{"title":"Caregiving experiences of Turkish intensive care unit nurses who survived in the most destructive double earthquake of the century: A qualitative study.","authors":"Onur Çetinkaya, Selva Ezgi Aşkar, Özlem Ovayolu","doi":"10.1111/nicc.13223","DOIUrl":"10.1111/nicc.13223","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Turkey has been exposed to many devastating earthquakes in recent years. Considering that nurses are on the front lines of responding to disasters, they need to be prepared at all times. In the literature review, it was seen that despite the roles of intensive care nurses in disasters, their experiences in caring for earthquake victims have not been adequately researched.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>This study aims to investigate the experiences of intensive care nurses during the double earthquake in Turkey in 2023.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>This descriptive qualitative research was conducted with 11 intensive care nurses working in the double earthquake in Turkey in 2023. Snowball sampling was used to select participants. Data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Interviews were continued until data saturation was reached.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>As part of the analysis of the interviews, the nurses' experiences were grouped under four main themes covering 10 sub-themes-'Continuing care despite difficulties', 'Staying in a dilemma', 'Two faces of the earthquake' and 'The need for perfect planning kneaded with experience.'</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The main source of the difficulties and dilemmas experienced is the obligation of nurses who experienced the earthquake to continue their profession. Still, continuity of care was maintained and nurses drew positive conclusions from the negativity.</p><p><strong>Relevance to clinical practice: </strong>Considering the positive and negative effects of the earthquake, intensive care nurses should be both professionally and psychologically empowered, organizational planning should be conducted as soon as possible and their functionality should be tested through drills.</p>","PeriodicalId":51264,"journal":{"name":"Nursing in Critical Care","volume":" ","pages":"e13223"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142985386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Decision-Making Support for an Adult Patient With Severe Congenital Heart Disease: A Case Study.","authors":"Yu Yamaguchi, Shingo Ueki","doi":"10.1111/nicc.70101","DOIUrl":"10.1111/nicc.70101","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In critical care, owing to the severity of the illness, it is often difficult to confirm the patient's treatment preferences because of issues with their level of consciousness. Supporting patient decision-making should prioritize confirming patients' wishes. This case study examines an instance in which the focus shifts from family- to patient-centred decision-making. During a multidisciplinary conference in which the medical and nursing team considered delegating treatment decisions to the family, an intervention advocating the necessity of patient-centred decision-making prompted a reconsideration of the principles of decision-making support. In the present case, a patient with congenital heart disease was admitted to the intensive care unit after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The process involved assessing the patient's recovery from impaired consciousness, engaging with the family as well as the medical and nursing team and supporting autonomous decision-making. By maintaining the existing relationships among the patient, family and medical and nursing team, and supporting the patient's independent decision-making, the patient's wishes and sentiments towards the family were reflected, resulting in a desirable outcome. Without this intervention, the treatment plan may not have reflected patients' wishes. Timely and swift coordination among patients, families and the medical and nursing team is crucial. Accurately assessing a patient's decision-making ability and enhancing the remaining quality of life of the patient and family raises the challenge of educating the medical and nursing team to generalize such interventions. This case illustrates the importance of accurately assessing a patient's level of consciousness and promoting autonomous decision-making in intensive care settings, even when communication is impaired. By advocating for the incorporation of the patient's preferences into treatment planning, nurses can contribute to the realization of truly patient-centred care. This approach is particularly relevant for adult patients with complex chronic conditions from childhood, as it enables care that is tailored to the individual's values, experiences and developmental background.</p>","PeriodicalId":51264,"journal":{"name":"Nursing in Critical Care","volume":"30 4","pages":"e70101"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144259316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maia S Kredentser, Kristin Reynolds, Nicole Marten, Marcus Blouw, Jitender Sareen, Kendiss Olafson
