As lesões por pressão adquiridas em Unidades de Terapia Intensiva (UTI) têm sido reconhecidas como um indicador sensível da prestação de cuidados dos profissionais de saúde, influenciando no tempo de internação, custos do tratamento e impacto emocional aos pacientes. Este estudo objetivou verificar a relação entre ocorrência de lesão por pressão com as variáveis demográficas e clínicas dos pacientes e carga de trabalho de enfermagem em unidade de terapia intensiva. Trata se de um estudo quantitativo e prospectivo desenvolvido em uma UTI geral de um hospital de grande porte e alta complexidade no interior de São Paulo. A coleta de dados foi realizada nos meses de outubro de 2016 a janeiro de 2017, constituindo uma amostra de conveniência de 30 pacientes. Os critérios de inclusão foram: pacientes com idade igual ou maior que 18 anos, internados pela primeira vez na unidade decorrente de tratamento clínico ou cirúrgico, com permanência mínima de 24 horas e ausência de lesões dermatológicas na admissão. A coleta incluiu além dos dados demográficos e clínicos, a aplicação dos instrumentos: Simplified Acute Physiology Score 3 (SAPS 3), Nursing Activities Score (NAS) e a Escala de Braden para mensurar a gravidade do paciente, a carga de trabalho de enfermagem e o risco para lesão por pressão (LP), respectivamente. A avaliação clínica foi realizada diariamente pela pesquisadora até o desfecho da condição dos pacientes. Para verificar a relação entre a ocorrência de lesão e as variáveis estudadas foram realizadas análises univariadas, sendo que para as variáveis dicotômicas foi utilizado o teste exato de Fisher. Para as variáveis quantitativas contínuas foi utilizado o teste de Mann-Whitney/Wilcoxon, uma vez que essas não seguiam uma distribuição normal. Os resultados indicaram que o grupo dos pacientes sem lesão (n=21) era do sexo feminino (66,6%), com idade menor de 60 anos (52,38%), brancos (71,4%), IMC normal (52,4%), tempo mediano de 4 dias de internação, em razão de necessidade de monitorização clínica (42,8%). Nesse grupo, os valores medianos do escore SAPS 3, Braden e NAS foram de 53, 14 e 86 pontos, respectivamente. Os pacientes que desenvolveram lesão por pressão (n=9), também em sua maioria eram mulheres (66,6%), com idade maior ou igual a 60 anos (55,5%), brancos (77,7%), obesos (66,6%), com mediana de internação de 4 dias e admitidos na UTI em razão de instabilidade hemodinâmica (77,8%). As variáveis relativas ao SAPS 3, Braden e NAS apresentaram mediana de 78, 11 e 97 pontos. A incidência global de lesão por pressão encontrada foi de 30%, havendo uma predominância das lesões na região dos calcâneos e glúteos, identificadas do 2º ao 8º dia de internação na unidade. Dentre as características clínicas, destaca-se a instabilidade hemodinâmica dos pacientes que desenvolveram lesão. As variáveis que foram identificadas com relevância estatística nos pacientes acometidos por LP foram índice de gravidade, escore de risco e carga de trabalho. Em razão do tamanho amostral reduzido, não foi possível a realização de análise multivariada para confirmar estes achados, o que se constitui numa limitação do estudo. Uma alta carga de trabalho pode ser um fator de comprometimento associado ao crescimento da incidência, principalmente frente à demanda de cuidados exigida pela clientela e inadequação quali-quantitativa de profissionais de enfermagem / Pressure lesions acquired in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) have long been used as a sensitive indicator of the type of care delivered by health professionals, influencing hospitalization time, costs of treatment and emotional impact to patients. This study was aimed to verify the relationship between the occurrence of pressure ulcers with the demographic and clinical variables of the patients and the nursing workload in the intensive care unit. This is a quantitative and prospective study developed in a general ICU of a large and high complexity hospital in a city of Sao Paulo state. Data collection was performed from October 2016 to January 2017, gathering a convenience sample of 30 patients. The inclusion criteria were: patients aged 18 years or older hospitalized for the first time in the unit due to clinical or surgical treatment, for at least 24 hours and without dermatological lesions at the time of admission. In addition to the demographic and clinical data, the application of the instruments: Simplified Acute Physiology Score 3 (SAPS 3), Nursing Activities Score (NAS) and the Braden Scale to measure: the patient\'s severity; nursing workload and pressure ulcer risk (PU) respectively. The clinical evaluation was performed daily by the researcher until the outcome of the patients\' condition. To verify the relationship between the occurrence of the lesion and the studied variables, univariate analyzes were performed. For the dichotomous variables we used Fisher\'s exact test while the Mann-Whitney / Wilcoxon test was used for the continuous quantitative variables since they did not comply with a normal distribution. The results indicated that the group of patients without lesions (n = 21) was predominantly female (66.6%), aged less than 60 years (52.38%), whites (71.4%), normal BMI 52.4%), median time of 4 days of hospitalization, due to the need for clinical monitoring (42.8%). In this group, the median values of the SAPS 3, Braden and NAS scores were 53, 14 and 86 points respectively. Those patients who developed pressure lesions (n = 9) were also female (66.6%), aged 60 years or older (55.5%), white (77.7%), obese (66.6%), with a median hospitalization of 4 days and admitted to the ICU due to hemodynamic instability (77.8%). The variables related to SAPS 3, Braden and NAS presented a median of 78, 11 and 97 points. The overall incidence of pressure injury was 30%, with a predominance of lesions in the calcaneal and gluteal region, diagnosed between the second and the eighth day of hospitalization. Among their clinical characteristics, we underline the hemodynamic instability of the patients who developed the injury. The following variables showed statistical relevance in the patients affected by PU: severity index, risk score and workload. As a limitation of this study, it was not possible to perform multivariate analysis to confirm these findings due to the reduced sample size. A high workload can act as a factor of impact, associated to the increase in incidence, especially in relation to the demand for care required by the patients as well as the quali-quantitative inadequacy of nursing professionals

