Critical Care and Nursing Overview

Critical Care and Nursing

• Critical care is direct medical care for critically ill or injured patients.
• Critical care nursing focuses on human responses to life-threatening conditions (trauma, major surgery, illness complications). Responses can be physiological or psychological.
• Critical care units vary, including open-heart recovery, burn, neurologic ICUs, surgical ICUs, medical ICUs, and cardiac care units.
• Intensive care units (ICUs) utilize advanced technology and monitoring for critically ill and high-risk patients. They provide aggressive therapy.
• Critically ill patients are at high risk for life-threatening health problems, actual or potential.

Critical Care Nursing Roles

• Respect patient autonomy and informed decision-making (or surrogate).
• Intervene when patient best interest is questioned.
• Help patients access required care.
• Respect patient values, beliefs, and rights.
• Educate and support patients in decision-making.
• Represent the patient based on their choices.
• Support patient/surrogate decisions or transfer care to a qualified nurse.
• Intercede for patients who can't speak for themselves.
• Monitor and maintain care quality.
• Act as a liaison between patients, families, and other healthcare professionals.
• Critical Care Nurses work in various roles, including bedside clinicians, educators, researchers, managers, clinical specialists, and nurse practitioners.
• Advanced practice nurses (APNs) are in higher demand due to managed care, requiring advanced education (master's or doctoral level).

Characteristics of Critically Ill Patients

• Resiliency: Ability to recover quickly after injury.
• Vulnerability: Susceptibility to stressors (actual or potential).
• Stability: Maintaining steady equilibrium (some are unresponsive or high-risk; others respond to therapies).
• Complexity: Entanglement of multiple systems (e.g., body, family).
• Predictability: Ability to predict the course of events or illness.
• Resource availability: Resources available to patients and families.
• Participation in care: Extent to which patients/families participate in care.
• Participation in decision-making: Patient/family engagement in decision-making.

Critical Care Services Levels

• Level I: Comprehensive care for diverse disorders; sophisticated equipment, specialized nurses and physicians (intensivists) available; comprehensive support services nearby.
• Level II: Comprehensive critical care for most disorders but may not handle specific patient types (e.g., cardiothoracic).
• Level III: Initial stabilization of critically ill patients but limited comprehensive critical care.

This quiz explores the essentials of critical care and nursing, including the roles and responsibilities of nurses in intensive care units. It covers critical care units, patient autonomy, and the interventions necessary for critically ill patients. Test your knowledge of the complexities involved in providing care to patients in life-threatening conditions.