The "Heart" of COVID-19: Brugada Syndrome and Post-SARS-CoV-2 Virus Cardiac Nursing Care.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an illness that was sudden, unexpected, and global. Primarily a disease of the vascular endothelium, the virus threatens all of core systems, as well as behavioral and mental health, during the acute and long-term phases. Attention is now being given to the identification and care of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19.

Empowering nurses to activate the rapid response team.

All clinical nurses need to be prepared to recognize deterioration in a patient's clinical status and activate the rapid response team when appropriate. This article explores the clinical nurse's role in recognizing and responding to deterioration in a patient's condition with a focus on hospital-based nurses practicing on a medical-surgical unit.

Analgosedation: Improving Patient Outcomes in ICU Sedation and Pain Management.

Sedation practices in the critical care unit have been trending toward lighter sedation since the start of the new millennium, but patients continue to experience inadequate pain management and excessive sedation. This paper includes a brief examination of the problem of pain management in the ICU; trends in sedation practices, including light sedation and the daily interruption of sedation; and a literature review of analgosedation. While the analgosedation literature is relatively sparse, it offers a promising, patient-centered method for managing the triad of pain, agitation, and delirium, while reducing common complications associated with long-term ventilation.

Review of therapies for the treatment of oral chronic graft-versus-host disease.

Oral chronic graft-versus-host disease is a frequent complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, contributing to patient morbidity and mortality. Although an optimal treatment is not available, several systemic and topical or local therapies have shown efficacy in treating the disease. New therapies are being tested through clinical trials.

Patient with intracranial subarachnoid hemorrhage requiring an endovascular coiling procedure.

A 53-year-old man with a sudden onset of visual disturbances and a severe headache is transported to the emergency department, triaged as emergent, and seen immediately. His care is described on the basis of embolization and coiling in interventional radiology. Prioritization and nursing management postprocedure are discussed, and the importance of astute nursing interventions in the emergency department is presented.

The introduction of family presence evidence-based practice into a baccalaureate nursing curriculum.

The topic of family presence (FP) during cardiopulmonary resuscitation or invasive procedures has recently received attention and debate among healthcare professionals due to pioneering research in this field. Studies completed have included family perspectives on family presence, patients' feelings on family presence, and healthcare providers' views on family presence. Two key areas found to correlate with family presence acceptance among healthcare providers are education and experience.

Ensuring NCLEX-RN success for first-time test-takers.

A major indicator of baccalaureate nursing program effectiveness is the pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examinations, Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN) among first-time candidates. This article highlights the scope, instructional methods, and outcomes of the remediation program at Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies (GU-NHS). With implementation of the multifaceted program, the NCLEX-RN pass rate for first-time takers at GU-NHS has been consistently above the national mean among all first-time candidates.

Low health literacy: a challenge to critical care.

Health literacy-"the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions"-has been identified as a cross-cutting quality-of-care issue by the Institute of Medicine. This article defines the scope of the health literacy problem, discusses the literacy demands of critical care, and offers strategies for nurses to improve the quality of health communication with patients and families in the critical care environment.