{"title":"A Thematic Analysis of Intensive Care Unit Diaries Content.","authors":"Maia S Kredentser, Kristin Reynolds, Nicole Marten, Marcus Blouw, Jitender Sareen, Kendiss Olafson","doi":"10.1111/nicc.70107","DOIUrl":"10.1111/nicc.70107","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Intensive care unit (ICU) diaries are an intervention used in the critical care setting to provide patients with a cohesive narrative of their ICU stay and can have a positive impact on patient and family outcomes. Few studies have examined the content of the diaries as written by family members and healthcare staff, and further information on this is important in understanding how and why diaries can be of benefit.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>Content analysis of diaries completed in a medical-surgical ICU within an academic medical centre in Manitoba, Canada.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>This was a secondary qualitative analysis of ICU diaries that were completed in 2014-2016 as part of a prior pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with adult patients, admitted for more than 72 h and ventilated for more than 24 h. We used a reflexive thematic analytic approach to qualitative analysis, resulting in major themes and subthemes of the diary content.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Thirty diaries were analysed. Themes identified (1) Connection (staff subthemes: personhood and personal investment, family subthemes: connection to patient and connection to family/friends), (2) Information provision (subthemes: type of information shared, how information was shared and family-specific information sharing) and (3) Coping (subthemes: expressing emotions, use of humour, spirituality).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This is the first study exploring the content of ICU diaries in a North American context and adds to the existing small body of literature demonstrating how families and healthcare staff use diaries. The findings are beneficial in designing future diary programmes, as understanding how diaries are used in a real-world setting can guide future implementation and resource allocation. ICU diaries are an increasingly common tool used in ICU settings to provide patients with a narrative of their critical illness. Diaries conveyed a connection between healthcare professionals, family and patient, were used to provide information and appeared to be used to help family members cope.</p><p><strong>Relevance to clinical practice: </strong>This study provides information regarding how ICU diaries are used by healthcare providers and what information is conveyed, which is useful in guiding future implementation as this intervention becomes more widespread (e.g., utilization, feasibility and instructions).</p>","PeriodicalId":51264,"journal":{"name":"Nursing in Critical Care","volume":"30 4","pages":"e70107"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12268237/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144651169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Weixi Tan, Rongfang Duan, Chengcheng Zeng, Ziwei Yang, Li Dai, Tingting Xu, Ling Zhu, Danghong Sun
{"title":"A Nomogram for Predicting In-Hospital Mortality in Critically Ill Patients With Myocardial Infarction and Atrial Fibrillation.","authors":"Weixi Tan, Rongfang Duan, Chengcheng Zeng, Ziwei Yang, Li Dai, Tingting Xu, Ling Zhu, Danghong Sun","doi":"10.1111/nicc.70116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nicc.70116","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Myocardial infarction (MI) and atrial fibrillation (AF), a common complication during hospitalisation of critically ill MI patients, have a complex and close bidirectional relationship, and the two frequently occur together.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To develop a nomogram to predict the risk of in-hospital mortality in critically ill patients with MI and AF.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>For this retrospective cohort research, we selected 1240 critically ill patients with AF and MI from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-IV (MIMIC-IV) (version 3.1) database. A 7:3 random division of the dataset was made into training and test sets. LASSO regression plus 10-fold cross-validation was used to screen predictors, and multivariate logistic regression was used to build prediction models using the screened predictors. We assessed our outcome model using the calibration curve and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). We assessed the clinical usefulness of the predictive models using decision curve analysis (DCA).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>This study included 1240 patients with both MI and AF, of whom 212 died during hospitalisation, yielding a mortality rate of 17.1%. The final seven predictors were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, continuous renal replacement therapy, metoprolol, vasopressor use, red blood cell distribution width, anion gap and blood urea nitrogen. The model achieved an Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.802 in the training set and 0.814 in the test set. Both calibration and decision curves demonstrated good model performance.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>For patients with MI and AF, this nomogram offers an early evaluation of the risk of inpatient death.</p><p><strong>Relevance to clinical practice: </strong>By utilising risk prediction algorithms, nurses may precisely evaluate the risk of early mortality in patients with MI and AF promptly and execute targeted preventative interventions. This method enhances nursing decision-making and resource distribution, demonstrating clinical significance in critical care practice.</p>","PeriodicalId":51264,"journal":{"name":"Nursing in Critical Care","volume":"30 4","pages":"e70116"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144676461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Carolina Cassiano, Lilia de Souza Nogueira, Ana Carolina Unger Araújo, Fernanda Rodrigues Lima, Nasrin Hanifi
