Premium
Managing patients with acute liver failure: developing a tool for practitioners
Author(s) -
O'Neal Helen,
Olds Jane,
Webster Nicola
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
nursing in critical care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.689
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1478-5153
pISSN - 1362-1017
DOI - 10.1111/j.1362-1017.2006.00143.x
Subject(s) - medicine , hepatology , liver transplantation , specialty , intensive care medicine , intensive care unit , best practice , coagulopathy , evidence based practice , transplantation , family medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , management , economics
Patients with acute liver failure (ALF) are treated on the general intensive care unit (ICU) within this regional centre for hepatology and liver transplantation. This group of patients are at high risk of developing cerebral oedema, but because of the associated coagulopathy, intracranial pressure is not measured invasively. The safe management of these patients is vital to their outcome, and yet, there is no national or local guidance on the best practice for this group of patients. An absence of guidelines, or evidence base specific to caring for hepatology patients, was highlighted as we reviewed local clinical practices and those at other liver specialty centres, the British Liver Trust and published literature. We identified a need to develop evidence‐based guidance for staff caring for patients with ALF within ICUs. A systematic approach enabled us to identify best practice to support the development of a structured evidence‐based approach to care.