Nursing Workload Associated With Fever in the General Intensive Care Unit

The evidence base for nursing care and monitoring of patients during therapeutic temperature management

Therapeutic temperature management (TTM) is fast becoming a primary management strategy for a variety of medical conditions treated in critical care settings throughout the world. Nurses who provide direct care and who are tasked with developing multidisciplinary protocols and pathways are struggling to collate evidence from which to support specific nursing interventions. The aim of this project was to create the first comprehensive set of evidence-based guidelines specific to nursing care of the patient for whom TTM is medically necessary. Evidence-based nursing practice summaries are provided for nine nursing content areas: interventions to manage temperature, monitoring temperature, neurologic, cardiac, pulmonary, skin care, gastrointestinal/endocrine, laboratory findings, and general considerations for nursing care.

Evidence-based practice: fever evaluation and early recognition of systemic inflammatory response syndrome in critical care patients

Fever is very often the first sign of sepsis and systemic inflammatory response syndrome, both of which can be life-threatening. This article presents various guidelines for the treatment and prevention of fever using evidence-based practice guidelines from a variety of sources.