Critical Care Nursing

In this lecture, Catherine will outline a number of basic principles in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and how they relate to the critical care patient, most specifically in sepsis and septic shock. The lecture will combine PK-PD theory and clinical applications, with a focus on antimicrobials and sedative agents.

Anxiety is a common symptom experienced by patients who receive mechanical ventilation. This lecture covers the definitions and concepts, causes, clinical manifestations, and short- and long-term implications of unmanaged anxiety during mechanical ventilation. Differentiation between anxiety and other similar symptoms will be discussed. Current assessment and treatment methods for anxiety will be reviewed. Lastly, future considerations for clinical practice and strategies for meaningful engagement of patients and their informal caregivers in anxiety assessment and management will be presented.

During this presentation, logical steps to rhythm strip analysis will be recalled and applied to a rapid review of sinus, atrial, junctional and ventricular rhythms. The significance of each rhythm will be examined and potential interventions considered. The target audience includes nurses or health care providers seeking to refresh prior learning or increase confidence with ECG rhythm interpretation.

This presentation will discuss the epidemiology of burnout and its related concepts. We will also discuss how COVID-19 has affected clinicians, including nurses. We will also discuss the evidence-based strategies that individuals and organizations can potentially use to address burnout.

The purpose of this lecture is to provide attendees with the tools they will need to improve inter-disciplinary communication in healthcare, a primary source of patient safety errors and adverse events. Numerous examples from recent research will be provided so that attendees will leave the session with actionable information and insights that can be applied to their own practice. 

Over the last two decades, there have been several landmark fluid resuscitation trials published. These trials have provided evidence that the type of intravenous fluids we choose for resuscitation can impact important patient-centred outcomes.  This presentation will look at what we know from these trials focused on fluid resuscitation in sepsis and septic shock; specifically, an overview of the principles of fluid resuscitation, types of fluids, review the fluid resuscitation evidence and describe changes in fluid resuscitation practices over time.

In this presentation I will present the story of the rapid development, scaling and sustaining of the LifeLines virtual visiting philanthropic innovation over the pandemic. I will discuss the impact on family and clinicians of visiting restrictions necessitated by the pandemic. I will also highlight the growing body of evidence for virtual visiting including unanticipated benefits. Finally, I will discuss considerations for how to optimise the delivery of virtual visiting, both during ongoing visiting restrictions and as a routine option for ICU families.

There is no simple answer to the question of “should we treat fever and how?” Fever is a potent immune response that can be protective for some ICU patients, especially when therapeutic options are limited. Fever also comes at a significant metabolic cost, which critically ill patients may, or may not be able to tolerate. I will review the physiology of fever, discuss the costs, benefits of fever in adult critically ill populations, present available fever management strategies. While there is no simple answer, we can make more informed decisions about how and when to treat fever in critical illness.

The intensive care outreach nurse (ICON) is known by many names. Essentially, this is an ICU nurse with exceptional assessment, communication, problem solving and bedside teaching skills whose primary role is to respond to and support the bedside nurses (and doctors) caring for the deteriorating patient. Much is known about the benefits of such roles, but little is described regarding how to set them up. This talk focuses on the latter using a case study of how the role was implemented in the UAE into 4 teaching hospitals concurrently.