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Biomedical subjects

L M Aitken

Publications and source records attributed to L M Aitken.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Expert critical care nurses' use of pulmonary artery pressure monitoring.

Critical care nurses make numerous complex decisions during their day-to-day practice. General themes in previous decision-making studies have included the influence of knowledge and previous experience, the increasing complexity of decisions made and the change in decision-making processes used as the nurse progresses from a novice to an expert practitioner. This paper reports one component of a study which used a concept attainment framework to determine what data were used by eight expert critical care nurses in relation to haemodynamic monitoring. Results indicated that pulmonary artery pressure monitoring was used to attain the concepts of preload, cardiac output and blood pressure. In addition, participants used few clinical assessment attributes, but collected a large number of attributes which they arranged around three to five central concepts and took a broad view of haemodynamic assessment. One participant did not display many of the decision-making features normally associated with an expert practitioner. In conclusion, expert critical care nurses process an immense amount of data in a short space of time. However, they may not use all available data. Evidence suggests not all nurses who practise in the field for a lengthy period reach the level of an expert.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2000

"Thinking aloud": data collection in the natural setting.

Knowledge of how nurses make decisions is a desirable outcome of research. However, there currently exists an inadequacy in the techniques used to examine such decision making. In this article, the authors describe the techniques used in two studies incorporating "thinking aloud" to successfully examine the decision making of expert critical care practitioners in the natural setting. Both techniques of thinking aloud were found to provide useful information regarding decision making in the natural setting. No ethical implications were experienced in conducting these studies in the natural setting. In conclusion, the use of thinking aloud in the natural setting is an effective means of data collection.

Australia↗
PubMed2000

Reliability of measurements of pulmonary artery pressure obtained with patients in the 60 degrees lateral position.

BACKGROUND: Monitoring of pulmonary artery pressure is an essential component of the care of critically ill patients. The conditions under which reliable measurements can be obtained must be clarified. OBJECTIVES: To determine (1) whether reliable measurements of pulmonary artery pressure can be obtained with patients in the right or left 60 degrees lateral position and (2) which characteristics of patients preclude obtaining reliable measurements. METHODS: One hundred five patients (65 cardiac surgery, 40 general medicine) with pulmonary artery catheters were enrolled in a prospective, stratified, quasi-experimental study. Subjects were repositioned from supine (head of bed elevated < 30 degrees with 1 pillow) to the left and right 60 degrees lateral positions. Systolic, diastolic, and mean pulmonary artery pressures and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure were measured before and 5, 10, and 20 minutes after lateral repositioning. The zero reference was the phlebostatic axis when patients were supine and the dependent midclavicular line at the level of the fourth intercostal space when patients were in the lateral positions. RESULTS: In most patients, measurements obtained with patients in the lateral position differed significantly from measurements obtained with patients supine. None of the variables examined were reliable predictors of which patients would have these differences. More than 11% of the patients had clinically significant differences in addition to the statistically significant differences. CONCLUSION: Reliable measurements of pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure cannot be obtained with patients in the 60 degrees lateral position.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Comparison of pulmonary artery pressure measurements in the supine and 60 degrees lateral positions.

Pulmonary artery pressure monitoring, with the patient in both the supine and lateral positions, is an essential element in the assessment of critically ill patients. Previous work offers conflicting results regarding the accuracy of measurements obtained with the patient in the lateral position. The purpose of this study was to determine if accurate pulmonary artery pressure measurements can be obtained in the cardiac surgical patient. Thirty-five patients underwent repositioning between the supine and both the left and right 60 degrees lateral position while being mechanically ventilated and then breathing spontaneously. Pulmonary artery pressure measurements were recorded prior to, two minutes following and ten minutes following repositioning. Despite some variation in results the pulmonary capillary wedge pressure measurement was reliable ten minutes after repositioning in both the spontaneously breathing and mechanically ventilated patient. Other pulmonary artery pressure measurements were not so reliable in the lateral position. This study concludes that clinical practitioners can obtain accurate pulmonary capillary wedge pressure measurements in post-operative cardiac surgical patients positioned in either the left or right 60 degrees lateral position. Further research is however required, with larger numbers from all sub-groups of the critical care population. Physiological and pathophysiological characteristics which preclude reliable pulmonary artery pressure measurements need to be identified.

Adult↗