Critical Care Nursing

A critical care nurse is one who is a registered nurse and has the knowledge, skills ans competencies needed to care for the critically ill without needing direct supervision (Nurse 2005, p.3). These qualities should reflect the needs of the patient, and not depend on the patientÆs environment (e.g. medical or surgical ward). Critical care is usually provided in Level 2 and Level 3 facilities. Critical care practitioners can improve patient recovery using patient-centered care, proactive management and by being vigilant, coping with unexpected events and providing emotional support for the patient (Nurse 2005, p.5). This includes weaning them from ventilation and from sedation, physical rehabilitation of the patient, and providing needed psychological support

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ity. There are different types of clinical audits, such as standards-based audits, adverse occurrence screening and critical incident monitoring, peer review audits, and patient surveys and focus groups. The clinical audit will indicate where improvements are needed and where new research may be applied to improve patient care and outcomes. A baseline audit can be performed once a new procedure has been identified and is to be implemented into patient care. The baseline audit lets the staff know where things stand before the change is made. Another audit can be made some time after the change has been made and compared to the baseline audit to see if the new procedure has made an improvement in patient care, and if so it can be continued. If not, adjustments may have to be made or the new procedure dropped. The new procedure should be stopped if it is seen at any time to be detrimental to patient welfare. The critical care practitioner is capable of making this type of assessment. There are many sources of reliable research available to critical care practitioners. All the work published in major medical and nursing journals is peer-reviewed so is a reliable source of information. The Academy of Medical Sciences h
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Approximate Word count = 1291
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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