The Arts Unique to Critical Care Nursing: Hard to Measure But Breathtakingly Manifest in a Pandemic.

: This commentary begins as a question and makes a call for action. The question is: "Are ICU (intensive care unit) patients' outcomes related to the degree to which the patients' nurses practice the art of nursing unique to critical care?" When nurses address patients' basic human needs as opposed to tending solely to tasks, it likely affects the patients' vital signs, need for analgesia or sedation, adverse effects of stress, and short- and long-term outcomes. These factors are often collected in studies of the critically ill.

Implementing the SCCM Family-Centered Care Guidelines in Critical Care Nursing Practice.

Family-centered care is an important component of holistic nursing practice, particularly in critical care, where the impact on families of admitted patients can be physiologically and psychologically burdensome. Family-centered care guidelines, developed by an international group of nursing, medical, and academic experts for the American College of Critical Care Medicine/Society of Critical Care Medicine, explore the evidence base in 5 key areas of family-centered care. Evidence in each of the guideline areas is outlined and recommendations are made about how critical care nurses can use this information in family-centered care practice.

Guidelines for Family-Centered Care in the Neonatal, Pediatric, and Adult ICU.

Objective: To provide clinicians with evidence-based strategies to optimize the support of the family of critically ill patients in the ICU.

Methods: We used the Council of Medical Specialty Societies principles for the development of clinical guidelines as the framework for guideline development. We assembled an international multidisciplinary team of 29 members with expertise in guideline development, evidence analysis, and family-centered care to revise the 2007 Clinical Practice Guidelines for support of the family in the patient-centered ICU.

Exploring the scope of post-intensive care syndrome therapy and care: engagement of non-critical care providers and survivors in a second stakeholders meeting.

Background: Increasing numbers of survivors of critical illness are at risk for physical, cognitive, and/or mental health impairments that may persist for months or years after hospital discharge. The post-intensive care syndrome framework encompassing these multidimensional morbidities was developed at the 2010 Society of Critical Care Medicine conference on improving long-term outcomes after critical illness for survivors and their families.

Objectives: To report on engagement with non-critical care providers and survivors during the 2012 Society of Critical Care Medicine post-intensive care syndrome stakeholder conference.

Implementation of the Pain, Agitation, and Delirium Clinical Practice Guidelines and promoting patient mobility to prevent post-intensive care syndrome.

Surviving critical illness is associated with persistent and severe physical, cognitive, and psychological morbidities. The Society of Critical Care Medicine has developed pain, agitation, and delirium guidelines and promoted mobility to improve care of critically ill patients. A task force has developed tools to facilitate and rapidly implement the translation of guideline care recommendations into practice.

Guidelines for intensive care unit design.

Objective: To develop a guideline to help guide healthcare professionals participate effectively in the design, construction, and occupancy of a new or renovated intensive care unit.

Participants: A group of multidisciplinary professionals, designers, and architects with expertise in critical care, under the direction of the American College of Critical Care Medicine, met over several years, reviewed the available literature, and collated their expert opinions on recommendations for the optimal design of an intensive care unit.

Scope: The design of a new or renovated intensive care unit is frequently a once- or twice-in-a-lifetime occurrence for most critical care professionals.

Improving long-term outcomes after discharge from intensive care unit: report from a stakeholders' conference.

Background: Millions of patients are discharged from intensive care units annually. These intensive care survivors and their families frequently report a wide range of impairments in their health status which may last for months and years after hospital discharge.

Objectives: To report on a 2-day Society of Critical Care Medicine conference aimed at improving the long-term outcomes after critical illness for patients and their families.