Respiratory distress presents as tachypnea, nasal flaring, retractions, and grunting and may progress to respiratory failure if not readily recognized and managed. Causes of respiratory distress vary and may not lie within the lung. A thorough history, physical examination, and radiographic and laboratory findings will aid in the differential diagnosis. Common causes include transient tachypnea...

Postoperative sore throat occurs in up to 90% of intubated patients and is the most common complaint of patients after endotracheal intubation. A recent study suggested that the use of lidocaine to inflate the endotracheal tube cuff would decrease the incidence of postoperative sore throat. The purpose of this prospective randomized study was to compare the incidence and severity of sore throat...

The electromyographic endotracheal tube (EMG-ETT) is a relatively new tool used to measure integrity of the vocal cord structures during surgery. We describe a case in which an EMG-ETT was inserted for the operative period but not replaced with an ETT during the immediate postoperative period. Intensive care unit nurses had difficulty suctioning the EMG-ETT. The patient was not provided the pul...

OBJECTIVE The Dutch Working Party on Infection Prevention (Werkgroep Infectiepreventie [WIP]) aimed to determine whether certain policies on endotracheal suctioning are better than others in terms of prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in patients receiving mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit. METHODS Publications were retrieved by a systematic search of Medline ...

To read this article and take the CE test online, visit www.ajcconline.org and click “CE Articles in This Issue.” No CE test fee for AACN members. Background Self-report is the best indicator of pain; however, pain is more difficult to assess in noncommunicative patients who may be receiving mechanical ventilation or sedated and unable to report pain. Objectives To evaluate the validity and sen...

conclusions closed suction caused fewer disturbances in patients’ hemodynamic condition, took shorter time, and is more economical. therefore, this method can replace open suction method in caring of severely critically ill patients. results no significant differences were observed between the two suctioning methods in terms of mean systolic blood pressure (p = 0.075), diastolic blood pressure ...