An evaluation of preventing pressure ulcers in the urinary meatus.

As many as 5% of male hospital patients develop pressure ulcers. This brief study was done to obtain more research about this topic by evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention designed to prevent pressure ulcers in the urinary meatus as a result of urethral catheterization. Implications for critical care nurses are included.

"Between the fixed and the changing": examining and comparing reliability and validity of 3 sedation-agitation measuring scales.

The goal of the study was to compare the reliability and validity of 3 Sedation Agitation Scale. Two nurses and a physician conducted 130 observations simultaneously. They found an excellent interrater reliability in the Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (r>0.

Potential reduction of costs and hospital emergency department visits resulting from prehospital transtelephonic triage--the Shahal experience in Israel.

Background: The rising cost of services provided by hospital emergency departments is of major concern. Attempts to reduce the costs of emergency cardiac care have thus far focused primarily on medical and administrative management in the hospital. The role of the patient in appropriate prehospital decision-making has been generally ignored.

Assessment of a creatine kinase-MB/myoglobin kit in the prehospital setting in patients presenting with acute nontraumatic chest pain: the "Shahal" experience.

Objectives: To evaluate the usefulness of a novel qualitative, rapid, bedside immunoassay device for the detection of elevated creatine kinase MBmass (CK-MB) and myoglobin as a supportive tool for decision-making by the physician who is evaluating patients who present with chest pain.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Prehospital (mobile intensive care units).

The "telepress" system for self-measurement and monitoring of blood pressure (the "SHAHAL" experience in Israel).

No "white coat" effect contaminated the validity of measurements in 30 participants in a "Telepress" program, in which subscribers to a telecardiologic facility transtelephonically transmit their self-measured blood pressure values.