Usability of Light-Linking Technology for Infusion Line Identification: A Simulation Study With ICU Nurses.

Critical care nurses are faced with increasing task loads due to increasing patient complexity. In addition to this complexity, most critical care patients have a maze of infusion and monitoring lines that must be navigated when administering medications. Task load is escalated when a nurse must identify an injection port and administer a medication rapidly.

Nursing Students' Perceptions About the Culture of Nursing: A Focused Ethnography Study.

Aim: The aim of this study was to gain students' perspectives on the culture of nursing and their enculturation to this professional culture.

Background: Newly graduated registered nurses (NGRNs) experience identity shock when transitioning to practice, at great costs to themselves and health care organizations. Understanding how nursing students view their professional culture and the enculturation process can foster professional identity formation and ameliorate NGRN identity shock.

Original Research: Exploring Medication Safety Practices from the Nurse's Perspective.

Background: Medication preparation and administration are complex tasks that nurses must perform daily within today's complicated health care environment. Despite more than two decades of efforts to reduce medication errors, it's well known that such errors remain prevalent. Obtaining insight from direct care nurses may clarify where opportunities for improvement exist and guide future efforts to do so.

Optimizing the productivity and placement of NPs and PAs in outpatient primary care sites.

Objective: Organizational leaders must continually assess the productivity, turnover, and vacancies of physician assistants (PAs) and NPs. Optimizing the feasibility, effect, strategic placement, and monitoring increases patient access, improves wait times and affordability, and increases revenue. This quality improvement project sought to develop a systematic, data-driven approach to optimize productivity and placement of NPs and PAs in outpatient primary care sites.

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children in the Critical Care Setting.

Background: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children is a new syndrome that has been hypothesized to be connected with the COVID-19 pandemic. Children are presenting-likely after SARS-CoV-2 infection or exposure-with vague symptoms including fever, gastrointestinal distress, and/or rash.

Objective: To review what is currently known about multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, including physiology, signs and symptoms, laboratory and imaging findings, treatment options, and nursing considerations in critical care settings.

Original Research: Oral Care as Prevention for Nonventilator Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia: A Four-Unit Cluster Randomized Study.

Background: Nonventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia (NV-HAP) presents a serious and largely preventable threat to patient safety in U.S. hospitals.

Using Electronic Data and a Mixed-Methods Approach to Evaluate Short Peripheral Catheter Outcomes in Acute Care.

Short peripheral catheters (SPCs) are commonly used in hospitals, guided by evidence-based standards to optimize dwell time and limit adverse outcomes. Although SPC insertions are common, real-world evaluation is rare. A theory-based framework and mixed-methods design were used to analyze findings from a unit-level survey and electronic data to evaluate SPC care delivered on units at a large quaternary medical center over a 6-month period (quarters 1 and 2, 2017).

Efficacy of a Simulation Program to Improve Clinical Judgment and Clinical Competence Among Graduate Nurses.

Aim: This two-group feasibility study tested the efficacy of a four-scenario simulation program to improve clinical judgment and clinical competence among graduate nurses.

Background: Clinical judgment and clinical competence are underdeveloped among new-to-practice nurses.

Method: Clinical judgment was compared between the intervention group (n = 17) and a control group (n = 26) in the practice setting at two time points.

Intravenous Smart Pumps During Actual Clinical Use: A Descriptive Comparison of Primary and Secondary Infusion Practices.

This descriptive observational study was conducted to increase understanding of medication administration practices during actual clinical use between 2 commonly used, different types of intravenous (IV) smart pumps. Compliance with manufacturer-recommended setup requirements for both primary and secondary infusions and secondary medication administration delay was compared between a head-height differential system and a cassette system. A total of 301 medication administration observations were included in this study: 102 (34%) for the linear peristaltic IV smart pump (medical-surgical: N = 51; critical care: N = 51) and 199 (66%) for the cassette pump (medical-surgical: N = 88; critical care: N = 111).

Holding and Mobility of Pediatric Patients With Transthoracic Intracardiac Catheters.

Background: Nursing care of pediatric patients after cardiac surgery consists of close hemodynamic monitoring, often through transthoracic intracardiac catheters, requiring patients to remain on bed rest and limiting holding and mobility.

