Icu nursing staff 24*7
In the intensive care unit people are constantly looked after and monitored by a highly specialised team, which includes consultants, physiotherapists, dieticians and nurses, each of them with specialist knowledge and skills. Specially trained nurses provide round-the-clock care and monitoring, and there is a high ratio of nurses to patients - each person in ICU is usually assigned his or her own 'named' nurse.
ICU nurses play a vital role in the patient’s care, including the following:- Taking regular blood tests
- Changing the patient’s treatment in line with test results
- Giving the patient the drugs and fluids that the doctors have prescribed
- Recording the patient’s blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen levels
- Clearing fluid and mucus from the patient’s chest using a suction tube
- Turning the patient in his or her bed every few hours to prevent sores on the skin
- Cleaning the patient’s teeth and moistening the mouth with a wet sponge
- Washing the patient in bed
- Changing the sheets
- Changing a patient’s surgical stockings, which help circulation when he or she is inactive (lying still) for a long time
- Putting drops in the patient’s eyes to make it easier to blink
Here people talk about the nursing care they received in ICU.
Most people spoke highly of all the staff in ICU and the care that they received, particularly from their named nurses, even if they couldn't always remember their names. For many the care was 'excellent' and the nurses were kind, encouraging, professional and calm. Several people discussed memorable experiences they'd had while in intensive care, such as celebrating birthdays, and one man recalled how the nurses arranged for him to leave ICU briefly and see his dogs, in the hope that this would help him recover.
Intensive care units (ICUs) provide lifesaving care for the critically ill patients and are associated with significant risks. Moreover complexity of care within ICUs requires that the health care professionals exhibit a trans-disciplinary level of competency to improve patient safety. This study aimed at using staff development strategies through implementing patient safety educational program that may minimize the medical errors and improve patient outcome in hospital. The study was carried out using a quasi experimental design. The settings included the intensive care units at General Mohail Hospital and National Mohail Hospital, King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted from March to June 2012. A convenience sample of all prevalent nurses at three shifts in the aforementioned settings during the study period was recruited. The program was implemented on 50 staff nurses in different ICUs. Their age ranged between 25-40 years. Statistically significant relation was revealed between safety climate and job satisfaction among nurses in the study sample (p=0.001). The years of experiences in ICU ranged between one year 11 (16.4) to 10 years 20 (29.8), most of them (68%) were working in variable shift, while 32% were day shift only. Improvements were observed in safety climate, teamwork climate, and nurse turnover rates on ICUs after implementing a safety program. On the heels of this improvement; nurses’ total knowledge, skills and attitude were enhanced regarding patient safety dimensions. Continuous educational program for ICUs nursing staff through organized in-service training is needed to increase their knowledge and skills about the importance of improving patient safety measure. Emphasizing on effective collaborative system also will improve patient safety measures in ICUS.