On Its Own Terms: An ICU Nurse Considers Human Adaptability.

Updated several times a week with posts by a wide variety of authors, AJN's blog Off the Charts allows us to provide more timely-and often more personal-perspectives on professional, policy, and clinical issues. Best of the Blog is a regular column to draw the attention of AJN readers to posts we think deserve a wider audience. To read more, please visit: www.ajnoffthecharts.com.

Far from Home.

A flight nurse cares for one of COVID-19's many 'peripheral victims.'

Not Compatible with Nursing.

: Updated several times a week with posts by a wide variety of authors, AJN's blog Off the Charts allows us to provide more timely-and often more personal-perspectives on professional, policy, and clinical issues. Best of the Blog will be a regular column to draw the attention of AJN readers to posts we think deserve a wider audience. To read more, please visit: www.ajnoffthecharts.com.

Exploration of a Preflight Acuity Scale for Fixed Wing Air Ambulance Transport.

INTRODUCTION: Despite the prevalence of fixed wing medical flights for specialized care and repatriation, few acuity rating scales exist aimed at the prediction of adverse in-flight medical events. An acuity scoring system can provide information to flight crews, allowing for staffing enhancements, protocol modifications, and flight planning, with the aim of improving patient care, outcomes, and preventing losses to providers because of costly diversions. METHODS: Our medical crew developed an acuity scale, which was applied retrospectively to 296 patients transported between January 2016 and March 2017. Patients received scores based on conditions identified during the preflight medical report, the initial patient assessment, demographics, and flight factors. RESULTS: Five patients were identified as high-risk transports based on our scale. Three patients suffered adverse events according to our defined criteria, 2 of which occurred before transport and 1 during transport. The 3 patients suffering adverse events did not receive a score that indicated adverse events in flight. CONCLUSION: Our scale was not predictive of adverse events in flight. However, it did illuminate factors worthy of consideration. Consideration of these factors may have prevented adverse events.

Home for Christmas: Flight Nursing and the Symbols of Hope.

Updated several times a week with posts by a wide variety of authors, AJN's blog Off the Charts allows us to provide more timely-and often more personal-perspectives on professional, policy, and clinical issues. Best of the Blog will be a regular column to draw the attention of AJN readers to posts we think deserve a wider audience. To read more, please visit: www.ajnoffthecharts.com.

The Priceless Clarity of Inexperience.

Updated several times a week with posts by a wide variety of authors, AJN's blog Off the Charts allows us to provide more timely-and often more personal-perspectives on professional, policy, and clinical issues. Best of the Blog will be a regular column to draw the attention of AJN readers to posts we think deserve a wider audience. To read more, please visit: www.ajnoffthecharts.com.

Rightness: A Flight Nurse Taps Into the Universal Language of Nursing.

Updated several times a week with posts by a wide variety of authors, AJN's blog Off the Charts allows us to provide more timely-and often more personal-perspectives on professional, policy, and clinical issues. Best of the Blog will be a regular column to bring AJN readers recent posts that we think deserve a wider audience. To read more, please visit: www.ajnoffthecharts.com.

Depression among trauma patients.

BACKGROUND: Depression has been studied in many patient populations and has been found to significantly impact the course of illness, recovery, and outcome. OBJECTIVES: Depression among the trauma patient population is under-recognized by health practitioners and precludes patient participation with rehabilitation-related activities, which ultimately leads to delayed recovery from traumatic injuries. METHODS: This descriptive study evaluated in-hospital depression in patients admitted to trauma services in an urban level II trauma center by using a depression scale and chart review. Results were correlated with patients' self-reported degree of recovery during a follow-up phone call 6 months after hospital discharge. RESULTS: There was no significant correlation between recovery and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale score, Injury Severity Scale, or length of stay. Although no significant correlations were found, more than one-half of the patients who went to a rehabilitation facility reported recovery, whereas only 1 of the 4 patients who did not go to a rehabilitation facility reported recovery. DISCUSSION: The findings suggest that medical funding with rehabilitation benefits is more predictive of patient's perception of recovery than in-hospital depression. Limitations of this study were significant, including patient population changes and administrative restructuring. Evaluation of those limitations may lead to increased support for bedside nurses to engage in research aimed at contributing to evidence-based practice.

Ileus development in the trauma/surgical intensive care unit: a process improvement evaluation.

Ileus development has been associated with a wide range of complications among hospitalized patients, ranging from increased patient pain and discomfort to malnutrition, aspiration, delayed rehabilitation, and sepsis. This article examines factors that appeared to correlate with an increase in ileus development among patients in a trauma/surgical intensive care unit, with the goal of preventing the condition through nursing practice changes.