Exploring the impact of augmenting sedation assessment with physiologic monitors.

Background: Pharmacological sedation is a necessary tool in the management of critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients. The intensive care unit (ICU) sedation strategy is to use the least amount of medication to meet safety and comfort goals. Titration of pharmacological agents is currently guided by clinical assessment tools.

The canaries in the coal mine speak: why someone should (and should not) become a nurse.

Nurses in acute care hospitals are like the canaries used to test for lethal gases in mines--if they remain, the conditions must not be extreme. Staff nurses from 8 states responded to a questionnaire giving reasons why someone should and should not be a nurse. The almost 700 nurses responding reported that many of the reasons one should be a nurse are also the reasons one should not be one (eg, pay/benefits, respect for nursing).