A37 Critical care skills
Course summary
The primary aim of this intensive course is to enhance the knowledge base and confidence of nurses providing general ITU care. Ideal for nurses new to critical care such as agency staff.
Who should attend?
Registered General Nurses
Nurse Practitioners
Advanced Nurse Practitioners
Aims / objectives
- Be able to more acurately assess and manage the critically ill patient.
- To work towards competent maintenance of essential equipment used for caring for the acutely ill adult.
- Be able to initiate early intervention as needed.
- Become more aware of legal and professional responsibilities within the critical care context.
Course programme
- Legal and professional responsibilities
- Anatomy & physilogy overview. (To include respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological systems).
- Assessing the critically ill patient: the essentials.
- Scoring systems
- Red flags
- Neurological observations and correct documentation.
- Oxygen therapy- including pulse oximetry, arterial blood gas analysis
- Maintaining respiratory systems-
- Tracheostomy care.
- Non-invasive ventilation
- Haemodynamic monitoring: an overview
- Cardiac monitoring essentials
- Rhythmn recognition
- 12 lead traces
- IV therapy
- Types and management of equipment: to include peripheral lines, central and arterial lines
- Administration of commonly used drugs: dos and dont's
- Drug calculations
- Adminsitration of blood, blood components, albumin/plasma protein fraction
- Fluid balance
- Measuring fluid balance and urine output
- Intravenous fluids (colloids vs crystalloids)
- High risk infusions
- Meeting nutritional deficits: consideration and analysis of enteral and parenteral feeding.
- Case scenario reinforcers
Led by
TBA
Recommended text
TBA