A Nurse's Survival Guide to Critical Care - Updated Edition

Section 1 - General principles of critical care

1.1: Introduction to critical care nursing

1.2: Health and Safety

1.3: Emergencies and life-threatening conditions

1.4: Life threatening complications/ outcomes

Section 2 - Patient assessment and investigations

2.1: Identification of patient needs/problems

2.2: Assessment

2.3: Haemodynamic monitoring

2.4: Diagnostic procedures

Section 3 - Critical care interventions

3.1: Medium-technology life-support interventions

3.2: High-technology life-support interventions

3.3: Caring for a critical care patient

3.4: Intubation and ventilation

3.5: Transfer of critical care patients

Section 4 - Common conditions/reasons for admission

4.1: Physiological processes common to all medical and surgical conditions

4.2: Neurological

4.3: Endocrine disorders

4.4: Respiratory

4.5: Cardiovascular

4.6: Renal

4.7: Gastrointestinal (GIT)

4.8: Immunological

4.9: Burns

4.10: Poisoning/overdose

Section 5 - Psychological and ethical care

5.1: Mental effects of critical care

5.2: Death and dying in critical care

5.3: Professional practice issues

Section 6 - Pharmacology

6.1: Medication management

6.2: Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics

6.3: Classification of drugs used in critical care

6.4: Drug calculations

6.5: Nurse prescribing

References

Further Reading

Appendix 1 Units of measurement

Appendix 2 Normal values

Appendix 3 Drug measurement and calculations

Glossary

Index