Patient-Nursing Intervention

The two research articles by Olson, D.M & McNett el at. (2013) and Olson & Lewis el at. (2013), both having Olson as the primary author present research regarding ICP. Moreover, both of the articles used similar samples for their research. The population used for both of the studies were 28 nurse-patients dyads, from 16 hospitals. The patients were age 18 and older who had been diagnosed with intracranial pressure. The samples included white males with a mean age of 47 years old. Once the sample was developed, each side had an investigator who observed the patient-nurse relationship and interventions accomplished during a 2 hour period. In contrast, the article by Olson, D.M & McNett el at (2013) discussed how different nursing interventions …show more content…
Furthermore, it provided information of how that impacts the patients stress level as evidence by rise in carbon dioxide (CO2) (Genzler, 2013). Carbon dioxide is a patent vasodilator that could increase intracranial pressure. This research had measured the end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2), and cautioned that any change in ETCO2 are associated with changes in ICP (Genzler, 2013). To promote the patient’s rest, nurses have clustered their care to give patients more time to rest. However, guidelines do not specify how many interventions could be performed at one patient contact or if the interventions should be limited (Genzler, 2013). The method used for this article was prospective, comparative and the design was descriptive. The sample used for this study was a convenient sample of adult ICU patients from July 2009 to March 2010. To be eligible for the study the patient had to have a brain injury and be on a mechanical ventilator for more than 48 hours. The data was collected from 4 to 6 interactions within 24 hour period. To collect the ETCO2 data a noninvasive Infinity Microstream pod with Ordinion’s Microstream technology was used. The ETCO2 values were collected at 5 minutes before the intervention, and continued until 15 minutes after the intervention. The mean number of interventions per nursing interactions was 6.1 and they lasted for 20 to 80 minutes. The ETCO2 changed with cluster care by 6.7% while patients without cluster care had a 0.2% change. Therefore, the findings indicate that fewer interventions reduce the chance of the ETCO2 to rise and for the ICP to be effected. However, due to the use of small sample means that the research could not be generalized. Moreover, this research is important for the patient that was chosen for this paper because the patient