ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Nurses in the UK are now one group of non-medical staff who can prescribe. This practice is evolving for critical care nursing staff who care for critically ill patients during their stay in hospital through ward and outpatient follow-up after admission to critical care. AIM: The purposes of this paper were to present existing information regarding prescribing to support nurses in critical care currently prescribing and to inform those who are intending to prescribe. METHODS: To develop the position statement, a search of the literature was conducted using key databases. To ascertain the current level and type of prescribing in critical care, a short questionnaire was sent by email to British Association of Critical Care Nursing members, and the results of this are presented in Appendix A. OUTCOMES/RESULTS: Evidence was found in relation to the history, context in critical care, educational requirements and issues of consent related to non-medical prescribing. CONCLUSIONS: The position statement is based upon evidence from the literature, National Health Service policy and the Nursing and Midwifery Council regulations. It takes account of the critical care patient pathway before, during and after an admission to critical care.
Subject(s)
Critical Care/standards , Drug Prescriptions , Nurse's Role , Professional Autonomy , Specialties, Nursing/standards , Clinical Competence/legislation & jurisprudence , Clinical Competence/standards , Critical Care/legislation & jurisprudence , Delegation, Professional/legislation & jurisprudence , Delegation, Professional/standards , Drug Prescriptions/nursing , Drug Prescriptions/standards , Education, Nursing, Continuing/legislation & jurisprudence , Education, Nursing, Continuing/standards , Evidence-Based Nursing , Humans , Informed Consent/legislation & jurisprudence , Informed Consent/standards , Licensure, Nursing/legislation & jurisprudence , Licensure, Nursing/standards , Mental Competency/legislation & jurisprudence , Mental Competency/standards , Nursing Audit/standards , Nursing Evaluation Research , Pharmacopoeias as Topic , Specialties, Nursing/education , Specialties, Nursing/legislation & jurisprudence , Surveys and Questionnaires , United KingdomSubject(s)
Critical Care/organization & administration , Health Care Reform/organization & administration , State Medicine/organization & administration , Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate/organization & administration , Health Services Needs and Demand , Humans , Northern Ireland , Organizational Innovation , Practice Guidelines as Topic , Specialties, Nursing/education , Specialties, Nursing/organization & administrationABSTRACT
Follow-up of patients discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU) is recommended as a means of service evaluation (Department of Health (2000). Comprehensive Critical Care: a Review of Adult Critical Care Services), in order to monitor the quality of the services provided Without patient follow-up, ICU staff have only 'death' or 'discharge alive from hospital' as clinical outcomes from which to judge practice performance, and limited evidence exists on which to base decisions about improvements to critical care practice (Audit Commission (1999). Critical to Success--the Place of Efficient and Effective Critical Care Services Within the Acute Hospital) To address these issues the Regional Intensive Care Unit (RICU) obtained information from patient assessment/interview on problems experienced by patients within 8-9 days (mean), following discharge from RICU A nurse-administered questionnaire was used to identify functional outcomes, nutrition and psychological issues such as anxiety and sleep disturbances Benefits of patient follow-up introduced and planned include: patient diaries for long-term patients, input from clinical psychologis, review of sedation used in RICU.
