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Biomedical subjects

L M Sulzbach

Publications and source records attributed to L M Sulzbach.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Survey of nursing practice related to decanting intravenous solutions.

A survey instrument was mailed to a stratified random sample of 1000 nurses from the membership list of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses to determine whether there are generally accepted standards for decanting intravenous (IV) solutions before the addition of medication. Four hundred seventy-eight surveys were returned from 47 states and the District of Columbia. Of those, 475 were usable. Seventy-one percent of the respondents did not decant. Of those who did decant (29%), 79% used a needle and syringe to withdraw a volume equal to that of the medication to be added. The results of this study indicate that no generally accepted standards of practice exist for the preparation of IV solutions. Patients may not, therefore, be receiving the dose prescribed by the physician. Nurses need to develop standards for accurate administration of IV solutions.

Critical Care↗
PubMed1991

Temporary atrial pacing after cardiac surgery.

Atrial epicardial wires are used after cardiac surgery for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Postoperative dysrhythmias may be diagnosed by using an atrial wire electrogram, and treatment of these dysrhythmias includes atrial pacing. In this article atrial pacing during the post-cardiac surgery period is discussed in relation to the management of supraventricular dysrhythmias, bradydysrhythmias, ventricular dysrhythmias, and low cardiac output.

Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗
PubMed1990

Policy and procedure manual: keeping a high quality manual.

Policy and procedure manuals are now commonly used in hospitals. The policy and procedure manual provides critical care nurses with a wealth of information. Policies are developed to guide the staff to perform nursing care adequately. Together policies and the corresponding procedures let critical care nurses know how to proceed to meet the organisation and the unit goals. As critical care expands the number of policies increases, which may make it more difficult to find a specific policy quickly. Critical care nurses need to look at other solutions for communicating some necessary pieces of information and check to make sure that policy is stated briefly, to the point and logical. It is also necessary to check to see if the information included in the manual is policy and associated procedures. If it is drug information, equipment usage, standards of care, or patient/family teaching material it could be incorporated in a different format or separate manual. As care givers nurses must monitor policies and procedures that are written and make sure they are simple to read, logically written, and easy to find.

Critical Care↗
PubMed1989

Measurement of pulsus paradoxus.

Pulsus paradoxus is a valuable clinical sign when there is a greater than 10 mm Hg drop in peak systolic blood pressure during normal inspiration. Although the exact mechanism is not known, tense fluid accumulation within the pericardial sac impairs left ventricular filling during inspiration when right ventricular filling is increased. This causes an exaggerated reduction in systolic blood pressure during inspiration. Critical care nurses need to become familiar with the three methods of measuring pulsus paradoxus: palpation, cuff sphygmomanometry, and arterial wave formation. Nurses should practice and become skilled at measuring a greater than 10 mm Hg change.

Cardiac Tamponade↗
PubMed1985

The use of temporary atrial wire electrodes to record atrial electrograms in patients who had cardiac surgery.

The use of temporary atrial electrodes after surgery provides the medical staff with a valuable diagnostic tool in patients who have undergone open heart surgery. Recording a unipolar or bipolar atrial EG is a simple procedure that can be performed at bedside with an ECG machine. The bipolar recording lead has specific advantages over a unipolar recording lead. The use of a bipolar recording lead simplifies the identification of the P wave during rapid tachycardias and atrioventricular dissociation. The use of unipolar and bipolar atrial EGs recorded simultaneously and sequentially can be used to identify atrial rhythm and ascertain the atrioventricular relationship. Nurses need to integrate unipolar and bipolar EGs as part of their baseline assessment.

Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