ABSTRACTThe Belgian Euthanasia Act of 2002 (The Act), amended in 2014 to include the Minor Act (The Minor Act), has drawn international criticisms for its liberal laws and practices regarding Euthanasia. This paper is a response to allegations that the liberal laws on Euthanasia has encouraged doctors to adopt a paternalistic 2 approach towards their patients by terminating their lives without their explicit consent, i.e. engaging in Involuntary Euthanasia.3, 4, 5Although in theory, only Voluntary Euthanasia (explicit patient request and therefore consent) is permitted in Belgium 6 the allegations implied that in practice, Involuntary Euthanasia (no explicit patient request and therefore consent is given) is practiced, especially in the Intensive Care Units (ICU) in Belgium.This paper attempted to make distinctions between Terminal Sedation and Euthanasia based on current dominant discourse in Bioethics and argued that it is not Involuntary Euthanasia that is practiced in the ICU but Non-Voluntary Euthanasia or Terminal Sedation (explicit patient request and therefore consent is unavailable) is practiced based on the intent of the doctor. In presenting its arguments, this paper focused specifically on the reports it procured from its qualitative research. Finally, in order to understand if doctors in the ICU are Gods or Monsters, the paper attempted to answer four questions namely:1. Are doctors in Belgium Gods, who help end lives?2. Or are they Monsters, who help end lives?3. Or are they pre-hippocratic doctors, historically called Witch-Doctors, who are“for hire” to either “cure or to kill” with no loyalty to the Hippocratic Oath?4. Or are they mutated witch-doctors pressured to practice Euthanasia in a countrywhere the laws are perhaps fatally flawed? / Doctorat en Philosophie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

