• 중환자간호학회지
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.79-88
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• 2010

Optimal nutrition serves to maintain normal organ function and to preserve body energy stores to guarantee survival during times of shortage of food. Adequate nutrition of intensive care unit (ICU) patients improves outcome, while malnutrition is strongly associated with increased morbidity and mortality rates among critically ill patients. Previously published researches showed that trials of nutritional support in critical illness rarely fulfill basic quality requirements. Nutrition support plays a vital role in the prevention and treatment of nutritional deficiencies in at-risk, critically ill patients. This paper reviewed the challenges in determining critically ill patients' nutrition requirements including nutrition assessment, determination of caloric requirements then providing them with adequate nutrition support while in the ICU with the guidelines published by Society of Critical Care Medicine and American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. Nutrition support can be effectively enhanced by using the guidelines.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• 제4권2호
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• pp.91-97
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• 2002

The field of critical care medicine has flourished, but an unfortunate result of improved patient survival in the intensive care unit is the occurrence of certain acquired neuromuscular disorders. During the last two decades, various neuromuscular disorders were recognized as common causes of weakness occurring in critically ill patients. The two most common disorders are an acute quadriplegic myopathy predominantly associated with the use of intravenous corticosteroids and neuromuscular junction blocking agents and severe systemic illness termed critical illness myopathy(CIM), and an axonal sensorimotor polyneuropathy termed critical illness polyneuropathy. I will review briefly about general components of the CIM.

• 중환자간호학회지
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.24-41
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• 2021

Purpose : The aim of this integrative review was to describe communication experiences and needs among the critically ill with an artificial airway and evaluate relevant intervention studies. Methods : Using the method employed by Whittemore and Knafl (2005), we searched for papers on PubMed, CINAHL, and Web of Science published from January 1, 2015 to September 25, 2020. A total of 26 papers (11 descriptive studies, 15 experimental ones) were identified and evaluated. Results : Communication experiences while having an artificial airway, identified either by patients' recall or direct observation, were predominantly negative. However, positive experiences were reported in patients with improvements in physical conditions and functions. Patients' communication needs were diverse, encompassing physical, psycho-emotional, social, spiritual, and medical issues. Interventions tested included alternative and augmentative communication strategies, communication intervention packages, and voice restorative devices. Physical, psychosocial, and communication-related patient outcomes were evaluated using various methods including self-report surveys, interviews, and observations. Conclusions : The findings from this review represent the state of science regarding communication of the critically ill whose vocal abilities are inhibited by the presence of an artificial airway. Future studies with rigorous experimental designs and measures are warranted to better understand and support the complex needs of this highly vulnerable patient population.

• Clinical Nutrition Research
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2024

Nutritional support in critically ill patients is an essential aspect of treatment. In particular, the benefits of enteral nutrition (EN) are well recognized, and various guidelines recommend early EN within 48 hours in critically ill patients. However, there is still controversy regarding EN in critically ill patients with septic shock requiring vasopressors. Therefore, this case report aims to provide basic data for the safe and effective nutritional support in septic shock patients who require vasopressors. A 62-year-old male patient was admitted to the intensive care unit with a deep neck infection and mediastinitis that progressed to a septic condition. Mechanical ventilation was initiated after intubation due to progression of respiratory acidosis and deterioration of mental status, and severe hypotension required the initiation of norepinephrine. Due to hemodynamic instability, the patient was kept nil per os. Subsequently, trophic feeding was initiated at the time of norepinephrine dose tapering and was gradually increased to achieve 75% of the energy requirement through EN by the 7th day of enteral feeding initiation. Although there were signs of feeding intolerance during the increasing phase of EN, adjusting the rate of EN resolved the issue. This case report demonstrates the gradual progression and adherence to EN in septic shock patient requiring vasopressors, and the progression observed was relatively consistent with existing studies and guidelines. In the future, further case reports and continuous research will be deemed necessary for safe and effective nutritional support in critically ill patients with septic shock requiring vasopressors.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• 제32권2호
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• pp.106-110
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• 2015

The prevalence of pneumothorax cases among Intensive Care Unit patients who require mechanical ventilation ranges from 4%-15%. A pneumothorax remains one of the most serious complications of positive pressure ventilation. It can be diagnosed in a critically ill patient through a physical examination or radiographic studies that include chest radiographs, ultrasonography, or computed tomography scanning. However, in a critically ill patient, the diagnosis of a pneumothorax is often complicated by other diseases and by difficulties in imaging sick and unconscious patients. Although electrocardiogram changes associated with a pneumothorax have been described for many years, there has been no report of such among patients who require mechanical ventilation. In this paper, we report 2 cases of a spontaneous pneumothorax with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia in patients who required invasive mechanical ventilation due to acute respiratory failure.

