Incidence, characteristics, and associated factors of pressure injuries acquired in intensive care units over a 12-month period: A secondary analysis of a quality improvement project.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the 12-month cumulative incidence, characteristics, and associated factors of pressure injuries acquired in Intensive Care Units. SETTING: Four intensive care units in a Norwegian University Hospital. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: A prospective observational cohort study using data from daily skin inspections during a quality improvement project. We used descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Variables associated with the development of intensive care unit-acquired pressure injuries are presented with odds ratios (OR), and 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: The 12-month cumulative incidence of patients (N = 594) developing intensive care unit-acquired pressure injuries was 29 % (172/594) for all categories and 16 % (95/594) when excluding category I pressure injuries (no skin loss). Cumulative incidence for patients acquiring medical device-related pressure injuries was 15 % (91/594) and 11 % (64/594) for category II or worse. Compression stockings (n = 51) and nasogastric tubes (n = 22) were the most frequent documented medical devices related to pressure injuries. Development of pressure injuries category II or worse was significantly associated with vasoactive drug infusions (OR 11.84, 95 % CI [1.59; 88.13]) and longer intensive care unit length of stay (OR 1.06, 95 % CI [1.04; 1.08]). CONCLUSION: The 12-month cumulative incidence of intensive care unit-acquired pressure injuries was relatively high when category I pressure injuries were included, but comparable to other studies when category I was excluded. Some medical device-related pressure injuries were surprisingly frequent, and these may be prevented. However, associated factors of developing pressure injuries were present and deemed non-modifiable. IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE: Awareness about pressure injury prevention is needed in the intensive care unit considering high incidences. Nurses can detect category I pressure injuries early, which may be reversed. Our findings show several factors that clinicians can control to reduce the risk of pressure injuries in the intensive care unit.

Documentation for Assessing Pain in Postoperative Pain Management Pre- and Post-intervention.

PURPOSE: Although Norwegian law requires the documentation of patients' care processes, including pain assessment, research has shown that the quality of postoperative documentation for assessing pain does not meet an acceptable standard and requires improvement. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether an educational intervention can increase nurses' documentation of postoperative pain assessments, alter patients' opioid consumption, and ensure that patients have at least one documented Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) ≤3 at rest before being discharged. A secondary aim was to investigate whether the nurses' education and experience influenced their pain assessments. DESIGN: An observational study with a pre-post intervention. METHODS: The study following a pre-post design involved documenting pain assessments of 304 patients undergoing cancer surgeries in a postoperative unit at the Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital. In an educational intervention, two 45-minutes teaching sessions within two weeks, addressed validated pain assessment tools and the documentation of pain assessment. Descriptive frequency analysis and partial correlation with Pearson's r - value were used, with P < .05 indicating significance. FINDINGS: Postintervention, pain assessments in general increased significantly from a mean of two times per patient to three times. Overall, the use of assessment tool Critical -Care Pain Observation Tool increased from 6.1% to 25.8%, opioid consumption increased in mean from 3.34 to 4.79 in milligram and the documentation at discharge increased from 81.4% to 91.4%. The documentation of nurses with more than 10 years' experience in the unit especially improved from 17.5% to 31.7%. CONCLUSIONS: Educational intervention and reminders about basic systematic pain assessment and the evaluation of pain measures improved nurses' documentation of postoperative pain management and documentation at discharge. The findings underscore the importance of regularly ensuring the quality of patients' treatment by systematically documenting nurses' clinical tasks and the outcome of patients' care.

Patient mobilisation in the intensive care unit and evaluation of a multifaceted intervention including Facebook groups: A quasi-experimental study.

AIMS: To describe prevalence and time to mobilisation in intensive care unit patients defined as a minimum sitting in an upright position in bed, and evaluate the impact of a multifaceted quality improvement campaign on likelihood of patients being mobilised. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY/DESIGN: Quality improvement project using a quasi-experimental study design, comparing patient cohorts before (Before) and after (Intervention) a campaign including educational sessions, audit and feedback of intensive care unit quality indicators via closed Facebook-groups and e-mail and local opinion leaders. Secondary analysis of mobilisation data from adult intensive care patient stays extracted from electronical medical charts. Likelihood of being mobilised was analysed with Multivariate Cox-regression model and reported as Sub-hazard Ratio (SHR). SETTING: Four intensive care units in a university hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence and time to first documented mobilisation, defined as at least "sitting in bed" during the intensive care unit stay. RESULTS: Overall, 929 patients were analysed, of whom 710 (76 %) were mobilised; 73 % (356/ 489) in Before vs 81 % (354/ 440) in Intervention (p = 0.007). Median time to mobilisation was 69.9 (IQR: 30.0, 149.8) hours; 71.7 (33.9, 157.9) in Before and 66.0 (27.1, 140.3) in Intervention (p = 0.104). Higher SAPS II-scores were associated with lower likelihood (SHR 0.98, 95 % CI 0.97-0.99), whereas admissions due to gastroenterological failure (SHR 2.1, 95 % CI 1.4-3.0), neurological failure (SHR 1.5, 95 % CI 1.0-2.2) and other causes (intoxication, postoperative care, haematological-, and kidney failure) (SHR 1.7, 95 % CI 1.13-2.6) were associated with higher likelihood of mobilisation vs respiratory failure. CONCLUSION: A quality improvement campaign including use of Facebook groups is feasible and may improve mobilisation in intensive care unit patients. Most patients were mobilised within 72 hours following intensive care unit admission, and SAPS II scores and causes for intensive care unit admission were both associated with likelihood of being mobilised.

