How practice nurses engage with parents during their consultations about the MMR vaccine: a qualitative study.

AIM: We aimed to understand practice nurses' perceptions about how they engage with parents during consultations concerning the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. BACKGROUND: The incidence of measles is increasing globally. Immunisation is recognised as the most significant intervention to influence global health in modern times, although many factors are known to adversely affect immunisation uptake. Practice nurses are a key member of the primary care team responsible for delivering immunisation. However, little is known how practice nurses perceive this role. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 15 practice nurses in England using a qualitative descriptive approach. Diversity in terms of years of experience and range of geographical practice settings were sought. These interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and open-coded using qualitative content analysis to manage, analyse and identify themes. FINDINGS: Three themes were derived from the data: engaging with parents, the informed practice nurse and dealing with parental concerns: strategies to promote MMR uptake. During their consultations, practice nurses encountered parents who held strong opinions about the MMR vaccine and perceived this to be related to the parents' socio-demographic background. Practice nurses sought to provide parents with tailored and accurate sources of information to apprise their immunisation decision-making about the MMR vaccine.

Screening for sepsis in general hospitalized patients: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is a condition widely observed outside critical care areas. AIM: To examine the application of sepsis screening tools for early recognition of sepsis in general hospitalized patients to: (i) identify the accuracy of these tools; (ii) determine the outcomes associated with their implementation; and (iii) describe the implementation process. METHODS: A systematic review method was used. PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase databases were systematically searched for primary articles, published from January 1990 to June 2016, that investigated screening tools or alert mechanisms for early identification of sepsis in adult general hospitalized patients. The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42016042261). FINDINGS: More than 8000 citations were screened for eligibility after duplicates had been removed. Six articles met the inclusion criteria testing two types of sepsis screening tools. Electronic tools can capture, recognize abnormal variables, and activate an alert in real time. However, accuracy of these tools was inconsistent across studies with only one demonstrating high specificity and sensitivity. Paper-based, nurse-led screening tools appear to be more sensitive in the identification of septic patients but were only studied in small samples and particular populations. The process of care measures appears to be enhanced; however, demonstrating improved outcomes is more challenging. Implementation details are rarely reported. Heterogeneity of studies prevented meta-analysis. CONCLUSION: Clinicians, researchers and health decision-makers should consider these findings and limitations when implementing screening tools, research or policy on sepsis recognition in general hospitalized patients.

Nursing team leader handover in the intensive care unit contains diverse and inconsistent content: An observational study.

BACKGROUND: Despite a proliferation of evidence and the development of standardised tools to improve communication at handover, evidence to guide the handover of critical patient information between nursing team leaders in the intensive care unit is limited. OBJECTIVE: The study aim was to determine the content of information handed over during intensive care nursing team leader shift-to-shift handover. DESIGN: A prospective observational study. SETTING: A 21-bed medical/surgical adult intensive care unit specialising in cardiothoracic surgery at a tertiary referral hospital in Queensland, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Senior nurses (Grade 5 and 6 Registered nurses) working in team leader roles, employed in the intensive care unit were sampled. METHOD: After obtaining consent from nursing staff, team leader handovers were audiotaped over 20 days. Audio recordings were transcribed and analysed using deductive and inductive content analysis. The frequency of content discussed at handover that fell within the a priori categories of the ISBAR schema (Identify-Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation) was calculated. RESULTS: Forty nursing team leader handovers were recorded resulting in 277 patient handovers and a median of 7 (IQR 2) patients discussed at each handover. The majority of nurses discussed the Identity (99%), Situation (96%) and Background (88%) of the patient, however Assessment (69%) content was varied and patient Recommendations (60%) were discussed less frequently. A diverse range of additional information was discussed that did not fit into the ISBAR schema. CONCLUSIONS: Despite universal acknowledgement of the importance of nursing team leader handover, there are no previous studies assessing its content. Study findings indicate that nursing team leader handovers contain diverse and inconsistent content, which could lead to inadequate handovers that compromise patient safety. Further work is required to develop structured handover processes for nursing team leader handovers.

Multinational development and validation of an early prediction model for delirium in ICU patients.

