Identifying Information Resources for Patients in the Intensive Care Unit and Their Families

Nurses' Perceptions of Intensive Care Unit Orientation Patient Education Pamphlet

Background

Critical illness is a stressful time for patients and their support networks. Although patient-directed educational material to improve the understanding of critical illness exists, both patients and staff members are often unaware of these resources or how to find them.

Objectives

We aimed to evaluate the impact of the implementation of the American Thoracic Society's (ATS) "Managing the Intensive Care Unity (ICU) Experience: A Proactive Guide for Patients and Families", an ICU orientation pamphlet, on nurses' perceptions of the availability and effectiveness of patient and family educational resources.

Methods

In a safety-net urban institution, we surveyed medical ICU (MICU) nurses in February 2021 regarding their perceptions of the availability of patient and family educational materials and the time and quality of communication with families of critically ill patients. We then introduced the MICU nurses to the ATS ICU orientation pamphlet to complement patient and family education. Quick response (QR) codes were created, linking to the online versions of the ICU pamphlet, and made available in waiting rooms. Printed copies of the pamphlet were provided to families in the ICU introductory packet upon patient MICU admission. We informed nurses regarding the pamphlet content, website, and QR codes. A postintervention survey was administered 11 months after the initial survey. Changes between pre and postintervention responses were analyzed for significant differences. Debriefing sessions with the MICU nurses were conducted, and subsequent discussions identified opportunities to improve the available educational resources.

Results

At baseline, 28 of 67 (42%) MICU nurses responded to the survey. Although all nurses provided verbal education to patients and families, only 18% reported knowing about and using additional resources to supplement this education. The postintervention survey was completed by 39% of nurses; 39% of them reported using additional materials to supplement patient and family education. Reported awareness of the ATS ICU pamphlet increased from 4% before implementation to 23% after implementation (P = 0.04). MICU nurses offered suggestions to improve the pamphlet, which thematically fell into three categories: 1) opportunities to alter the ICU pamphlet, 2) opportunities to provide the pamphlet in varied formats, and 3) opportunities to add additional education topics.

Conclusions

Informing nurses about the ICU pamphlet improved the acceptance and use of the materials, but it was still not accepted by many nurses. Barriers to ICU nurses using patient education resources should be explored to facilitate quality materials reaching patients and complementing patient communication. QR codes may have offered a way to disseminate educational materials to patients and families in a manner not previously considered. The process of evaluating the ICU pamphlet for our institution led to a broader discussion of additional needs for patient and family educational materials for our patient population. We encourage institutions to evaluate the sufficiency of their patient and family educational materials for similar local benefits.

End-of-life Care in the Intesive Care Unit and Nursing Roles in Communicating with Families

Introduction

Professionals in Intensive Care Units face death, shifting their role from therapists to caregivers in end-of-life management. The nursing attitude and response to death has been shown to affect the quality of palliative care and end-of-life services that are interrelated services.

Aim of the study

The aim of this research was to evaluate the professional attitude of nurses towards the care of the families of critically ill patients in the ICU, leading to the emergence of specific attitudes, relating them to their demographic and professional characteristics, with the aim of drawing conclusions for the improvement of quality in end-of-life care.

Material and Methods

The sample of the study was 81 nurses from a large tertiary hospital. Participants completed the "Nurse Activities for Communicating with Families" (NACF) questionnaire. The questions are about ways in which nurses can help the patient's family during the patient's stay in the ICU.

Results

The results revealed that the nurses took actions related to the information and psychological support of the patient's family. On the contrary, they did not focus on the spiritual / religious needs of the patient and the needs of the family based on their cultural background.

Conclusions

The professional treatment of staff is characterized by compassion and empathy, but it is necessary to train them on important issues related to diversity, including the religious, spiritual values and beliefs of patients and their relatives.

Effect of Intensive Psychological Nursing Intervention on HAMD and SF-36 Scores in Patients with Severe Liver Cancer in ICU

The aim of the study was to explore the effect of intensive psychological nursing intervention on HAMD and SF-36 scores in patients with severe liver cancer in intensive care unit (ICU). 134 critically ill patients with liver cancer in ICU who underwent resection of primary liver cancer from July 2019 to November 2021 were selected. The patients were randomly divided into control group and study group. The patients in the control group received routine nursing. The patients in the study group received intensive psychological nursing intervention on the basis of routine nursing. Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD), and the MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36) scores before and after nursing were compared between the two groups. The satisfaction of the two groups of patients with nursing was counted. The HAMA, HAMD, and SF-36 scores of patients receiving intensive psychological nursing intervention were significantly better than those receiving routine nursing. The nursing satisfaction of patients receiving intensive psychological nursing intervention was significantly higher than that of patients receiving routine nursing. Intensive psychological nursing intervention for patients with severe liver cancer in ICU can significantly reduce HAMD, improve SF-36 score, and patient nursing satisfaction. It is worthy of wide clinical promotion.

