When patients are in the intensive care unit, they cannot be treated as normal patients. They need to be constantly looked after. Their treatment needs to be highly specialized. And this duty needs to be performed by a separate highly specialized team.
The team that ought to look after the patients of the intensive care unit must include separate consultants, physiotherapists, nurses, and even dieticians. This is indeed a requirement because each of these members has a very different sort of specialized knowledge of their respective fields.
While in the case of normal patients, one doctor and one nurse can look after many patients at a time. But this cannot be done in the case of patients of intensive care unit.
The ratio here is different. There are more nurses as compared to the number of the patients present. And all these nurses are specially trained, who are guided to ensure proper monitoring and are supposed to provide twenty-four hours of complete care. For this purpose, each patient is usually provided with his or her own separate nurse.
Now if you are a nursing student reading this post for studies, you must know that there is professional help available too. For instance, many students might take assignment editing help or nursing research paper help, etc. from such services. It’s always better to consult them rather than risk your grades.
What are the things that need to be checked while admitting a patient to ICU?
First of all the general appearance of a patient needs to be checked. If they are being provided with artificial airways then it should be checked. Breathing rate especially the quantity and quality of respiration should be monitored. Then cerebral perfusion and circulation need to be checked i.e. things like the blood pressure, pulses and capillary refill, temperature, responsiveness, etc.
Then there should be a short assessment of things like the patient’s medical history, their previous medications, medical problems or surgical procedures, psychiatric problems, etc.
What sort of assessment should be carried out while the patient is in ICU?
A whole checkup of the body system must be carried out. The patient’s cardiovascular system, respiratory system, nervous system, integumentary system, renal system, gastrointestinal system, and immune system should be monitored.
While the patient is present in the ICU, all these things must be kept under proper check continuously.
Other physical examinations and tests that need to be carried out in the laboratory should be timely carried out too.
Things that need to be kept in constant check for patients in the Intensive Care Unit
The patient present in ICU is in a very critical condition. In most cases, their internal systems are not in a good condition. They might be facing interior injuries. Hence a proper flowchart shall be maintained in which proper checkups of various things should be ensured every now and then.
This flow-sheet should include categories like ventilator settings, inputs and outputs, laboratory data, medications, respiratory parameters, hemodynamic parameters, neurological status, and vital signs.
Some patients might be kept under the doses of narcotics. In such cases, the effect of such drugs on the patient must be monitored.
Whatever procedure related to the treatment is being carried out; a proper record of it must be kept. Continuous monitoring should thus be ensured.
What sort of assessment shall be carried out for patients under ventilator or intubation?
The state in which the patient is must be monitored. All his ventilator settings should be checked. It should be made sure that no such step is taken which can create any sort of complication. Measures should be taken to prevent infections.
Oral hygiene of the patient should be maintained. It should be checked whether the suctioning is working properly. The patient’s eye changes should be noticed. Also, his position must be paid attention to. The tubes must not be displaced at any cost.
What other duties a nurse is supposed to perform for ICU patients?
Pressure ulcers must be prevented, and for that, the position of the patient must be frequently changed.
A nurse would be entirely responsible for his patient’s entire care. The nurse is also supposed to tell the condition of his assigned patient to the health care team. If the patient shows any sort of change, the nurse is supposed to notify the physician about it immediately.
For neurological patients, more frequent checkups must be regulated. Hence, their neurological assessment should be carried out once every hour. A slight shift in your attitude can bring drastic changes in what you are doing (masteressaywriters, 2020).
The family of the patient must also be dealt with. They should be informed about the updates of the treatment and how the patient is responding to it.
It should also be noticed whether the environment of the room is good enough or not. The floors must be mopped clean and they should be dry. Furniture should be proper. All the pieces of equipment and the machines should be kept safely in the room, at an appropriate distance from each other. Temperature and humidity should be monitored too.
Nurses should look after their own hygiene too. Hand hygiene practices of health care workers has been shown to be an effective measure in preventing hospital acquired infections (Kudavidnange, Gunasekara, and Hapuarachchi, 2015).
Finally, any time any sort of emergency might occur. Hence all the measures for any emergency must already be there.