{"title":"Association between nursing workload and staff size with the occurrence of adverse events and deaths of patients with COVID-19: A retrospective cohort study.","authors":"Carolina Cassiano, Lilia de Souza Nogueira, Ana Carolina Unger Araújo, Fernanda Rodrigues Lima, Nasrin Hanifi","doi":"10.1111/nicc.13221","DOIUrl":"10.1111/nicc.13221","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The safety of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) is significantly impacted by inadequate staffing of nursing professionals to meet the demand for care of critically ill patients. COVID-19 patients increased nurses' workload, particularly in high-intensity care settings like the ICU.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To evaluate the association of workload and number of patients per nursing professional with the occurrence of adverse events and death in critically ill patients with COVID-19 in the ICU.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>This is a retrospective cohort study. This study analysed patients with COVID-19, aged 12 years or older, admitted between 1 April 2020 and 31 May 2021 in the ICU of a hospital in Brazil. Nursing workload was measured by the Nursing Activities Score (NAS). The independent variables were the ratio of the NAS score per nursing professional (NNR) and the ratio of the number of patients per nursing professional (PNR). Dependent variables included adverse events (pressure injuries and health care-associated infections-HAIs) and death in the ICU.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of the 386 included patients, 59.59% were male and the median age was 60.5 years. The median NAS, NNR and PNR values were 72.81%, 128% and 1.64, respectively. The frequency of pressure injuries (31.09%) exceeded that of HAIs (16.06%), and 218 patients (56.48%) died. The NNR was associated with HAIs (OR 1.006; CI95% 1.001-1.012; p = .012), pressure injury (OR 1.005; CI95% 1.000-1.010; p = .033) and death (OR 1.010; CI95% 1.005-1.015; p < .001) in the ICU. There was no association between PNR values and the study's dependent variables.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>A high workload per nursing professional was associated with the occurrence of adverse events and deaths of patients with COVID-19 in the ICU, while the nursing staff sizing was not.</p><p><strong>Relevance to clinical practice: </strong>The results reinforce the importance of evaluating the workload of nursing professionals to establish safety measures for the care of patients with infectious diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":51264,"journal":{"name":"Nursing in Critical Care","volume":" ","pages":"e13221"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142985358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effect of swimmer position during prone ventilation on the onset of brachial plexus injury in the intensive care unit: A multiprofessional clinical study protocol.","authors":"Filippo Binda, Simone Gambazza, Federica Marelli, Veronica Rossi, Alessandro Galazzi, Cesare Del Monaco, Maurizio Vergari, Benedetta Ticozzelli, Mauro Panigada, Giacomo Grasselli, Maura Lusignani, Dario Laquintana","doi":"10.1111/nicc.13208","DOIUrl":"10.1111/nicc.13208","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Prone positioning improves oxygenation in adults with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and has been extensively applied in intensive care units (ICU) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although some complications due to the manoeuvre are well known, brachial plexus injury after prone positioning is reported as a rare complication and the phenomenon could be either very rare or underestimated.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>This study aimed to evaluate the effect of swimmer position during prone ventilation on the onset of brachial plexus injury in patients admitted to ICU for ARDS. The study will also evaluate the safety of prolonged prone positioning collecting data on any adverse events occurred.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>A prospective, observational cohort study will be conducted in a tertiary level ICU in the metropolitan area of Milano (Italy) specialized in advanced treatment of patients with ARDS. This observational study will report clinical data on the electromyography (EMG) and the muscle strength assessment, including comorbidities and cardio-respiratory status. A baseline EMG will be performed within 2 h from the first pronation manoeuvre and immediately at the end of each pronation cycle. The functional assessment of patients will be also performed at the end of ICU stay and at hospital discharge.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The primary outcome is to estimate the prevalence of brachial plexus injury in patients with ARDS placed in the swimmer position during prone ventilation. Secondary outcomes will also include the safety of the manoeuvre by evaluation of all adverse events classified as skin or ocular damage, loss of tube and vascular access and new pressure ulcers.</p><p><strong>Relevance to clinical practice: </strong>The findings of this study will contribute to understand the possible benefits/harms of prone ventilation performed using swimmer position. Eventually, this will call for the development of specific and tailored rehabilitation programs for patients with upper limb injuries during ICU stay, including also timely follow-up upon ICU-discharge.</p>","PeriodicalId":51264,"journal":{"name":"Nursing in Critical Care","volume":" ","pages":"e13208"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12209042/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142711797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Banu Terzi, Duygu Sönmez Düzkaya, Gülzade Uysal, Nazik Yalnız
