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Admission into an intensive care unit is always a TENSION BUILDER for a patient’s family. Doctors have a huge responsibility in the ICU, starting from accessing the patient’s condition, planning the treatment and doing LIFESAVING INTERVENTIONS. Due to the limited number of patients, it is the nurses who give the HEALING TOUCH to critically ill patients. ICU nurses have a critical role to play in helping a patient recover.
These healthcare professionals constantly monitor the patient’s vitals and ensure that they receive all the care they need. It is easy for people to get intimidated when a patient is critically ill and the family members are sitting outside in a constant state of panic. Despite such anxious situations, ICU nurses make no mistakes in performing their duties and acting as a link between the patient, the doctor, and the patient’s family members.
Modern healthcare institutions also offer such nursing services to patients with ICU at-home services. Here, ICU nurses and caregivers help set up an ICU at the patient’s home, helping them recover where they feel most comfortable. Needless to say, the nurses continue providing unwavering support to patients and their family members at home.
In the ICU, the contribution of the nursing staff can never be discounted. Here are some of the most common ways in which critical care nursing helps an ICU patient recover.
Monitoring Vital Signs
When patients are in an ICU, every second of their life is important. Healthcare professionals cannot overlook the smallest discrepancies in their health.ICU nurses monitor a patient’s vital signs 24/7. They keep a close look at vitals like heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, and more until the patient is out of danger.
Medication Management
ICU nurses ensure that their patients receive the right medications at the right time and in the right way, how to load emergency medications like inotropes, adrenaline, etc., and how to administer them. This requires a sound knowledge of the medicines. Just not administering the right intravenous medications but keeping track of the doses a patient receives, nurses are always on their toes when it comes to medication management.
Executing Patient Care Plans
Doctors create personalized care plans for every patient admitted to the ICU, it is the ICU nurses who execute the same. They work in close collaboration with various specialists to understand the care plan devised for different patients. BED SORE prevention, DVT prophylaxis, prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia, VAP, and INFECTION control are very much supported by the nursing team.
While executing the care plans, it is an ICU nurse’s duty to assess the patient continuously. They keep a thorough check on every patient’s health and inform the doctors about any improvement or deterioration therein.
Communication skills
ICU nurses are the links connecting patients, their family members, and doctors. An ICU nurse reports a patient’s health to the concerned doctor. They also communicate what the doctor says about the patient to their family members.
Emotional Support
The family members of ICU patients are always distraught and stressed. Depending on the patient’s health, they try their best to give their family members the confidence they need to carry on. Sometimes, an ICU nurse may also be responsible for giving a patient’s family members news they do not want to hear.
Imparting Education
Doctors are often too busy to explain the details of the patient’s health and recovery. This job is often done by ICU nurses. They educate the patient’s family members about the ongoing procedures like ryles tube feeding, tracheostomy care, etc.
Emergency Response
ICU nurses are trained to handle medical emergencies like CARDIAC ARREST. In situations of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the nurses play a major role right administering drugs to cardiac massage /CPR.
Seamless Documentation
ICU nurses maintain detailed records of every patient and keep updating them throughout their recovery journey.
End-of-life Care
When a patient nears the end of their life and saving them is no longer possible, ICU nurses, while maintaining the patient’s dignity, shoulder the responsibility of offering comprehensive end-of-life care. They handle both the pain and emotions of the patient and their families.
Patient Rehabilitation
When a patient stabilizes from critical illness, Rehabilitation is a continuation of the critical care mainly carried out by the nursing staff.
Infection Control
Patients in the ICU are prone to cross infections with multidrug-resistant bugs. The smallest security compromise can have dire consequences. An ICU nurse keeps the facility free from infection.VAP, CAUTI, and CLABSI are major concerns for the nurses in the ICU.
A critical care unit is a TEAM WORK of doctors, nurses, paramedic staff, and therapists.NURSES play the BACKBONE of the system. Their dedication, care, and compassion bring humanity and science to give back smiles to patients and their families…
By
DR RINKI DAS
MBBS DA IDCCM DEM
DIRECTOR
CLOUD CRITIC INTENSIVIST TEAM