BACKGROUND: Nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs) frequently care for patients and their families at the end-of-life (EOL). Providing high quality EOL care is important for both patients and families, yet ICU nurses face many obstacles that hinder EOL care. Researchers have identified various ICU nurse-perceived obstacles, but no studies have been found addressing the progress that has been made over the last 17 years.OBJECTIVE: To determine the most common and current obstacles in EOL care as perceived by ICU nurses and then to evaluate whether or not meaningful changes have occurred since data were first gathered in 1998.METHODS: A quantitative-qualitative mixed methods design was used. A random, geographically dispersed sample of 2,000 members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses was surveyed.RESULTS: Five obstacle items increased in mean score and rank as compared to 1999 data including: (1) family not understanding what the phrase "life-saving measures" really means; (2) providing life-saving measures at families' requests despite patient's advance directive listing no such care; (3) family not accepting patient's poor prognosis; (4) family members fighting about use of life support; and, (5) not enough time to provide EOL care because the nurse is consumed with life-saving measures attempting to save the patient's life. Five obstacle items decreased in mean score and rank compared to 1999 data including (1) physicians differing in opinion about care of the patient; (2) family and friends who continually call the nurse rather than calling the designated family member; (3) physicians who are evasive and avoid families; (4) nurses having to deal with angry families; and, (5) nurses not knowing their patient's wishes regarding continuing with tests and treatments.CONCLUSIONS: Obstacles in EOL care, as perceived by critical care nurses, still exist. Family-related obstacles have increased over time and may not be easily overcome as each family, dealing with a dying family member in an ICU, likely has never experienced a similar situation. Based on the current top five obstacles, recommendations for possible areas of focus may include (1) improved nursing assessment regarding the health literacy of families followed with directed, appropriate, and specific EOL information, (2) improved care coordination between physicians and other health care providers to facilitate sharing care plans, (3) advanced directives that are followed as written by patients, (4) designated family contact communicating with family and friends regarding patient information, and, finally, (5) earlier, transparent discussions of patient prognoses as disease processes advance and patient conditions deteriorate.

This thesis covers research around the Medical Emergency Team (MET) system, describing its development, evaluation and other related research that evolved as a result of the MET concept. The basic problem that prompted development of the MET system was related to the inadequate care given to the seriously ill in acute hospitals. This thesis contains background research on some of the reasons why a MET system may be useful, including the limited skills and knowledge of medical training and the sort of acute problems encountered in a hospital at night. Research then describes how the MET system works, including published data on when and how often the team is called, the type of patient the team is called to, the interventions performed by the team, and the outcome of patients on whom a MET was called. At the same time research was being performed around outcome indicators used to measure the effectiveness of the MET system, resulting in the use of cardiac arrests, deaths and unanticipated admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) as common end-points for research in this area. Further research demonstrated that potentially preventable antecedents were common before serious illness The thesis then concentrates on how effective the MET system was in reducing death and serious adverse events. The first study compared a hospital where a MET system had been implemented to two control hospitals and found there was a reduction in admissions to the ICU but after adjustment, not for deaths and cardiac arrests. The second study used a cluster randomised methodology, enrolling 23 hospitals across Australia, comparing the three end-points described above. The study found no difference between both groups. It did highlight some interesting areas around the importance of effective implementation in determining the effectiveness of systems in health. Other publications have described the importance of developing effective ways of caring for the seriously ill outside traditional areas such as ICUs. The MET system, or variations on it, is now implemented in many hospitals in Australia and around the world and there have been two international MET conferences held in North America and international guidelines on the MET concept established.

Includes bibliographical references. / 1 v. (various paging) : / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (D.Nurs.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Clinical Nursing, 2002

