Exercise Physiologists: Key to Providing Early Mobilization in the Intensive Care Unit.

Background: Patient immobility and a lack of physical activity in the intensive care unit results in a myriad of negative patient and hospital outcomes.

Objective: To report research findings related to the use of exercise physiologists in promoting and providing aggressive and progressive early mobilization within the intensive care unit.

Methods: This observational cohort study used the researcher-generated 12-point Activity Mobilization Evaluation Scale and delirium prevention bundle in 3 medical-surgical intensive care units to track patients' progress with mobilization.

Description of Nurse Scientists in a Large Health Care System.

Replicating a research study that described the work of nurse scientists in children's hospitals, the purpose of the study was to describe the role, activities, and outcomes of nurse scientists employed in a national health care organization. The characteristics of nurses filling the nurse scientist role in clinical settings and outcomes associated with the role have not been extensively described. The setting of this study is ideal since the organization includes facilities of various sizes located in rural, urban, and suburban areas in 18 states.

Feasibility and Effectiveness of a Delirium Prevention Bundle in Critically Ill Patients.

Background: Strategies for preventing delirium include early identification and avoiding or modifying patient, environmental, and iatrogenic factors. Minimal research exists on a prescriptive delirium prevention bundle that details elements or strategies for each bundle component. Even less research has been focused on nurse-driven interventions or components.

Hospital workers bypass traditional occupational injury reporting systems when reporting patient and visitor perpetrated (type II) violence.

Background: Under-reporting of type II (patient/visitor-on-worker) violence by workers has been attributed to a lack of essential event details needed to inform prevention strategies.

Methods: Mixed methods including surveys and focus groups were used to examine patterns of reporting type II violent events among ∼11,000 workers at six U.S.

The Duration of Self-Selected Music Needed to Reduce Preoperative Anxiety.

Purpose: Preoperative anxiety affects patients both physically and psychologically. It may also influence the patient's perioperative experience and result in reduced patient satisfaction with care and potentially delayed recovery. Previous research indicates that patients who listen to music in the perioperative setting experience less anxiety than patients who do not listen to music.

An urgent need to understand and address the safety and well-being of hospital "sitters".

Background: Hospital sitters provide continuous observation of patients at risk of harming themselves or others. Little is known about sitters' occupational safety and well-being, including experiences with patient/visitor-perpetrated violence (type II).

Methods: Data from surveys, focus groups, individual interviews at six U.

Physical assault, physical threat, and verbal abuse perpetrated against hospital workers by patients or visitors in six U.S. hospitals.

Background: An elevated risk of patient/visitor perpetrated violence (type II) against hospital nurses and physicians have been reported, while little is known about type II violence among other hospital workers, and circumstances surrounding these events.

Methods: Hospital workers (n = 11,000) in different geographic areas were invited to participate in an anonymous survey.

Results: Twelve-month prevalence of type II violence was 39%; 2,098 of 5,385 workers experienced 1,180 physical assaults, 2,260 physical threats, and 5,576 incidents of verbal abuse.

The experience of family members of ICU patients who require extensive monitoring: a qualitative study.

A mixed methods study using family research with a phenomenological approach (n = 5 families) was conducted to explore family members' perceptions about the extensive monitoring technology used on their critically ill family member after cardiac surgery, as experienced when family members initially visited the patient in the cardiovascular intensive care unit. Five relevant themes emerged: overwhelmed by all of the machines; feelings of uncertainty; methods of coping; meaning of the numbers on the machines; and need for education.