Testing the Reliability and Validity of the Nursing Activities Score in Critical Care Nursing.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the conceptual model of critical care nursing using the Nursing Activities Score (NAS) for intensive care unit (ICU) patients. METHODS: An observational study conducted in 2011 using the NAS scores of 219 patients in Norway. The inter-rater reliability (IRR) was tested by parallel classifications. The validity was explored by an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) as the measurement models in the structural equation model. RESULTS: Within the paired ratings the Spearman's correlation coefficient was 0.39. The EFA results explained 77% of the variance with six factors. The reduced CFA model resulted in a three-factor model: relationship, prevention and treatment. CONCLUSION: The findings supported the IRR and construct validity of the conceptual model of the NAS.

Validation of the nursing workload scoring systems "Nursing Activities Score" (NAS), and "Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System for Critically Ill Children" (TISS-C) in a Greek Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the reliability and validity of the Greek version of Nursing Activities Score (NAS), and Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System for Critically Ill Children (TISS-C) in a Greek Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: A methodological study was performed in one PICU of the largest Paediatric Hospital in Athens-Greece. The culturally adapted and validated Greek NAS version, enriched according to the Norwegian paediatric one (P-NAS), was used. TISS-C and Norwegian paediatric interventions were translated to Greek language and backwards. Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS-28) was used as a gold standard. Two independent observers simultaneously recorded 30 daily P-NAS and TISS-C records. Totally, 188 daily P-NAS, TISS-C and TISS-28 reports in a sample of 29 patients have been obtained during five weeks. Descriptive statistics, reliability and validity measures were applied using SPSS (ver 22.0) (p ≤ 0.05). RESULTS: Kappa was 0.963 for P-NAS and 0.9895 for TISS-C (p < 0.001) and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient for all scale items of TISS-C was 1.00 (p < 0.001). P-NAS, TISS-28 and TISS-C measurements were significantly correlated (0.680 ≤ rho ≤ 0.743, p < 0.001). The mean score(±SD) for TISS-28, P-NAS and TISS-C was 23.05(±5.72), 58.14(±13.98) and 20.21(±9.66) respectively. CONCLUSION: These results support the validity of P-NAS and TISS-C scales to be used in greek PICUs.

Association between patient classification systems and nurse staffing costs in intensive care units: An exploratory study.

OBJECTIVES: Nurse staffing costs represent approximately 60% of total intensive care unit costs. In order to analyse resource allocation in intensive care, we examined the association between nurse staffing costs and two patient classification systems: the nursing activities score (NAS) and nine equivalents of nursing manpower use score (NEMS). RESEARCH METHODOLOGY/DESIGN: A retrospective descriptive correlational analysis of nurse staffing costs and data of 6390 patients extracted from a data warehouse. SETTING: Three intensive care units in a university hospital and one in a regional hospital in Norway. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Nurse staffing costs, NAS and NEMS. RESULTS: For merged data from all units, the NAS was more strongly correlated with monthly nurse staffing costs than was the NEMS. On separate analyses of each ICU, correlations were present for the NAS on basic costs and external overtime costs but were not significant. The annual mean nurse staffing cost for 1% of NAS was 20.9-23.1 euros in the units, which was comparable to 53.3-81.5 euros for 1 NEMS point. CONCLUSION: A significant association was found between monthly costs, NAS, and NEMS. Cost of care should be based on individual patients' nursing care needs. The NAS makes nurses' workload visible and may be a helpful classification system in future planning and budgeting of intensive care resources.

The experiences of nurses implementing the Modified Early Warning Score and a 24-hour on-call Mobile Intensive Care Nurse: An exploratory study.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To explore experiences of nurses implementing and using the Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) and a Mobile Intensive Care Nurse (MICN) providing 24-hour on-call nursing support. BACKGROUND: To secure patient safety in hospital wards, nurses may increase the quality of care using a tool to detect the failure of vital functions. Possibilities for support can be provided through on-call supervision from a qualified team or nurse. DESIGN: This exploratory qualitative investigation used focus group interviews with nurses from two wards of a university hospital in Norway. METHODS: A purposive sample of seven registered nurses was interviewed in focus groups. A semi-structured guide and an inductive thematic analysis were used to identify interview themes. RESULTS: Three themes emerged: (1) experiences with the early recognition of deterioration using the MEWS, (2) supportive collaboration and knowledge transfer between nurses and (3) a "new" precise language using the score for communicating with physicians. The use of scores and support were perceived as improving care for deteriorating patients and for supporting the collaboration of nurses with other professionals. CONCLUSION: In our study, nurses described increased confidence in the recognition of deteriorating patients and in the management of such situations. The non-critical attitude, supportive communication and interactive learning according to the MICN were essential elements for success.

The characterisation of workloads and nursing staff allocation in intensive care units: a descriptive study using the Nursing Activities Score for the first time in Norway.

OBJECTIVE: This study compares the Nine Equivalents of Nursing Manpower Use Score (NEMS) to the Nursing Activities Score (NAS) in terms of characterising the nursing workload by examining and calculating the per-nurse NAS% over a 24-h period. METHOD: The sample consisted of 235 patients from four volunteered for the study multidisciplinary ICUs in Norway. The daily NEMS, NAS and number of nurses who were involved in patient care per ICU were measured over one month from 2008 to 2009. RESULTS: The average length of stay for the included patients was 5 days, and the mean patient age was 52.8 years. The mean NEMS was 32.7 points (S.D., 8.98 points), and the mean NAS was 96.24% (S.D., 22.35%). Several nurses exhibited mean NEMS points that ranged from 16 to 39.7 per ICU per day. The correlation between the NEMS and NAS could only be separately determined for each ICU. The correlation was r=0.16-0.40 [significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)] per unit. Depending on which unit was investigated, each nurse was observed to perform of capacity with a NAS as high as 75-90%. CONCLUSION: The study suggests that the actual numbers of nurses might explain the calculated NAS of 75-90% per nurse.