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a unit that manages the most critically ill, complex and unstable patients in the hospital. As a result, the ICU is characterised by a high degree of clinical and organisational unpredictability and uncertainty. In Western discourse, uncertainty is often portrayed as problematic, and as something to be controlled and reduced. This research challenges this discourse by examining the productive relationship between certainty and uncertainty in the work practices of ICU clinicians, and subsequently, how intensive care clinicians utilise uncertainty to construct order in a highly unpredictable work environment. To understand how order can coexist with ICU’s unremitting unpredictability, complexity theory is used to frame this investigation. This research engaged an emergent, interventionist methodology, deploying multiple methods. Using ethnography, video-ethnography, and video-reflexivity, this research relied on clinicians’ participation in the construction and analysis of video data of the ICU clinicians’ work practices. This resulted in clinician-led practice change in the ICU. This research suggests that methods need to be deployed adaptively in order to deal with the complexity of ICU, in addition to the moment-to-moment emergence of events that require the researcher’s own work plans to be revisited. Moreover, in order to gain traction with, and understand highly complex and changeable environments, the researcher needs to also enter and experience uncertainty herself. Using complexity theory as its analytical tool, this research shows an inseparability of uncertainty and certainty in the ICU which is labeled ‘un/certainty’. Three main conclusions emerge from this research. First, un/certainty predominates in intensive care, and due to this, ordering is a process rather than a final state. Un/certainty is at the heart of the adaptive practices that clinicians enact. These adaptive practices are highly interconnected to the changes that the ICU environment may require, and thus produce a dynamic order in the unit. Second, the researcher herself, in order to come to terms with the complexity and un/certainty of the ICU environment must also enter un/certainty in order to gain traction with the ICU environment: unpredictability and complexity cannot be studied from a neat and disengaged distance. Third, the presence of un/certainty in the ICU can be significant and enabling rather than disabling for clinicians in their ongoing pursuit of dynamically ordering practice. The contribution of un/certainty to frontline practice is as a central driver to managing change and complexity. Therefore it should be positively revalued by health services researchers, policy makers and clinicians alike.

År 2003 introducerades en checklista för patienters kliniska status och vårdplats på neurointensivvårdsavdelningen (NIVA) på ett universitetssjukhus i Mellansverige. Studiens syfte var att utvärdera denna checklista som verktyg i klinisk verksamhet med fokus på brister, åtgärder och användarvänlighet. Studien består av tre delar och är deskriptiv med kvantitativ ansats. En observationsstudie av tvärsnittskaraktär där funna brister och åtgärder studerats, en journalgranskning där användarvänlighet studerats och en enkätstudie avseende intensivvårdssjuksköterskornas erfarenheter och upplevelser. Resultatet visade att checklistan var användarvänlig med nyttjandefrekvens på 100 %. Intensivvårdssjuksköterskorna ansåg att checklistan inverkar positivt på arbetet, utgör ett stöd och bidrar till ökad patientsäkerhet. Den vanligast funna bristen var larmgränser. Totalt påträffades brister i 38 % av fallen och dessa gav en åtgärdsfrekvens på 77,5 %. En signifikant skillnad avseende åtgärdsfrekvensen påträffades mellan dag- och nattpass. Slutsatsen är att checklistan bidrar till att brister upptäcks och åtgärdas, den är användarvänlig och personalen är positivt inställd till den. En modifierad checklista skulle kunna användas inom intensivvårdsavdelningar generellt och säkerställa att personal arbetar på ett likvärdigt sätt och medföra en mer patientsäker vård där rätten till lika vård för alla efterlevs inom checklistans avsedda område. / This study aimed to evaluate a checklist, with regard to the workstation and the clinical status of the patient, used at the neuro-intensive care unit, NIVA, at a university hospital in central Sweden. The design of the study is descriptive with quantitative data and consists of three parts. An observational, cross-sectional study where flaws and measures where studied, a journal review where the usability where studied and a survey in which critical care nurses expressed their experiences and perceptions. The results showed that flaws where found in 38 % of all cases and these gave a measure frequency of 77,5 %. The checklist was user friendly with utilization of 100 %. According to the critical care nurses the checklist had a positive impact on their daily work, it provided support and contributed to increase patient safety. The conclusion is that the checklist contributes to detection and correction of flaws, it is user fiendly and the critical care nurses have a positive mindset about it. A modified checklist could be used in intensive care settings in general to ensure that staff are working on an equivalent basis and provide a more patient-safe care.

