Evidenced-based practice is the use of clinical research to determine the best forms of patient care. Patient safety is very important. Preventing delirium in critically ill patients in the ICU is an area of nursing practice that has required evicene-based practice to help with this problem. Delirium is very bad for patients and can increase there stay in the hospital for 10 extra days. Bundles have been created by hospitals to help prevent delirium in critically ill patients. The RASS score is important to monitor patients in the ICU setting who are intubated. This score assesses their sedation level. If a patient is too sedated they can’t see if the patient is going through delirium. In the hospital I work at we use the CAM-ICU scale to assess the presence or absence of delirium.

Assignment: Best Forms of Patient Care

These delirium bundles include sedation cessation for patients receiving mechanical ventilation, pain control, sensory stimulation, early mobility and sleep promotion strategies. Sensory stimulation includes visible clocks, calendars and opening the blinds during the day and closing them at night. Patients who received the delirium prevention bundle experienced 78% less incidence of delirium. Using the CAM-ICU scale helps to see if a patient is suffering from delirium.

Another area of nursing practice that evidence-based practice has improved better patient outcomes is infections from urinary catheters. In the ICU I work at we don’t leave foley catheters in. We may leave it in if the patient is receiving CRRT or for a short period after surgery. Evidence has proved during the first week of catheterization, bacteriuria develops in 8% of patients per day, and after the 10th day of catheterization, half of patient are bacteriuric. Catheter associated bacteriuria (CAB) can result in marked morbidity, mortality, and cost. The mortality rate directly from hospital acquired CAB is 12.7%. CAB can cause bacteremia in patients and they end up staying longer in the hospital. Not keeping catheters in for extended time frames can prevent these types of infections. In the hospital I work at we have bundles to keep track of foley catheters to help prevent CAUTIs and keep track of CAUTIs. Doing good perineal care is also important if a patient has a urinary catheter this needs to be done every shift and as needed. This is good for patients with a temporary urinary catheter and patients who have chronic foleys.

References

Conway, L.J., Liu, J, Harris, A.D., Larson, E.L. Risk Factors for Bacteremia in Patients with Urinary Catheter-Associated Bacteriuria. American Journal of Critical Care. 2017; 26:43-52.

DiSabatino Smith, C. and Grami, P. Feasibility and Effectiveness of a Delirium Prevention Bundle in Critically Ill Patients. American Journal of Critical Care. 2017; 26:19-27.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

 

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.