Patienterna på en intensivvårdsavdelning ligger i riskzonen för oavsiktlig hypotermi. De tidigare identifierade riskgrupperna är bland annat förekomst av kontinuerlig hemodialys, vissa sederande läkemedel, stor mängd intravenös vätska samt kirurgiska ingrepp i generell anestesi. Hypotermi har negativa konsekvenser för patienterna som ökad blödningsrisk, försämrad sårläkning samt kardiologisk påverkan. Syftet med studien var att undersöka förekomsten av hypotermi hos intensivvårdade patienter. En retrospektiv deskriptiv studie på 583 vuxna patienter som vårdades på en intensivvårdsavdelning någon gång under 2009 genomfördes. Resultatet visade att 17 procent av patienterna hade drabbats av oavsiktlig hypotermi. Patienterna med intagningsorsakerna blödning och sepsis hade en ökad förekomst av hypotermi. Patienter med låg kroppsvikt samt äldre patienter hade en ökad förekomst av hypotermi vilket stämmer väl överens med tidigare studier. Däremot att yngre patienter samt kvinnliga patienter hade en högre förekomst av hypotermi är nya fynd. Det förefaller viktigt för intensivvårdssjuksköterskan att tidigt identifiera patienter i riskgrupper för oavsiktlig hypotermi och aktivt förhindra dess uppkomst. / The patients on an intensive care unit are often at risk for inadvertent hypothermia. Previously identified groups at risk include patients receiving continuous renal replacement therapy, some sedative drugs, large amounts of intravenous fluids and surgical procedures during general anesthesia. Hypothermia has negative consequences for patients such as increased risk for hemorrhaging, impaired wound healing and cardiological effects. The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of inadvertent hypothermia in patients receiving intensive care. We performed a retrospective descriptive study on 583 adult patients who had been admitted to an intensive care unit. The results showed that 17 percent of the patients had inadvertent hypothermia. The patients admitted under the categories bleeding or septicemia had an increased occurrence of hypothermia. Patients with lower bodyweight and elderly patients had a higher occurrence which concurs with previous research. We also found that younger patients and female patients had a higher occurrence of hypothermia which is new findings. It appears that it is important for the intensive care unit nurse to early identify those patients at risk and to actively prevent its occurrence.

Critical care nursing is a speciality that continues to evolve and transform. Critical care nurses of the 21st century routinely care for the complex, critically ill patient, integrating sophisticated technology with the accompanying psychosocial challenges and the ethical conflicts associated with critical illness – while, at the same time, addressing the needs and concerns of the family. Providing nursing care in such a dynamic and fast-track unit can pose various challenges for the critical care nurse. Professional nurses are the backbone of any health-care system. The quality of nursing directly affects the patients’ outcomes, and nursing care must therefore be rendered meticulously. Mechanical ventilator support is routinely needed for critically ill adults in these care units and is also a common therapy in sub-acute and long-term care settings. The care of the mechanically ventilated patient is the core of a professional nurse`s practice in the critical care unit. The mechanically ventilated patient presents many challenges for the professional nurse, while the critical care unit poses as a stressful environment for the professional nurse as well as the patient. The objectives of this study therefore were to explore and describe the lived experiences of professional nurses while caring for mechanically ventilated patients, and to develop recommendations to support professional nurses while caring for mechanically ventilated patients. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was utilised. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews and analysed according to the framework provided by Tesch. Purposive sampling was used to select a sample of professional nurses working in a critical care environment. Guba’s model was utilised to verify data and to ensure trustworthiness of the study. Ethical principles were adhered to throughout this research study. With the analysed data, recommendations were to support professional nurses while caring for mechanically ventilated.

