Publications by authors named "Melissa Bloomer"
Background: The death of a child can have a profound impact on critical care nurses, shaping their professional practice and personal lives in diverse, enduring ways. Whilst end-of-life care is recognised as a core component of critical care nursing practice and a research priority, evidence about nurses' experiences after death in neonatal and paediatric intensive care is poorly understood.
Research Question: What is the experience of the nurse after death of a patient in neonatal and/or paediatric intensive care?
Method: Following registration with Open Science Framework, an integrative review of the empirical literature was undertaken.
Article Synopsis
- Cultural diversity is growing globally, creating challenges for critical care nurses in delivering quality end-of-life care that accommodates various rituals, customs, and beliefs.
- The research aims to identify barriers faced by nurses when providing end-of-life care to culturally diverse patients and their families in intensive care units (ICU).
- The review analyzed fifteen studies, highlighting themes such as language barriers, discomfort with religious practices, challenges in reaching consensus, and the importance of culturally aware care at the end of life.
Background: In nearly all jurisdictions where it is permitted, Medical Assistance in Dying is situated in a healthcare system. Currently, limited evidence demonstrates how supply and demand factors influence access to Medical Assistance in Dying.
Objective: The aim of this study is to synthesise empirical research from jurisdictions where Medical Assistance in Dying is legal to identify how supply and demand factors influence access for eligible adults.
Background: Clinicians need specific knowledge and skills to effectively communicate with patients and their family when a patient is dying in the ICU. End-of-life communication is compounded by language differences and diverse cultural and religious beliefs.
Aim: The aim was to develop and evaluate practice recommendations for culturally sensitive communication at the end of life.
Background: Nurse-patient relationships are an integral component of person-centred palliative care. Greater understanding of how nurse-patient relationships are fostered and perceived by patients and nurses can be used to inform nursing practice.
Aim: To systematically identify and synthesise how nurse-patient relationships are fostered in specialist inpatient palliative care settings, and how nurse-patient relationships were perceived by patients and nurses.
Aim: To describe how clinicians provide culturally responsive care to culturally diverse people with kidney failure in haemodialysis centres.
Background: Culturally diverse individuals receiving in-centre maintenance haemodialysis have unique cultural needs. Unmet cultural needs can impair and profoundly affect their experiences.
Background: There is growing momentum worldwide for assisted dying. In Australia, voluntary assisted dying may occur in any setting, including an intensive care unit (ICU). As the subject of much debate worldwide, exploring ICU clinicians' perceptions of assisted dying is essential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Australian organ and tissue donation rates are low compared to other countries. Acknowledging that donation practices vary across Australia, the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses supported the development of a position statement to explicate critical care nurses' role in supporting organ and tissue donation. Several Australian peak professional organisations provide guidance to inform and support organ and tissue donation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Goal-concordant care in intensive care is care that aligns with the patient's expressed goals, values, preferences and beliefs. Communication and shared decision-making are key to ensuring goal-concordant care.
Aims: The aims of his study were to explore (i) critical care clinicians' perspectives on how patient goals of care were communicated between clinicians, patients, and family in the intensive care unit; (ii) critical care nurses' role in this process; and (iii) how goals of care were used to guide care.
Background: Optimising sedation use is key to timely extubation. Whilst sedation protocols may be used to guide critical care nurses' management of sedation, sedation management and decision-making is complex, influenced by multiple factors related to patients' circumstances, intensive care unit design and the workforce.
Aim: To explore (i) critical care nurses' experiences managing sedation in mechanically ventilated patients and (ii) the factors that influence their sedation-related decision-making.
Background: Family-centered care is founded upon collaboration between parents and healthcare professionals, caring for a child and parents as one entity. The unfamiliar neonatal environment and complexity of care can make family-centered care challenging.
Purpose: To explore neonatal nurses' perceptions of family-centered care and parents' cultural needs.
Background: Prognostic avoidance can delay discussions about older hospital patients' life expectancy. This pilot study examined the effects of a prognostic training program on hospital clinicians' knowledge and confidence in identifying older patients at risk of dying.
Methods: Fifty-seven clinicians from aged care assessment teams at two Australian hospitals were introduced to the Palliative Prognostic Index, a 5-item checklist indicating prognoses between 3 and 6 weeks.
Article Synopsis
- The study examines how COVID-19 visitor restrictions affected family relationships during critical illness in ICU settings, focusing on the experiences of bereaved next-of-kin and nurses.
- Key findings reveal themes such as the emotional impact of rushed goodbyes, confusion caused by visitation rules, and poor communication, highlighting the need for better support for families during end-of-life care.
- The research underscores the importance of maintaining a family-centered approach in critical care, advocating for stronger connections between patients and their families even amid restrictions.
An integrative review of potassium replacement protocol use in critical care: Development, use and critical care nurse autonomy.
Intensive Crit Care Nurs
December 2023
Background: Potassium replacement protocols are used to standardise practice, reduce risk, and ensure timely potassium replacement, but there is considerable variability in their development and use, particularly as part of critical care nursing practice.
Aim: To synthesise the research evidence on how potassium replacement protocols are used in adult critical care; and how critical care nurses' role and practice is influenced by a potassium replacement protocol. The research question was 'How are protocols used by intensive care clinicians to guide potassium replacement in adult critical care?'
Design: A structured integrative review was undertaken.
Caution yes, but not at the expense of compassion in medically assisted dying.
Intensive Crit Care Nurs
October 2023
Aim And Objective: To evaluate evidence that examined nurses' work experiences in hospital wards with single rooms. The research question was 'What does the research tell us about nurses' work experiences in hospital wards with single rooms?'
Background: In the last decades, new hospital builds have moved towards including a high proportion of single rooms. Yet, single rooms create 'complex environments' that impact the nurses.
Introduction: Communication between clinicians and family members of patients about treatment limitation practices is essential to care-planning and decision-making. For patients and family members from culturally diverse backgrounds, there are additional considerations when communicating about treatment limitations.
Objective: The objective of this study was to explore how treatment limitations are communicated with family members of patients from culturally diverse backgrounds in intensive care.
Background: Nurses are often the first responders to in-hospital cardiac arrest in postoperative cardiac surgical patients. Poor clarity about role expectations and responsibilities can hinder nurses' performance during cardiac advanced life support (CALS) procedures.
Aim: To seek expert consensus on nurses' roles and responsibilities in CALS for patients in postoperative cardiac surgical patients.