Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J I Walters.
This article provides a comprehensive approach to caring for the patient who has experienced coronary artery bypass grafting and is recovering at home. Using the National Nursing Practice Guidelines for the Cardiac Home Care Patient as a guide, specific assessment guidelines and nursing interventions are discussed.
Many hospitals have initiated early discharge programs in an effort to transition coronary artery bypass grafting patients home as quickly as possible. To meet the needs of patients who are discharged early, several home care agencies have created special cardiac programs. This article describes the common components of six successful home care cardiac programs.
Most health care organizations are using critical pathways in an attempt to reduce the variation in patient care, improve quality, enhance communication, and reduce costs. Virtually all of the critical path efforts to date have developed tables of treatments, medications, and so forth by day and have displayed them in a format known as a Gantt chart. This article presents a methodology for identifying the true "time-limiting" critical path, describes three additional methods for presenting the information--the network, precedent, and resource formats--and shows how these can significantly enhance current critical path efforts.