Implementation strategies for the use of clinical practice guidelines are an integral component in bridging the gap between the best research evidence and clinical practice. However, despite some remarkable investments in health research regarding clinical practice guidelines implementation strategies, it is not yet known which of these are the most effective for intensive care units. The purpose of this research study was to systematically identify and /or search, appraise, extract and synthesize the best available evidence for clinical practice guidelines implementation strategies in intensive care units, in order to develop a draft guideline for clinical practice guidelines implementation strategies in the intensive care units. A systematic review design was used to systematically identify and /or search, appraise, extract and synthesize the best available evidence from the eligible included Level 2 studies (randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies). Level 2 studies were applicable because they present robust evidence in the research results regarding effectiveness of clinical practice guideline implementation strategies. Furthermore, although other systematic reviews conducted in this area before, they included studies of In addition, no systematic review was identified that reviewed Level 2 studies and developed a guideline for clinical practice guideline implementation strategies in the intensive care units. Hence, including only Level 2 studies was distinctive to this research study. Databases searched included: CINAHL with full text, Google Scholar, Academic search complete, Cochrane Register for Randomized Controlled Trials Issue 8 of 12, August 2013, and MEDLINE via PUBMED. Hand search in bound journals was also done. The search strategy identified 315 potentially relevant studies. After the process of critical appraisal, thirteen Level 2 studies were identified as relevant for the review. Of the 13 relevant studies, 10 were randomized controlled trials and three were quasi experimental studies. After the critical appraisal ten RCTs were included in the systematic review. Three studies (quasi-experimental) were excluded on the basis of methodological quality after the critical appraisal and agreement by the two independent reviewers. The Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal MASTARI Instrument for Randomized Controlled trials/ Experimental studies, and The Joanna Briggs Institute data extraction tools were used to critically appraise, and extract data from the ten included randomized controlled trials. The two reviewers who performed the critical appraisal were qualified critical care professional nurses and experts in research methodology. These reviewers conducted the critical appraisal independently to ensure the objectivity of the process. Appropriate ethical considerations were maintained throughout the process of the research study. The results indicated that 80 percent of the included studies were conducted in adult intensive care units while 20 percent were conducted in the neonatal intensive care units. Furthermore, 60 percent of the studies were conducted in the United States of America, 10 percent in France, a further 10 percent in Taiwan, another 10 percent in England and yet another 10 percfent was conducted in Australia and Newzealand. The included studies utilized more than one (multifaceted) implementation strategies to implement clinical practice guidelines in the intensive care units. The first most utilized were: printed educational materials; Information/ educational sessions/meetings; audit and feedback and champion/local opinion leaders; seconded by educational outreach visits; and computer or internet usage. Third most used were active/passive reminders; systems support; academic detailing/ one-on-one sessions teleconferences/videoconferences and workshops/in services. Fourth most used were ollaboration/interdisciplinary teams; slide shows, teleconferences/videoconferences and discussions. Fifth most used were practical training; monitoring visits and grand rounds. However all the strategies were of equal importance. Conclusively, the included studies utilized multifaceted implementation strategies. However, no study indicated the use of a guideline for the implementation strategies in the process of clinical practice guidelines implementation. The systematic review developed a draft guideline for clinical practice guideline implementation strategies in the intensive care units. The guideline will enhance effective implementation of clinical practice guidelines in such a complex environment.

Critically ill patients often require assistance by means of intubation and mechanical ventilation to support their spontaneous breathing if they are unable to maintain it. Mechanical ventilation is one of the most commonly used treatment modalities in the care of the critically ill patient and up to 90% of patients world-wide require mechanical ventilation during some or most parts of their stay in critical care units Management of a patient’s airway is a critical part of patient care both in and out of hospital. Although there are many methods used in verifying the correct placement of the endotracheal tube, the need and ability to verify placement of an endotracheal tube correctly is of utmost importance, because many complications can occur should the tube be incorrectly placed. Since unrecognized oesophageal intubation can have many disastrous effects on patients, various methods for verifying correct endotracheal tube placement have been developed and considered. Some of these methods include direct visualization, end-tidal carbon dioxide measurement and oesophageal detector devices. This research study aimed to explore and describe the existing literature on the verification of endotracheal tubes in the mechanically ventilated patient in the critical- care unit. A systematic review was done in order to operationalize the primary objective. Furthermore, based on the literature collected from the systematic review, recommendations for the verification of the endotracheal tube in the mechanically ventilated patient in the critical care unit were made. Ethical considerations were maintained throughout the study and the quality of the systematic review was ensured by performing a critical appraisal of the evidence found.

Thermoregulation is considered a top priority in neonatology due to the fact that relative to adults, neonates have a morphological susceptibility to excessive heat exchange with the environment, and exhibit limited physiological/behavioural responses to thermal strain. Consequently, the environmental conditions in which they are nursed must be tightly regulated to maintain body temperature stable. Neonatal intensive care units (NICU) use radiant warmers (RW) to thermally manage many newborns. However, recent evidence suggests that RW induce intermittent bouts of thermal strain that could adversely affect patients. This warrants further investigation of neonatal heat balance and the pertinent factors affecting it. Conducting an exhaustive audit of heat exchanges affecting the body during standard care under a RW could yield important information that would lead to the improvement of clinical practice in NICUs. The present thesis focuses on neonatal thermoregulatory responses, various body heat exchange mechanisms and processes during standard care under RW.

The pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) has been described as a stressful place for parents of critically ill children. Research to date has examined parents’ needs and stressors with a child in PICU. There is a paucity of research examining the experience for parents of a child who is transferred from the PICU to the hospital ward. Open-ended interviews were conducted with 10 parents within 24-48 hours after transfer from a PICU to a hospital ward at a children’s hospital in Canada to understand this experience. Parents revealed that the experience involved a search for comfort through transitions as expressed through the themes of: ‘being a parent with a critically ill child is exhausting’, ‘being kept in the know’, ‘feeling supported by others’, and ‘being transferred’. The findings from this study can help nurses and other health professionals working with parents to support them through the transition from PICU. Recommendations are made for the inclusion of family-centered care practices to assist parents through transitions.