• 중환자간호학회지
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.12-22
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• 2018

Purpose : This methodological study develops an oral health assessment tool for critically ill patients. Method : From February 15 to April 30, 2014, this study was conducted to test the validity and reliability of the tool at two general hospitals and three medical and surgical intensive care units (ICUs) in Seoul, Korea. Results : The result of the intraclass correlation coefficient to test the between-observer reliability by analyzing the oral health assessment scores before and after oral nursing care showed that .93 of before oral care and .90 of after oral care. The correlation coefficient values of .68 (p<.001) and .71 (p<.001) before and after providing oral nursing care, respectively, indicated the presence of a statistically significant correlation between the tool and the criterion. Using the paired t-test, the differentiated validity of the tool was tested in patients who had developed pneumonia after entering the ICU. A statistically significant difference in scores was found between the time of entering the ICU and that of developing pneumonia (t=-8.73, p<.001), which provided evidence for the differentiated validity of the tool. Conclusions : Since the validity and reliability of the tool developed in this study were verified, this tool can be used to assess the oral health conditions of critically ill patients.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제72권2호
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• pp.117-123
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• 2012

Optimal level of sedation and analgesia is important for the comfort and safety of critically ill patients. However, suboptimal sedation is relatively common in the intensive care unit (ICU) and it could cause prolonged mechanical ventilation and ICU stay, also increase delirium and ICU acquired weakness and resultant decreased survival. Therefore, accurate assessment of the level of sedation and analgesia, maintaining adequate level of sedation, and daily evaluation of each patient and following adjustment could be important treatment strategy in critically ill patients. Recently, the strategy for sedation in the ICU is changing toward the direction of lowering sedation level or even "no sedation" with concurrent use of analgesics and the use of ultra short acting analgesics could be helpful in some patients. Clinicians should be aware of the importance of algorithmic approach including daily interruption of sedative and assessment of sedation level and especially in the patients under mechanical ventilation, organizational approaches such as the 'ABCDE' bundle could improve the management of critically ill patients.

• 중환자간호학회지
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.1-12
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• 2022

Purpose : This study aimed to identify the status of intrahospital transport (IHT) of critically ill patients and provide baseline data to form recommendations for safer transport. Methods : Data were collected from 141 intensive care unit (ICU) nurses who attended national conferences between February and August, 2018. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA, and post-hoc analysis was conducted with the Scheffé and Games-Howell tests. Results : Of the nurses surveyed, 61.7% answered that their workplace had a transport guideline. In terms of the experience of ICU nurses, 31.2% of respondents answered that they had received training on IHT. This result indicated that the degree of implementation of the guidelines for IHT was generally high, but some, including guidelines on personnel, equipment, and monitoring, were not. Guidelines of IHT were well observed when the institutes had specific guidelines for IHT of critically ill patients with specified transport grades, a scoring system to assess stability of a patient, a checklist and a protocol for action in case of problems, and when healthcare providers were provided with training. Conclusion : These results suggest that organized infrastructure, such as a transport guideline with transport grades, a checklist to improve the implementation of guidelines, and a protocol for coping with a problem, should be provided for safe transport. Additionally, effective education and evaluation to improve the competency of staff participating in the transport of patients will help reduce the occurrence of adverse events in intensive care transport in hospitals and promote patient safety.

• 성인간호학회지
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.149-162
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand the meanings and nature of ICU admission experienced among patients with critical illness. The present study adopted a hermeneutic phenomenological method which was developed by van Manen. Methods: The participants for this study were 6 men and 3 women, who were over the age of 20 with ICU admission period more than 3 days. Data were collected by using in-depth interviews and observations from March, 2007 to September, 2007. The contents of the interviews were tape-recorded with the consent of the subject. Results: The essential themes that fit into the context of the 4 existential grounds of body, time, space and other people were as follows: a body that cannot react the way it wants, a wave of fear and insecurity everywhere, a struggle to survive, coming out from death's door, loss of time path, a long and continued waiting until escaping, more of machinery room than a patient's room, existence of life and death, an abyss of suffering seen thru another patient, taken care of by a doctor, trust and distrust, family, the ultimate safe zone. Conclusion: Critically ill patients in ICU experienced feelings of discomfort, unsafety, and insecurity. The result of this study can give nurses some insight into these experiences and help promote empathetic care.

• 한국의료질향상학회지
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• 제30권1호
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• pp.15-32
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• 2024

Purpose: The number of severely ill patients requiring post-acute care has been increasing. Careful discharge planning minimizes unplanned emergency room visits and readmissions. This study aimed to survey the knowledge, experience, confidence, and obstacles faced by medical residents and fellows regarding the discharge process of severely ill patients. Methods: A survey consisting of 27 questions was sent electronically to residents and fellows who had experience in discharging severely ill patients from a tertiary hospital in Korea. The survey was conducted over a two-week period from September 29, 2022. Results: A total of 98 residents and fellows responded to the survey. Of these, 94% experienced difficulties related to the discharge process. The main obstacle was changes in the patient's condition during discharge planning (92.3%). Although 95% of the respondents acknowledged the need for providing discharge information, only 53.1% of the residents and fellows practiced this. Only 42.9% of the respondents and 20.4% of residents and fellows explained local community healthcare and welfare resources to patients because of a lack of relevant knowledge (69.7%) and feeling no responsibility to explain (40.4%). Conclusion: This study revealed that residents and fellows experienced difficulties in devising discharge plans and providing post-acute care related information, despite recognizing the importance of these. These gaps result from the lack of a discharge planning curriculum regarding critically ill patients and appropriate training in the discharge process. This suggests that an integrated discharge planning curriculum should be developed and adopted in residents' training programs for the differentiated treatment of critically ill patients.