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Critical care nurses’ workload estimates for managing patients during induced hypothermia
Author(s) -
Olson DaiWai M,
Kelly Amy P,
Washam Nicole C,
Thoyre Suzanne M
Publication year - 2008
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.1478-5153.2008.00298.x
Subject(s) - workload , psychological intervention , medicine , hypothermia , intensive care unit , intervention (counseling) , nursing , emergency medicine , critically ill , critical care nursing , intensive care , intensive care medicine , anesthesia , health care , computer science , economic growth , operating system , economics
The purpose of this study was to provide an initial foundation for exploring how induced hypothermia impacts nursing workload in an intensive care unit setting. Methods: This descriptive study used a questionnaire to obtain input from critical care nurses. Results: The results represent 107 returned surveys from 120 surveys distributed to seven different critical care units. Nurses estimate a mean time of 9·27 min (95% CI = 5·63–12·92 min) per shift for each intervention. Nurses indicate that they typically consider employing over 10 interventions to reduce temperature or induce hypothermia (95% CI = 9·67–10·81). Conclusions: Nurses are open to using a variety of different interventions to manage temperature in critically ill patients. The time required to complete any one intervention varies significantly, but the combination of interventions most certainly has a significant impact on the workload for bedside nurses.