Hydrocortisone Cream to Reduce Perineal Pain after Vaginal Birth: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose: To determine if the use of hydrocortisone cream decreases perineal pain in the immediate postpartum period.

Study Design And Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial (RCT), crossover study design, with each participant serving as their own control. Participants received three different methods for perineal pain management at three sequential perineal pain treatments after birth: two topical creams (corticosteroid; placebo) and a control treatment (no cream application).

Good research ideas for clinicians.

While the conduct of nursing research is an important professional value, it is an activity rarely performed by nurses employed in the service setting. Whether the reason is a lack of commitment to a scientific basis for nursing practice or an inability to operationalize the research process in the clinical setting, the outcome is a dearth of clinically relevant studies to guide patient care. Clinicians must be involved in asking and answering clinically relevant questions to maximize patient outcomes.

Development of the American association of critical-care nurses' sedation assessment scale for critically ill patients.

Clinicians commonly sedate critically ill patients. Sedatives should be administered to achieve predetermined end points. Most currently available scales used to assess sedation are inadequate because they focus on a single domain, such as consciousness.

Sedation assessment: easier said than done!

Sedation assessment commonly is performed in critically ill patients to evaluate their need for, and response to, sedation therapy. Although many sedation assessment scales have been published, few have been tested properly to assure their appropriateness for use in critically ill patients. This article highlights the published sedation assessment scales that have the strongest scientific basis, identifies limitations of the current scales, and suggests characteristics for future sedation assessment scales that would overcome many of the current problems.