En intensivvårdssjuksköterska kommer i sin yrkesutövning ofta att möta närstående till svårt sjuka patienter. Tidigare studier har påvisat närståendes betydelse inom intensivvården och hur komplicerat samspelet med närstående kan vara, under de speciella omständigheter som råder på en intensivvårdsavdelning. Syftet med denna studie var att belysa intensivvårdssjuksköterskans erfarenheter av aspekter som bidrar till att främja ett gott samspel med patientens närstående. En kvalitativ ansats har använts i studien. Datainsamling utfördes via halvstrukturerade intervjuer, styrda av en intervjuguide. Tio intervjuer genomfördes med intensivvårdssjuksköterskor som arbetade på två olika intensivvårdsavdelningar i mellansverige. Inklusionskriterier var sjuksköterskor med specialistutbildning inom intensivvård med minst tre års erfarenhet av arbete inom specialiteten. Innehållsanalys av data genomfördes och tre huvudkategorier framträdde: Aspekter i intensivvårdsmiljön, Aspekter i den egna kompetensen samt Aspekter hos närstående. Resultatet visar att det finns åtskilliga aspekter, såväl i intensivvårdsmiljön som hos sjuksköterskorna själva samt hos de närstående, som kan bidra till att främja ett gott samspel. Intensivvårdsjuksköterskorna framhåller vikten av att vara förberedd samt att etablera en relation till de närstående. Hur väl detta lyckas påverkas av såväl yttre förutsättningar i intensivvårdsmiljön som den egna kompetensen. Resultatet indikerar även att färdigheter i att möta närstående erhålls genom yrkeserfarenhet, vilket väcker frågor om hur en oerfaren intensivvårdssjuksköterska hanterar samspelet med närstående. / A critical care nurse will in the course of her work often meet relatives of severely ill patients. Previous studies have confirmed the importance of relatives in intensive care and how complex the interaction with these may be, due to the special conditions existing in an intensive care unit. The purpose of this study was to highlight the critical care nurse's experiences of aspects that help improve a sound relationship with the patient's relatives. A qualitative approach was used in the study. Data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews, guided by an interview guide. Ten interviews were conducted with ICU nurses who worked in two different intensive care units in central Sweden. Inclusion criteria were nurses with specialist training in intensive care, with at least three years experience of working in the ICU. Content analysis was conducted and three main categories emerged: Aspects of the intensive care environment, Aspects of their own competence and Aspects of significant others. The results show that there are several aspects. Both the intensive care environment, the nurses themselves as well as the patients relatives can help promote a sound relationship. Intensive care nurses stressed the importance of being prepared and to establish a relationship with the relatives. How well this succeeds is affected by both external conditions in the intensive care environment and the nurses own competence. The results also indicate that skills in meeting relatives is obtained by work experience, which raises questions about how an inexperienced ICU nurse does interact with relatives of patients.

The trend towards patient-and family-centered care (PFCC) invites families of critically ill patients to participate more fully in the care and recovery of their loved ones through partnerships with the medical team and personalized care that respects the values, beliefs and experiences of the individual. In response to the growing needs of families, healthcare institutions are re-designing the way patient and family care is delivered in terms of policy, culture and the physical environment. Despite the many benefits that come with closer collaboration, nurses report that "challenging" families are a key source of workplace stress. This exploratory case study documents some of these challenges as perceived by staff nurses at Emory University Hospital's Neuro ICU while examining the role the built environment plays in shaping such perceptions. Through a series of ethnographic interviews and observational methodologies, the study identifies some of the challenges and benefits that come with balancing patient and family needs. Nurse strategies developed to reassert spatial and temporal control over work environments are also identified. The second phase of research compares communication patterns generated from two different ICUs to explore the link between unit design and the frequency and quality of nurse-family interactions. Findings suggest that space plays a role in moderating the degree of nurse exposure to the often unstructured and unpredictable aspects of family interactions. These encounters, set within a highly charged critical care setting, may contribute to these perceived challenges. Healthcare stands at an important moment of transition in which attitudes, behaviors and expectations are changing. Together these results reinforce the need for adequate tools, training and education to further support nurses in the transition to this new care culture.

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