24 research outputs found
Clinical Alarms Management in the Intermediate Cardiology and Cardiovascular Intensive Care Units at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics
Get PDFThe Intermediate Cardiology Unit (4RC) and the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) at the University of Iowa Hospital (UIHC) experience a significant amount of clinical alarms that they have to manage. The clinical alarms monitors have thirty-four different vital signs for patients in the two units, and an alarm will sound when a vital sign or rhythm starts to signal abnormalities. Some of the abnormalities are triggered by a valid clinical condition of the patient, also called an actionable alarm. Alarms that do not fall into the actionable alarm category, called non-actionable and false alarms, have led to alarm fatigue among registered nurses (RNs) and respiratory therapists (RTs) in both units. Alarm fatigue prevents staff from responding appropriately to clinical alarms, resulting in major patient safety issues. The goal of the study is to reduce the number of non-actionable and false alarms by improving alarm management. After alarms per hour per bed were collected for each unit at their current state, an educational program was developed and introduced to the staff in 4RC in an attempt to reduce the alarms per hour per bed. CVICU was treated as a control group with no intervention provided while the educational program was introduced to 4RC RNs. CVICU was held as a control group to determine if mean alarms per hour per bed went down independently with time. Results from both units after the educational program intervention show that the educational program was not effective in decreasing alarms per hour per bed. RNs and RTs still face significant barriers in managing their alarms properly in 4RC and CVICU, and further research needs to be conducted to impact the clinical alarm management problem
STEM at Stead
Get PDFSTEM at Stead consists of three experiment kits aimed at assisting patients in the Stead Family Children’s Hospital with science, engineering, and math education. These experiment kits and discussion materials were created to help fill the gap of information patients were experiencing during their stay at the hospital and consequently their absence from school. The three experiments include building a catapult, creating a bouncy ball, and discovering effective handwashing techniques. The pictures listed with this post show examples from the experiments. The experiments are split into three different levels: beginner, practiced, and advanced scientists. These materials can be found in the interactive power point attached to this document. The experiments were first trialed in the Child/ Adolescent Psychiatry Unit before being introduced to the rest of the units in the children’s hospital. The kits and discussion materials are now available for all pediatric patients (and siblings of patients) inside UIHC. The kits were developed so the teachers within UIHC could run them independently and the hope is for the kits to stay in the units for the years to come
STEM at Stead: Catapults
Get PDFSTEM at Stead consists of three experiment kits aimed at assisting patients in the Stead Family Children’s Hospital with science, engineering, and math education. These experiment kits and discussion materials were created to help fill the gap of information patients were experiencing during their stay at the hospital and consequently their absence from school. The three experiments include building a catapult, creating a bouncy ball, and discovering effective handwashing techniques. The pictures listed with this post show examples from the experiments. The experiments are split into three different levels: beginner, practiced, and advanced scientists. These materials can be found in the interactive power point attached to this document. The experiments were first trialed in the Child/ Adolescent Psychiatry Unit before being introduced to the rest of the units in the children’s hospital. The kits and discussion materials are now available for all pediatric patients (and siblings of patients) inside UIHC. The kits were developed so the teachers within UIHC could run them independently and the hope is for the kits to stay in the units for the years to come
STEM at Stead: Bouncy Balls
Full text linkSTEM at Stead consists of three experiment kits aimed at assisting patients in the Stead Family Children’s Hospital with science, engineering, and math education. These experiment kits and discussion materials were created to help fill the gap of information patients were experiencing during their stay at the hospital and consequently their absence from school. The three experiments include building a catapult, creating a bouncy ball, and discovering effective handwashing techniques. The pictures listed with this post show examples from the experiments. The experiments are split into three different levels: beginner, practiced, and advanced scientists. These materials can be found in the interactive power point attached to this document. The experiments were first trialed in the Child/ Adolescent Psychiatry Unit before being introduced to the rest of the units in the children’s hospital. The kits and discussion materials are now available for all pediatric patients (and siblings of patients) inside UIHC. The kits were developed so the teachers within UIHC could run them independently and the hope is for the kits to stay in the units for the years to come
