Sarcopenia and Psychosocial Variables in Patients in Intensive Care Units: The Role of Nutrition and Rehabilitation in Prevention and Treatment.

Critical illness leads to decline in muscle mass that promotes decline in physical function and psychological function and may lead to cognitive decline or dementia. Nurses are key to driving the multidisciplinary interventions that prevent protein loss and promote positive outcomes for critically ill patients.

Nurse practitioners and intent to retire.

Background And Purpose: Demand for primary care services is rising. Nurse practitioners (NPs) serve vital roles in meeting primary care demands. Workforce planning requires understanding NP retirement intentions.

A Systematic Review on Interventions Supporting Preceptor Development.

Increases in newly licensed nurses and experienced nurses changing specialties create a challenge for nursing professional development specialists (NPDS). The NPDS must use the best available evidence in designing programs. A systematic review of interventions for developing preceptors is needed to inform the NPDS in best practice.

Gender differences in stroke, mortality, and hospitalization among patients with atrial fibrillation: A systematic review.

Objective: To conduct a systematic review of gender differences in stroke, mortality, and hospitalization for patients with atrial fibrillation and/or flutter (AF/Afl).

Methods: Full texts, published, peer-reviewed, English language articles from 1999 through July 2014 were examined. Articles with populations of patients with AF/Afl were included if they conducted longitudinal analysis of any of three outcomes: stroke, mortality, and hospitalization, and reported or compared at least one of the outcomes according to gender.

Pathophysiological relationships between heart failure and depression and anxiety.

Depression and anxiety are common comorbid conditions in patients with heart failure. Patients with heart failure and depression have increased mortality. The association of anxiety with increased mortality in patients with heart failure is not established.

Using preappraised evidence sources to guide practice decisions.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is two-fold. The first is to describe preappraised evidence sources or a top-down approach to obtaining the best available evidence. The second purpose of the article is to describe how to incorporate preappraised evidence into clinical decision making with the Best Practice Decision Guide.

Is health-related quality of life a predictor of hospitalization or mortality among women or men with atrial fibrillation?

Background: Little is known about predictors of mortality or hospitalization in women compared with men in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Although there are established gender differences in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), differences have not been established in AF.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine clinical and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) predictors of mortality and 1-year hospitalization in women compared with men with AF.

The influence of depression and anxiety symptoms on health-related quality of life in patients with atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter.

Background: The health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial flutter (AFL) is an important issue in cardiovascular health management. Determinants of poor HRQoL of AF/AFL patients require further elucidation.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influencing factors related to the HRQoL of AF/AFL patients.

Poor social support is associated with increases in depression but not anxiety over 2 years in heart failure outpatients.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a major health problem in the United States, affecting 5.7 million American adults. Psychosocial distress, in particular depression, contributes to morbidity and mortality in patients with HF.

Effects of interventions on depression in heart failure: a systematic review.

Objective: We sought to conduct a systematic review to evaluate the effects of interventions on depression in adults with heart failure (HF).

Methods: Published, peer-reviewed, English-language, prospective interventional studies were identified in a search of Medline, CINAHL, PsychINFO, and the Cochrane Libraries of Systematic Reviews and Clinical Trials from 1996 through August 2011 and relevant bibliographies. Eligible studies included patients with New York Heart Association functional class II and III HF with experimental or quasiexperimental designs and preintervention and postintervention measures of depression.

Depression, quality of life, and glycemic control in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to evaluate the contributions of diabetic complications to depression beyond the contributions of demographic characteristics in patients with type 2 diabetes. Further, this article evaluates the contributions of diabetic complications, depression, and quality of life to A1C (also know as HbA1c) beyond the contributions of demographic characteristics in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Data Sources: A cross-sectional survey of 55 individuals with type 2 diabetes attending an inner city diabetes specialty clinic.

Changes in psychosocial distress in outpatients with heart failure with implantable cardioverter defibrillators.

Patients given implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) after arrhythmic events or sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) experience psychosocial distress. ICDs now are inserted for the primary prevention of SCA in patients with heart failure; the psychosocial impact of ICDs on patients with heart failure is unknown. Changes in psychosocial status in these ICD recipients were examined.

Reducing mortality with device therapy in heart failure patients without ventricular arrhythmias.

Use of device therapy to prevent sudden cardiac death in patients with heart failure is expanding on the basis of evidence from recent clinical trials. Three multicenter prospective clinical trials-Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure (SCD-HeFT); Comparison of Medical Therapy, Pacing, and Defibrillation in Heart Failure (COMPANION); and Cardiac Resynchronization-Heart Failure (CARE-HF)-were conducted to determine the effectiveness of devices in reducing mortality in patients with heart failure who did not have a history of ventricular arrhythmias. The 3 trials varied in the devices used, the population of patients included, and the study designs.

Relationship of depression, anxiety, and social isolation to chronic heart failure outpatient mortality.

Objectives: The Psychosocial Factors Outcome Study (PFOS) investigated the prevalence of depression and anxiety and the relationship of psychosocial factors to mortality in outpatients with heart failure (HF).

Background: Considerable evidence links psychosocial factors to coronary heart disease mortality and sudden cardiac death (SCD). The contribution of psychosocial factors independent of disease severity to HF outpatient mortality is not well elucidated.