Issues in Clinical Nursing, Research Paper Example

That nosocomial infections are a common health complication in patients admitted to intensive care units cannot be denied, and in his article, Celik (2004) sought to determine strategies that nurses can use to address the issue of nosocomial infections in neurosurgery intensive care units. Celik (2004) writes that the goal of managing patients in intensive care units is to improve the quality of their life, prevent complications, and decrease mortality/ morbidity. As a result, understanding and reducing the factors of nosocomial infections is one of the best ways to meet this goal (Celik, 2004). Celik (2004) performed a systematic literature search. For the purpose of the study, Index Medicus Online between the years 1990 and 2003 and Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature between the years 1993 and 2003 were used (Celik, 2004). The search terms included “nosocomial infection”, “neurosurgical infection”, “infection control”, and a few others (Celik, 2004). Celik (2004) found out that the prevalence of nosocomial infections in hospitalized patients did not exceed 6%, whereas critically ill patients faced a disproportionate 20%-risk of nosocomial infections. In his discussion of preventive measures, Celik (2004) covered nosocomial pneumonia, urinary tract infection, nosocomial bacteremia and surgical wound infections, as well as gastrointestinal infections and nosocomial neuroinfections (meningitis, shunt infections and ventriculitis). The researcher found out that, despite the growing incidence and prevalence of nosocomial infections in intensive care units, the subject is not widely covered in literature (Celik, 2004). There had been some research focusing on nosocomial infections, but it is not clear what preventive measurement of nosocomial infections is and how it works (Celik, 2004). Celik (2004) suggests that the future research should demonstrate and evaluate changes in practice and ascertain what teaching methods can be effective in facilitating these changes.

References

Celik, S.A. (2004). Nosocomial infections in neurosurgery intensive care units. Issues in Clinical Nursing, 13, 741-747.