{"title":"A study protocol to develop virtual reality software in the care management of patients in intensive care.","authors":"Banu Terzi, Duygu Sönmez Düzkaya, Gülzade Uysal, Nazik Yalnız","doi":"10.1111/nicc.13231","DOIUrl":"10.1111/nicc.13231","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The use of virtual reality is increasing in nursing to ensure patient safety and to improve the quality of care in the education of nurses.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To develop a virtual reality software for intensive care patient care management and to investigate the effect of this software on novice intensive care nurses.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>This study protocol contains a randomized controlled experimental design research. The nurses will be divided into control (n = 34) and study groups (n = 34) by randomization. The research will be conducted in four steps: (1) according to Kolcaba's Comfort Theory, the protocol for care management of an intensive care patient will be prepared and transferred to the virtual reality software, (2) the nurses in both groups will be given theoretical training, (3) a routine orientation training programme will be applied to the nurses in the control group, and those in the study group will be given virtual reality goggles. (4) Tools such as a 'Clinical Practice Skills Observation Form and Knowledge Level Questionnaire' and 'Problem-Solving Inventory', 'Clinical Decision-Making Scale in Nursing', 'State Anxiety Inventory' and 'Satisfaction Level Questionnaire' will be applied to both groups before commencing the theoretical training, 1 week after the application and in the first month of the application.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>This protocol describes an experimental study aiming to test the impact of virtual reality software on novice intensive care nurses in the care management of an intensive care patient.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The results and recommendations will be shared after the study is completed.</p><p><strong>Relevance to clinical practice: </strong>Within the scope of the research, the virtual reality software to be developed for the care management of an intensive care patient will provide important contributions to the development of nurses' problem-solving and clinical decision-making skills and reduce state anxiety levels in orientation to the intensive care unit (ICU).</p>","PeriodicalId":51264,"journal":{"name":"Nursing in Critical Care","volume":" ","pages":"e13231"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142985384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Validation of the Anticipatory Grief Scale through Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Latent Profile Analysis.","authors":"Yali Jiang, Chunyi Wang, Peici Zheng, Xixi Wang, Simin Hu, Li Ma, Ying Chen, Juanjuan Zhao","doi":"10.1111/nicc.70117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nicc.70117","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Anticipatory grief is caregivers' response to perceived multiple losses during their loved one's life-threatening illness or end-of-life care, which impairs their well-being and leads to adverse bereavement outcomes. Given the severe psychological issues often faced by family members of the patients of the intensive care unit (ICU), it is crucial to address this form of grief.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To validate the Chinese Anticipatory Grief Scale and identify subgroups of anticipatory grief.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>From November 2022 to December 2023, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among family members of patients admitted to ICUs of two tertiary care hospitals located in Guangdong Province, China. A total of 233 eligible family members of ICU patients were included in the analyses. The study used confirmatory factor analysis to assess the scale's structure, and internal consistency was examined. Latent profile analysis identified groups with varying anticipatory grief levels, while univariate and logistic regression analyses explored associated factors.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The revised six-factor model fit well (χ<sup>2</sup> = 573.602, df = 299, χ<sup>2</sup>/df ≈ 1.918, p < 0.001; comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.903; Tucker-Lewis index [TLI] = 0.886; root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.063; standardised root mean square residual [SRMR] = 0.064). The Anticipatory Grief Scale exhibited excellent internal consistency with Cronbach's α 0.938. Two profiles emerged: 'adaptive coping' (61%) and 'negative cognition' (39%). Family members' physical health and relationship with patients significantly predicted the latent profile classification of anticipatory grief (p < 0.05).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The revised Anticipatory Grief Scale is an effective and valid tool for assessing anticipatory grief among family members of ICU patients in China, and its identification of notable heterogeneity in grief patterns provides a basis for designing targeted interventions.</p><p><strong>Relevance to clinical practice: </strong>This study has validated the Anticipatory Grief Scale, confirming its reliability and validity for assessing anticipatory grief in family members of ICU patients. By identifying two distinct grief profiles, it offers critical care nurses new insights to design targeted interventions, enhancing their ability to provide tailored support and improve bereavement care.</p>","PeriodicalId":51264,"journal":{"name":"Nursing in Critical Care","volume":"30 4","pages":"e70117"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144683571","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}