The Essential Components of Adult Critical Care Neuroscience Nursing Orientation: A Delphi Study.

BACKGROUND: Critical care neuroscience nursing is a specialized field requiring a complex knowledge base and unique clinical orientation. A comprehensive orientation for nurses new to this specialty can improve retention, performance, and satisfaction. Critical care neuroscience orientations are often hospital based and regionally specific, and lack a systematic approach.

Fever Prevention in Patients With Acute Vascular Brain Injury: The INTREPID Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Fever is associated with worse outcomes in patients with stroke, but whether preventing fever improves outcomes is unclear.

Objective: To determine whether fever prevention after acute vascular brain injury is achievable and impacts functional outcome.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Open-label randomized clinical trial with blinded outcome assessment that enrolled 686 of 1176 planned critically ill patients with stroke at 43 intensive care units in 7 countries from March 2017 to April 2021 (last date of follow-up was May 12, 2022).

Essential Components of a Neuroscience Nursing Orientation: A Delphi Study.

BACKGROUND: The essential components of an effective neuroscience nurse orientation program for those caring for the adult general care population have not been well defined or standardized. METHODS : Using a 2-round, modified Delphi methodology, electronic surveys were distributed to 53 experts in neuroscience nursing orientation to gain consensus on the essential components of orientation for the neuroscience nurse. Survey data included demographics of the expert, literature-based components of neuroscience nurse orientation, and an opportunity to agree/disagree or write in additional components.

Common Data Elements for Disorders of Consciousness: Recommendations from the Working Group on Goals-of-Care and Family/Surrogate Decision-Maker Data.

Background: To facilitate comparative research, it is essential for the fields of neurocritical care and rehabilitation to establish common data elements (CDEs) for disorders of consciousness (DoC). Our objective was to identify CDEs related to goals-of-care decisions and family/surrogate decision-making for patients with DoC.

Methods: To achieve this, we formed nine CDE working groups as part of the Neurocritical Care Society's Curing Coma Campaign.

Impact of Fever Prevention in Brain-Injured Patients (INTREPID): Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Multiple studies demonstrate that fever/elevated temperature is associated with poor outcomes in patients with vascular brain injury; however, there are no conclusive studies that demonstrate that fever prevention/controlled normothermia is associated with better outcomes. The primary objective of the INTREPID (Impact of Fever Prevention in Brain-Injured Patients) trial is to test the hypothesis that fever prevention is superior to standard temperature management in patients with acute vascular brain injury.

Methods: INTREPID is a prospective randomized open blinded endpoint study of fever prevention versus usual care in patients with ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke.

Management of the Patient with Malignant Hemispheric Stroke.

Malignant hemispheric stroke occurs in 10% of ischemic strokes and has one of the highest mortality and morbidity rates. This stroke, also known as malignant middle cerebral artery stroke, may cause ischemia to an entire hemisphere causing edema, herniation, and death. A collaborative interdisciplinary team approach is needed to manage these complex stroke patients.

Gender Differences in Longitudinal Associations Between Intimate Care, Resiliency, and Depression Among Informal Caregivers of Patients Surviving the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit.

Background/objective: Informal caregivers (e.g., family and friends) are at risk for developing depression, which can be detrimental to both caregiver and patient functioning.

Intermittent CSF drainage and rapid EVD weaning approach after subarachnoid hemorrhage: association with fewer VP shunts and shorter length of stay.

Objective: There is variability and uncertainty about the optimal approach to the management and discontinuation of an external ventricular drain (EVD) after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Evidence from single-center randomized trials suggests that intermittent CSF drainage and rapid EVD weans are safe and associated with shorter ICU length of stay (LOS) and fewer EVD complications. However, a recent survey revealed that most neurocritical care units across the United States employ continuous CSF drainage with a gradual wean strategy.

The Implementation of Targeted Temperature Management: An Evidence-Based Guideline from the Neurocritical Care Society.

Background: Targeted temperature management (TTM) is often used in neurocritical care to minimize secondary neurologic injury and improve outcomes. TTM encompasses therapeutic hypothermia, controlled normothermia, and treatment of fever. TTM is best supported by evidence from neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, although it has also been explored in ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury, and intracranial hemorrhage patients.

Performance of Spectrogram-Based Seizure Identification of Adult EEGs by Critical Care Nurses and Neurophysiologists.

Purpose: Continuous EEG screening using spectrograms or compressed spectral arrays (CSAs) by neurophysiologists has shorter review times with minimal loss of sensitivity for seizure detection when compared with visual analysis of raw EEG. Limited data are available on the performance characteristics of CSA-based seizure detection by neurocritical care nurses.

Methods: This is a prospective cross-sectional study that was conducted in two academic neurocritical care units and involved 33 neurointensive care unit nurses and four neurophysiologists.

Clinical Development and Implementation of an Institutional Guideline for Prospective EEG Monitoring and Reporting of Delayed Cerebral Ischemia.

Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) is the most common and disabling complication among patients admitted to the hospital for subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Clinical and radiographic methods often fail to detect DCI early enough to avert irreversible injury. We assessed the clinical feasibility of implementing a continuous EEG (cEEG) ischemia monitoring service for early DCI detection as part of an institutional guideline.

The Insertion and Management of External Ventricular Drains: An Evidence-Based Consensus Statement : A Statement for Healthcare Professionals from the Neurocritical Care Society.

External ventricular drains (EVDs) are commonly placed to monitor intracranial pressure and manage acute hydrocephalus in patients with a variety of intracranial pathologies. The indications for EVD insertion and their efficacy in the management of these various conditions have been previously addressed in guidelines published by the Brain Trauma Foundation, American Heart Association and combined committees of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. While it is well recognized that placement of an EVD may be a lifesaving intervention, the benefits can be offset by procedural and catheter-related complications, such as hemorrhage along the catheter tract, catheter malposition, and CSF infection.