RATIONALE: Delirium incidence in intensive care unit (ICU) patients is high and associated with poor outcome. Identification of high-risk patients may facilitate its prevention. PURPOSE: To develop and validate a model based on data available at ICU admission to predict delirium development during a patient's complete ICU stay and to determine the predictive value of this model in relation to the time of delirium development. METHODS: Prospective cohort study in 13 ICUs from seven countries. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to develop the early prediction (E-PRE-DELIRIC) model on data of the first two-thirds and validated on data of the last one-third of the patients from every participating ICU. RESULTS: In total, 2914 patients were included. Delirium incidence was 23.6%. The E-PRE-DELIRIC model consists of nine predictors assessed at ICU admission: age, history of cognitive impairment, history of alcohol abuse, blood urea nitrogen, admission category, urgent admission, mean arterial blood pressure, use of corticosteroids, and respiratory failure. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was 0.76 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.73-0.77] in the development dataset and 0.75 (95% CI 0.71-0.79) in the validation dataset. The model was well calibrated. AUROC increased from 0.70 (95% CI 0.67-0.74), for delirium that developed <2 days, to 0.81 (95% CI 0.78-0.84), for delirium that developed >6 days. CONCLUSION: Patients' delirium risk for the complete ICU length of stay can be predicted at admission using the E-PRE-DELIRIC model, allowing early preventive interventions aimed to reduce incidence and severity of ICU delirium.

Recalibration of the delirium prediction model for ICU patients (PRE-DELIRIC): a multinational observational study.

PURPOSE: Recalibration and determining discriminative power, internationally, of the existing delirium prediction model (PRE-DELIRIC) for intensive care patients. METHODS: A prospective multicenter cohort study was performed in eight intensive care units (ICUs) in six countries. The ten predictors (age, APACHE-II, urgent and admission category, infection, coma, sedation, morphine use, urea level, metabolic acidosis) were collected within 24 h after ICU admission. The confusion assessment method for the intensive care unit (CAM-ICU) was used to identify ICU delirium. CAM-ICU screening compliance and inter-rater reliability measurements were used to secure the quality of the data. RESULTS: A total of 2,852 adult ICU patients were screened of which 1,824 (64%) were eligible for the study. Main reasons for exclusion were length of stay <1 day (19.1%) and sustained coma (4.1%). CAM-ICU compliance was mean (SD) 82 ± 16% and inter-rater reliability 0.87 ± 0.17. The median delirium incidence was 22.5% (IQR 12.8-36.6%). Although the incidence of all ten predictors differed significantly between centers, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve of the eight participating centers remained good: 0.77 (95% CI 0.74-0.79). The linear predictor and intercept of the prediction rule were adjusted and resulted in improved re-calibration of the PRE-DELIRIC model. CONCLUSIONS: In this multinational study, we recalibrated the PRE-DELIRIC model. Despite differences in the incidence of predictors between the centers in the different countries, the performance of the PRE-DELIRIC-model remained good. Following validation of the PRE-DELIRIC model, it may facilitate implementation of strategies to prevent delirium and aid improvements in delirium management of ICU patients.

Hypothermia and associated outcomes in seriously injured trauma patients in a predominantly sub-tropical climate.

AIM: This study aimed to determine factors linked to hypothermia (<35 degrees C) in Queensland trauma patients. The relationship of hypothermia with mortality, admission to intensive care and hospital length of stay was also explored. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of data from the Queensland Trauma Registry was undertaken, and included all patients admitted to hospital for > or =24h during 2003 and 2004 with an injury severity score (ISS)>15. Demographic, injury, environmental, care and clinical status factors were considered. RESULTS: A total of 2182 patients were included; 124 (5.7%) had hypothermia on admission to the definitive care hospital, while a further 156 (7.1%) developed hypothermia during hospitalisation. Factors associated with hypothermia on admission included winter, direct admission to a definitive care hospital, an ISS> or =40, a Glasgow Coma Scale of 3 or ventilated and sedated, and hypotension on admission. Hypothermia on admission to the definitive care hospital was an independent predictor of mortality (odds ratio [OR]=4.05; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.26-7.24) and hospital length of stay (incidence rate ratio [IRR]=1.22; 95% CI 1.03-1.43). Hypothermia during definitive care hospitalisation was independently associated with mortality (OR=2.52; 95% CI 1.52-4.17), intensive care admission (OR=1.73; 95% CI 1.20-2.93) and hospital length of stay (IRR=1.18; 95% CI 1.02-1.36). CONCLUSIONS: Trauma patients in a predominantly sub-tropical climate are at risk of accidental and endogenous hypothermia, with associated higher mortality and care requirements. Prevention of hypothermia is important for all severely injured patients.

The effect of education and counselling on knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about responses to acute myocardial infarction symptoms.

