Hospital Stress, Adaptation, and Resiliency During Respiratory Viral Acute Surge Events

This article was first published in the Spring 2021 issue of Critical Connections . Respiratory viral acute surge events, in which hospitals face stress and capacity strain from an influx of infected patients, range from annual respiratory viral seasons dominated by seasonal ...

New Coding and Documentation Guidance: What You Need to Know in 2021 for Proper Reimbursement

This article was first published in the Spring 2021 issue of Critical Connections. Many physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs) who manage critical care patients do so in post-acute care clinics or in the office setting.

Neuroscience Nursing Workforce: Challenges During the Pandemic

This article was first published in the Spring 2021 issue of Critical Connections. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many intensive care units (ICUs) were overwhelmed with patients requiring a high level of care.

Certified Child Life Specialists: A New Addition to the Critical Care Team

This article was first published in the Spring 2021 issue of Critical Connections. Certified child life specialists are an invaluable investment in the success of ICU liberation programs . They engage, empower, and support children and their families to mitigate the psychos...

Donation After Circulatory Death With Normothermic Regional Perfusion: A Brief Ethical Analysis

This article was first published in the Spring 2021 issue of Critical Connections. A 24-year-old man was brought to a trauma center after sustaining a devastating head injury during a motor vehicle collision. Weeks later, he remains intubated and unresponsive. Although he does...

APPs in the Critical Care Workforce: Past, Present, and Future

This article was first published in the Spring 2021 issue of Critical Connections. The utilization of advanced practice providers (APP) in the workforce has continued to grow, particularly over the past year, during which hospitals saw unprecedented surges of critically ill pa...

Post-Intensive Care Syndrome Clinics: Lessons Learned from Three Centers

This article was first published in the Winter 2021 issue of Critical Connections . The prevention, recognition, and management of post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) has come to the forefront in critical care and with it comes the emergence of the PICS clinic.

What the VIRUS COVID-19 Registry Can Teach About the Future of EHRs

This article was first published in the Winter 2021 issue of Critical Connections . Chaos—That is the word that comes to mind when Smith Heavner, BSN, MS, RN, PCCN, thinks about electronic health records (EHRs).

Importance of Effectively Communicating Drug Shortages

This article was first published in the Winter 2021 issue of Critical Connections . Drug shortages have become pervasive. The ways in which hospitals and hospital systems manage ongoing shortages vary widely across the United States and the world.

The COVID-19 Double-Lung Transplant: How a Last-Ditch Effort Has Saved Lives

This article was first published in the Winter 2021 issue of Critical Connections . When the clock struck midnight and it officially became Thanksgiving Day, Ankit Bharat, MD, was in an operating room at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, saving a life few people thou...

Managing Refusal to Accept a Brain Death Diagnosis: A Care Ethics Approach

This article was first published in the Winter 2021 issue of Critical Connections . A man in his early twenties was transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) by his father for a second opinion after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head.

Critical Care Documentation and Billing Update: COVID-19 Pandemic

This article was originally published in the Summer 2020 Issue of  Critical Connections .

Fuzzy Logic in the Intensive Care Unit

This article was originally published in the Summer 2020 Issue of  Critical Connections .

Ethics and Moral Distress Consultation Shape an Institutional Approach

This article was originally published in the Summer 2020 Issue of  Critical Connections .

PTSD and Burnout in Healthcare Professionals

This article was originally published in the Summer 2020 Issue of Critical Connections .

Applying the ICU Liberation Bundle to Critically Ill Children

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue of Critical Connections . The aim of this article is to provide pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) practitioners with general guidance on implementation of the ICU Liberation Bundle. 

Pediatric Septic Shock and Requests for Potentially Inappropriate Treatments

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue of Critical Connections . This Exploring Ethics case study is about a 19-month-old male infant with hypereosinophilia due to hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis after unrelated-donor allogenic stem cell transplant.

Advanced Practitioners and Critical Care for Medicare Patients

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue of Critical Connections . The article covers the requirements for coding and billing for Medicare patients. 

Disparities in Sepsis Management and Outcomes

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue of Critical Connections . The combined estimates of severe sepsis and sepsis amount to 50 million cases worldwide, accounting for 5.3 million deaths annually. This Critical Connections article covers the dispari...

Scvo2 in Sepsis: A Measurement Provided by Respiratory Care Practitioners

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue of Critical Connections . When treating patients with sepsis, intensive care unit (ICU) and emergency department clinicians have learned that improved outcomes occur when staff members work together as a team.