Engaging Patients in the Use of Real-Time Electronic Clinical Data to Improve the Safety and Reliability of Their Own Care

OBJECTIVES

There is considerable evidence that providing patients with access to their health information is beneficial, but there is limited evidence regarding the effect of providing real-time patient safety-related information on health outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between use of an electronic patient safety dashboard (Safety Advisor) and health outcomes.

METHODS

The Safety Advisor was implemented in 6 adult medicine units at one hospital in the United States. Study participants were asked to use the Safety Advisor, which provides real-time patient safety-related information through a Web-based portal. The primary outcome was the association between the application usage and health outcomes (readmission rate and mortality rate) per 3 different usage groups, and the secondary outcome was the association of Patient Activation Measure (PAM) scores with use.

RESULTS

One hundred eighty-one participants were included for the data analysis. Approximately 90% of users accessed the application during the first 4 days of enrollment: 51.6% of users only accessed it on 1 day, whereas 5.8% used it more than 3 days. Patients who used the application more had lower 30-day readmission rates (P = 0.01) compared with the lower-usage group. The PAM scores for users of Safety Advisor (71.8) were higher than the nonpatient portal users (60.8, P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

We found an association between the use of Safety Advisor and health outcomes. Differences in PAM scores between groups were statistically significant. A larger-scale randomized control trial is warranted to evaluate the impact on patient outcomes among a high-risk patient population.

Critical Care Nurses' Experiences Caring for Patients When Relatives Were not Allowed in the ICUs due to COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction

Health care workers faced new challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic when physical contact with relatives more or less disappeared.

Objectives

The aim of this study is to describe the experiences of critical care nurses (CCNs) working in intensive care units (ICUs) under the visiting restrictions imposed as a result of COVID-19.

Method

This study followed a qualitative design. The purposive sample included CCNs with at least 1 year of experience working in an ICU with a visiting policy affected by the pandemic. Data collection was carried out via semi-structured interviews and analyzed through a qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach.

Results

The study results are presented in three categories with 10 subcategories. CCNs value the presence of patients’ relatives at the bedside and described many challenges when relatives could not be present with the patient during the pandemic.

Conclusion

Close relatives are able to share essential information about the patients and provide much-needed emotional support to them, the relatives’ role is of central importance and CCNs value their presence in ICUs more than any positive consequences of them not being there.

Critical Thinking Tools for Quality Improvement Projects

TOPIC

This article explores the use of 4 quality improvement tools and 2 evidence-based practice tools that, when used within the nursing process, encourage critical thinking about quality issues.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Patients and families expect to receive patient-centered, high-quality, and cost-effective care. Caring for critically ill patients is challenging and requires nurses to engage in quality improvement efforts to ensure that they provide evidence-based care.

PURPOSE OF PAPER

To explore the use of critical thinking tools and evidence-based practice tools in assessing and diagnosing quality issues in the clinical setting.

CONTENT COVERED

The nursing process serves as the framework for problem solving. Some commonly used critical thinking tools for assessing and diagnosing quality issues are described, including the Spaghetti Diagram, the 5 Whys, the Cause and Effect Diagram, and the Pareto chart.

Patient education materials on pressure injury prevention in hospitals and health services in Victoria, Australia: Availability and content analysis

Pressure injuries (PIs) are a common quality indicator for hospital care, and preventing PIs often requires patient engagement; as such, Australian consensus research has recommended that high-quality education materials be made to patients for PIs via hospital networks. The purpose of the present study was to assess the availability and accuracy of patient education materials on PIs in publicly available hospital websites in Victoria, Australia. Two independent coders assessed 212 websites for content on PI prevention and management, analysing availability and accuracy of PI definitions, risk factors, preventive strategies, referral, visual tools, consumer endorsement, information for family/carers, and translation on community languages. A greater proportion of hospitals did not have any patient education materials on PI prevention publicly available, with private hospitals (compared with public) and metropolitan hospitals (compared to rural) more likely to have materials available on their sites. The available materials contained accurate messages on PI defining characteristics and risk factors for PIs, although there was considerable variability on the availability of other information. Our findings suggest a significant deficit in the availability of educational materials for acute care patients and their families. There is a need for evidence-based, consumer-endorsed, uniform materials on all hospital websites to prevent PIs in acute care.

Addressing the ICU Patient's Information Needs

Nurse researchers create an educational pathway.