Author Question: A pediatric intensive care nurse wants to practice in a way that helps reduce parents' stress while ... (Read 54 times)

s.tung · **on:** Jun 28, 2018

A pediatric intensive care nurse wants to practice in a way that helps reduce parents' stress while their child is in the unit. Which action by the nurse would be most helpful?

A.
Explain procedures to the parents first, then to the child.
B.
Include the parents in all decisions and care activities.
C.
Provide comprehensive discharge teaching in advance.
D.
Round with physicians to ensure parents' understanding.

Question 2

The nursing manager of the pediatric intensive care unit wants to provide patients with improved sleep and rest. Which intervention would have the greatest impact on promoting rest in this environment?

A.
Clustering care so nursing interruptions are limited
B.
Decreasing the noise in the unit, especially at night
C.
Enforcing a 2-hour quiet time on each shift
D.
Turning off equipment alarms when children are sleeping

jrpg123456 · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 28, 2018

Answer to Question 1

ANS: B
Incorporating a family-centered approach to care is the best way to reduce stress and anxiety in the critically ill child's family. Involving the family in all decisions and care activities (if appropriate) is one of the most powerful ways of providing family-centered care. Comprehensive discharge teaching is a good nursing intervention, but not as important as including the family. Discharge teaching also cannot be done too far in advance. Rounding with physicians to ensure understanding is a great intervention, but is not as important as inclusion. Explaining procedures to the parents first, then to the child, may or may not be appropriate.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: B
Research shows that over half of all awakenings and arousals in intensive care unit patients are due to noise. To have the greatest impact on sleep and rest, the manager should work with staff to reduce the noise level on the unit, especially at night, so that normal sleep-wake cycles can be maintained as much as possible. Clustering care is a good idea to allow for some periods of uninterrupted rest and to decrease sensory overload from all sources, but may not always be practical and, even when done, will not have the same impact as overall noise reduction. A 2-hour quiet time may not provide all children with adequate rest and may be impossible to enforce. Turning off alarms is a dangerous practice and should not be done.