Publications by authors named "Virginia Erickson"
Because women hospitalized in obstetric units are typically young and healthy, they might be overlooked when health care providers assess for risk for falls. Recent literature has identified pregnant and postpartum women as being prone to falls, with hospitalization compounding their risk. A review of current practices among perinatal units for assessing risk for falls revealed that existing fall risk tools, which were created for geriatric and/or medical surgical patients, are used.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a home-based exercise program on clinical outcomes. Exercise training improves exercise capacity in patients with heart failure (HF) but the long-term effects on clinical outcomes remain unknown.
Methods: We randomized 173 patients with systolic HF to control (n = 87) or home-based exercise (n = 86).
Background: Assessment of physical and mental health has become one of the ultimate tests of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for patients with advanced heart failure. Little is known, however, about the comparative effects of surgical or medical treatment on the HRQOL of these chronically ill patients over time.
Methods: We examined 77 patients (74% of whom were male), aged 56.
Background: Measuring adherence to exercise is important to clinicians and researchers because inadequate adherence can adversely affect the effectiveness of an exercise program and cloud the relationship between exercise and clinical outcomes. Hence, assessment strategies for adherence to exercise, as with assessment strategies for other outcomes, must have demonstrated validity if they are to be employed with confidence. We conducted this study to determine the validity of pedometers as a measure of exercise adherence to a home-based walking program in heart failure patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Negative emotional states such as anxiety and depression are associated with increased mortality and morbidity in cardiac patients. Clinicians who counsel patients with heart disease often focus on enhancing coping skills to reduce negative emotions.
Methods: To identify the relationship between 3 coping styles (active behavioral, active cognitive, and avoidance) and emotional states, we studied 84 advanced heart failure patients and used the Dealing with Illness-R Checklist to measure coping and the Profile of Mood States to measure emotional distress.
Sleep disturbances have a major impact on physical functioning, emotional well-being, and quality of life, but are not well described in patients with heart failure (HF). Eighty-four HF patients completed a sleep survey and provided demographic and clinical data. Seventy percent of the patients were male with a mean age of 54 years and a mean left ventricular ejection fraction of 22%.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPerceived control reduces emotional stress in patients with heart failure.
J Heart Lung Transplant
January 2003
We studied patients with heart failure (HF) to determine if perceived control reduces emotional distress (i.e., anxiety, depression and hostility) in chronic, debilitating cardiac illness and whether the demographic, clinical and psychologic characteristics of patients with high and low perceived control differed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pulse oximetry is a frequently used, noninvasive monitoring tool for assessing arterial blood oxygenation. Physicians, registered nurses, and respiratory therapists are responsible for the accurate interpretation of pulse oximetry data as part of the evaluation and management of acutely and critically ill patients.
Objectives: (1) To evaluate the extent of current knowledge about pulse oximetry and (2) to increase clinicians' knowledge of research-based practices related to the appropriate use of pulse oximetry and interpretation of its results.