Objectives: The primary aim of this quality improvement project was to determine the feasibility of safely mobilizing pediatric patients with transthoracic intracardiac catheters out of bed. Once feasibility was established, the secondary aim was to increase the number of days such patients were out of bed.

A Collaborative Learning Assessment of Developmental Care Practices for Infants in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.

Objective: Assess differences in approaches to and provision of developmental care for infants undergoing surgery for congenital heart disease.

Study Design: A collaborative learning approach was used to stratify, assess, and compare individualized developmental care practices among multidisciplinary teams at 6 pediatric heart centers. Round robin site visits were completed with structured site visit goals and postvisit reporting.

Evaluation of the Use of Open Versus Closed Short Peripheral Catheters on Catheter Dwell Time.

Short peripheral catheters (SPCs) vary by design and materials. The investigators conducted a before-and-after study comparing catheter dwell time and complications with open and closed system SPCs. Many SPCs in the study were saline locks.

Reusable Electroencephalography Electrodes: Variability in Cleaning and Reprocessing Practices.

Of 124 reusable electroencephalography cup electrodes/lead wires from four epilepsy monitoring units, 25% had bacterial growth. Institutional cleaning practices of electroencephalography cup electrode lead wires may contribute to positive culture prevalence. In this study, personnel who supervised cleaning of electroencephalography cup electrodes/lead wires completed an investigator-developed survey.

Contamination of reusable electroencephalography electrodes: A multicenter study.

Background: Reusable electroencephalography cup electrodes and lead wires (rEEGs-CELWs) could be a source of microorganisms capable of causing hospital-acquired infections. The purpose of this study was to investigate for bacterial species of cleaned rEEGs-CELWs.

Methods: This microbiologic evaluation involved 4 epilepsy monitoring units where rEEGs-CELWs were swabbed for bacteria using standard techniques.

Intravenous Smart Pumps: Usability Issues, Intravenous Medication Administration Error, and Patient Safety.

With an estimated 90% of all hospitalized patients receiving intravenous medications via infusion pumps, intravenous infusion pump systems are among the most frequently used technologies in health care. This article reviews important issues regarding clinical usability, intravenous medication administration error, and patient safety related to the use of intravenous smart pumps. Although it is possible to address some of the issues with changes in clinical processes, the most fundamental challenges need to be addressed through innovation and the development of new technologies using a human factors approach.

Nurse perception of care of hospitalized older adults - a comparative study between northern and central regions of Portugal.

Objective: to analyze the relationship between the perceptions of nurses about geriatric care (GC) environment and geriatric nurses' knowledge and attitudes according to unit type considering the northern and central regions of Portugal.

Method: a cross-sectional study was developed among 1068 Portuguese's nurses in five hospitals. The instrument was Geriatric Institutional Assessment Profile - Portuguese version.

Clinical Nurse Specialist Roles in Conducting Research: Changes Over 3 Years.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to describe clinical nurse specialists' characteristics, interest, confidence, motivators, and barriers in conducting research.

Design: This study was a descriptive, multicohort design.

Methods: Clinical nurse specialists were recruited electronically through national and local organizations to complete anonymous surveys 3 times, over 3 years.

A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the Feasibility of a Multicomponent Delirium Prevention Intervention Versus Usual Care in Acute Stroke.

Background: Delirium after acute stroke is a serious complication. Numerous studies support a benefit of multicomponent interventions in minimizing delirium-related complications in at-risk patients, but this has not been reported in acute stroke patients. The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of conducting a randomized (delirium care) versus usual standardized stroke care (usual care) in reducing delirium in acute stroke.

A comparative analysis of demographic and academic success characteristics of on-line and on-campus RN-to-BSN students.

Despite their proliferation, little is known about how registered nurse-to-bachelor of science in nursing (RN-to-BSN) students enrolled in on-line programs compare to those in on-campus programs. This article reports on a comparative analysis of 3,802 students (332 on-campus, 3,470 on-line) conducted to better understand characteristics and educational outcomes of individuals who select on-line learning options. Programs were compared for student demographic characteristics (gender, race, age, and prior degree status) and outcome variables (progression to graduation and time to completion).