Background: Based on survey data from both Canada and abroad, most people would prefer to be cared for and to die in their own homes. Although 70% of elderly patients state a preference for comfort care over high technology life prolonging treatment in an inpatient setting, 54% are still admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). Understanding their wishes regarding end-of-life care, and being able to engage in evidence informed end-of-life discussions has never been so important, in order to empower patients, and to optimize scarce resource management. For the purpose of this thesis, “very old” patients will be defined as those eighty years of age and older. All three manuscripts will be based on data from the Realistic 80 study, a prospective cohort trial of 1671 critically ill very old patients admitted to 22 Canadian ICUs. Objectives: Manuscript 1: To describe the hospital outcomes of the entire cohort of Realistic 80 patients, including their ICU mortality and length of stay, their hospital mortality and length of stay, and their ultimate dispositions. Manuscript 2: To derive a clinical prediction rule for hospital mortality in the medical patient cohort. Manuscript 3: To derive a clinical prediction rule for hospital mortality in the emergency surgical patient cohort. Data Source: A prospective, multicenter cohort study of very elderly medical and surgical patients admitted to 22 Canadian academic and non-academic ICUs. Methods: Clinical decision rule methodology was used to analyze the data set and to create two separate clinical prediction tools, one for critically ill elderly medical patients, and one for critically ill surgical emergency patients. A third manuscript describing general clinical outcomes was also produced. Results of Manuscript 1: A total of 1671 patients were included in this section of the “Realities, Expectations and Attitudes to Life Support Technologies in Intensive Care for Octogenarians: The Realistic 80 Study (a prospective cohort of nearly 2000 critically ill Canadian patients over eighty years old enrolled from 22 ICUs across Canada) that will provide the data for this thesis. The Realistic 80 cohort had a mean age of 84.5, a baseline Apache II score of 22.4, a baseline SOFA score of 5.3, an overall ICU mortality of 21.8%, and an overall hospital mortality of 35%. The cohort had a median ICU length of stay of 3.7 days, and an overall median hospital length of stay of 16.6 days. Only 46.4% of the survivors were able to return home to live. Results of Manuscript 2: Age, renal function, level of consciousness, and serum pH were the important predictors of hospital mortality in critically ill elderly medical patients. Our clinical prediction tool is very good, particularly at the all-important extremes of prognosis, and ready for external validation. Results of Manuscript 3: Renal function and serum pH were the important predictors of hospital mortality in critically ill elderly surgical patients. Our model’s performance is very good, and will serve to inform clinical practice once validated. Conclusions: Very old medical patients have longer ICU stays and higher mortality than their surgical counterparts. Premorbid health status and severity of illness are associated with mortality. Our medical patient clinical prediction tool is very good and ready for external validation. Our surgical emergency clinical prediction tool shows promise, but will require the incorporation of more patients and a repeat derivation phase prior to external validation or clinical implementation.

Over the last three decades, there has been a growing body of literature that has described moral distress as a prominent issue that negatively affects critical care nurses. However, little focus has been given to how nurses cope and continue on in their practice despite the hardship that moral distress can cause. This study sought to reveal nurses’ strategies of coping with moral distress to allow for a better understanding of this aspect of critical care nurses’ experiences. This study adopted a qualitative design that used Thorne’s (2008) approach to interpretative description. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven critical care nurses employed within two ICUs of a tertiary care academic hospital. Interviews were analyzed using Aronson’s (1995) approach to thematic analysis. The experience of coping with moral distress had an overarching theme of being “like grass in the wind.” Four major themes were identified: Going Against What I Think is Best, Moral Distress- It’s Just Inherent in Our Job, It Just Felt Awful, and Dealing with It.

M.Cur. / The purpose of this study is to explore and describe the experiences of patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome whilst being nursed in intensive care units, in order to set guidelines for nursing. The researcher made use of the phenomenological approach within the paradigm of qualitative research. The target population consisted of 70 patients of which seven complied with the selection criteria: In-depth interviews, which were taped, were conducted with the patients. Validity and reliability were ensured by using measures as stated by Woods and Catanzaro (1988). Data-analysis was executed by means of Giorgi's method (Omery,1983) and after clearance with an external decoder, it was categorized according to the patients' internal and external environment. The Nursing Theory for the Wholeperson had been used to this purpose. The conclusions of this study indicate that patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome in intensive care units experience deprivation of sleep, pain and fear. Limited communication and loss of autonomy create frustration. Patients become lonely and bored and have a need for constant support from their family and others. Consequent upon the conclusions the researcher developed nine guidelines for the nursing of patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome. These guidelines are in support of the functional approach of the researcher and may be considered an attempt to provide research findings that are applicable to the practice of nursing.

M.Cur. / An explorative, descriptive, contextual qualitative design was employed in an endeavour to unravel experiences of mothers with infants in the NICU regarding emotional support that they received from the nurses while nursing their infants in the unit. The sample of the study comprised eight (8) mothers who were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through the use of semi- structured questions. All the interviews were audiotaped. Data were collected in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Princess Marina Hospital, Botswana. Data were analysed through the use of Tesch's method of data analysis, which is based on thematic content analysis. Themes which emerged were acceptance of the infant, encouragement to keep on visiting the infant every three hours, information provided on caring for the infant, encouragement on giving the infant motherly love e.g. cuddling, nurses having no time for the mothers, nurses' mistrust of mothers and finally neglect. The results of the study revealed that mothers did receive the emotional support that they needed, perceived as an important aspect to mothers nursing infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It was found that some nurses did provide emotional support to mothers while other nurses had no time to support the mothers in need.