Impact of CPR Quality and Adherence to Advanced Cardiac Life Support Guidelines on Patient Outcomes in In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.

Background: Sudden cardiac arrest is a major cause of death worldwide. Performance of prompt, high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation improves patient outcomes.

Objectives: To evaluate the association between patient survival of in-hospital cardiac arrest and 2 independent variables: adherence to resuscitation guidelines and patient severity of illness, as indicated by the number of organ supportive therapies in use before cardiac arrest.

The Impact of Patient and Family Advisors on Critical Care Nurses' Empathy.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine if patient and family advisors' (PFAs) collaboration in an educational program could increase the empathy levels of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses.

Background: Data suggest that nurse empathy is on the decline. Ensuring that nurses consistently empathize with patients and families helps create positive patient experiences.

Improving Clinical Alarm Management: Guidance and Strategies.

This article focuses on the type of problems that lead to false or nonactionable clinical alarms and the type of data that can help identify which of these alarms are most prevalent in specific units in healthcare facilities. The process of identifying necessary data is first described, as this activity will drive later choices on capturing data. This article also discusses how to use the data collected in alarm reports to help determine which alarms should be targeted first for improved management in a pilot environment.

Please release me: restraint reduction initiative in a health care system.

A quality improvement initiative was undertaken to reduce restraint use in 4 acute care hospitals within a single health system. A variety of initiatives and interventions were used including the following: implementation of multidisciplinary rounds on restrained patients, increased availability of restraint alternatives, development of unit-based restraint champions, and education of both staff and health care providers about restraints. The health care system has maintained a quarterly restraint prevalence rate of less than 2.