ME, Moorhouse, MF, & Geissler-Murr, A 2002, p. 6).

In the professional setting, knowing the patient through his or her diagnosis, name, history of present illness, laboratory results or reason for staying in the hospital only contributes to the manner of physical care of the patient. However, recognizing the patient 's spiritual needs such as emotional support, mental positivity, and intellectual understanding of his or her situation gives a better assessment, as well as a trusting relationship between the nurse and the patient, as per personal experience. In the ward, it is evident that most of the staff nurses spend their time doing documentations, preparing medications, following-up laboratory requests, as well as reading through the patients ' charts to affirm the physician 's order. Throughout the duration of our shifts as student nurses, I see that the most that the staff nurses get to be conversant with the patient is when certain procedures (such as feeding through nasogastric tube, taking

Nurses are known as the heart of health care. Being a nurse is a demanding job that requires commitment, but does not lack rewards. A fact stated by the American Association of Colleges of Nurses claims that “Nurses comprise the largest single component of hospital staff, are the primary providers of hospital patient care, and deliver most of the nation 's long-term care” (“Nursing Fact Sheet”). With many roles throughout the healthcare system as a whole, nurses are a large, very important role that interacts with every other part of the health care system. They have great qualities that not everyone has. They are highly compassionate, caring, professional, diligent and understanding individuals. A nurse experiences people at their worst and still care for patients in a way that no one else would. All these honest points prove that nurses are the most important members of the health care system because, nurses spend the most time with patients, nurses are the managers of patient care; they are teachers and are great with conflict resolution.