The time that elapses from the onset of symptoms of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) to treatment has a significant effect on mortality and morbidity. This study reports the effectiveness of an education and counselling intervention on knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about AMI symptoms and the appropriate response to symptoms. The intervention was tested in a randomised controlled trial of 200 people with a history of coronary heart disease (CHD). The groups were equivalent at baseline on study outcomes, clinical history and sociodemographic characteristics with the exception of more women in the intervention group (38% vs. 24%). The results of repeated measures ANOVA showed that the intervention resulted in improved knowledge of CHD, AMI symptoms and the appropriate response to symptoms that was sustained to 12 months (p=0.02). There were no differences between groups' attitudes and beliefs over time. It is concluded that a short individual teaching and counselling intervention resulted in improved knowledge of CHD, AMI symptoms and the appropriate response to symptoms in people at risk of AMI sustained to 12 months.

"Thinking aloud": data collection in the natural setting.

Knowledge of how nurses make decisions is a desirable outcome of research. However, there currently exists an inadequacy in the techniques used to examine such decision making. In this article, the authors describe the techniques used in two studies incorporating "thinking aloud" to successfully examine the decision making of expert critical care practitioners in the natural setting. Both techniques of thinking aloud were found to provide useful information regarding decision making in the natural setting. No ethical implications were experienced in conducting these studies in the natural setting. In conclusion, the use of thinking aloud in the natural setting is an effective means of data collection.

Expert critical care nurses' use of pulmonary artery pressure monitoring.

Critical care nurses make numerous complex decisions during their day-to-day practice. General themes in previous decision-making studies have included the influence of knowledge and previous experience, the increasing complexity of decisions made and the change in decision-making processes used as the nurse progresses from a novice to an expert practitioner. This paper reports one component of a study which used a concept attainment framework to determine what data were used by eight expert critical care nurses in relation to haemodynamic monitoring. Results indicated that pulmonary artery pressure monitoring was used to attain the concepts of preload, cardiac output and blood pressure. In addition, participants used few clinical assessment attributes, but collected a large number of attributes which they arranged around three to five central concepts and took a broad view of haemodynamic assessment. One participant did not display many of the decision-making features normally associated with an expert practitioner. In conclusion, expert critical care nurses process an immense amount of data in a short space of time. However, they may not use all available data. Evidence suggests not all nurses who practise in the field for a lengthy period reach the level of an expert.

Reliability of measurements of pulmonary artery pressure obtained with patients in the 60 degrees lateral position.

BACKGROUND: Monitoring of pulmonary artery pressure is an essential component of the care of critically ill patients. The conditions under which reliable measurements can be obtained must be clarified. OBJECTIVES: To determine (1) whether reliable measurements of pulmonary artery pressure can be obtained with patients in the right or left 60 degrees lateral position and (2) which characteristics of patients preclude obtaining reliable measurements. METHODS: One hundred five patients (65 cardiac surgery, 40 general medicine) with pulmonary artery catheters were enrolled in a prospective, stratified, quasi-experimental study. Subjects were repositioned from supine (head of bed elevated < 30 degrees with 1 pillow) to the left and right 60 degrees lateral positions. Systolic, diastolic, and mean pulmonary artery pressures and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure were measured before and 5, 10, and 20 minutes after lateral repositioning. The zero reference was the phlebostatic axis when patients were supine and the dependent midclavicular line at the level of the fourth intercostal space when patients were in the lateral positions. RESULTS: In most patients, measurements obtained with patients in the lateral position differed significantly from measurements obtained with patients supine. None of the variables examined were reliable predictors of which patients would have these differences. More than 11% of the patients had clinically significant differences in addition to the statistically significant differences. CONCLUSION: Reliable measurements of pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure cannot be obtained with patients in the 60 degrees lateral position.

Comparison of pulmonary artery pressure measurements in the supine and 60 degrees lateral positions.

Pulmonary artery pressure monitoring, with the patient in both the supine and lateral positions, is an essential element in the assessment of critically ill patients. Previous work offers conflicting results regarding the accuracy of measurements obtained with the patient in the lateral position. The purpose of this study was to determine if accurate pulmonary artery pressure measurements can be obtained in the cardiac surgical patient. Thirty-five patients underwent repositioning between the supine and both the left and right 60 degrees lateral position while being mechanically ventilated and then breathing spontaneously. Pulmonary artery pressure measurements were recorded prior to, two minutes following and ten minutes following repositioning. Despite some variation in results the pulmonary capillary wedge pressure measurement was reliable ten minutes after repositioning in both the spontaneously breathing and mechanically ventilated patient. Other pulmonary artery pressure measurements were not so reliable in the lateral position. This study concludes that clinical practitioners can obtain accurate pulmonary capillary wedge pressure measurements in post-operative cardiac surgical patients positioned in either the left or right 60 degrees lateral position. Further research is however required, with larger numbers from all sub-groups of the critical care population. Physiological and pathophysiological characteristics which preclude reliable pulmonary artery pressure measurements need to be identified.