Effectively treating critically ill patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a challenge for many intensive care nurses. Multiple disease processes and injuries contribute to the complexity of ARDS and often complicate therapy. As a means of supportive care for ARDS, practitioners resort to rescue therapies to improve oxygenation and salvage the patient. The pathophysiology of ARDS and the use of prone positioning to improve pulmonary ventilation and oxygenation in ARDS patients are described. Educating nursing and medical staff on the use of prone positioning allows ease of patient placement with an emphasis on safety of both patients and staff. Scrupulous assessment of patients coupled with judicious timing of prone positioning expedites weaning from ventilatory support and contributes to positive outcomes for patients.
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1 December 2015
Feature|
December 01 2015
Prone Positioning of Patients With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Dawn M. Drahnak, RN, DNP, CCNS, CCRN;
Dawn M. Drahnak is an assistant professor of nursing, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Johnstown, PA.
Corresponding author: Dawn M. Drahnak, rn, dnp, ccns, ccrn, 220 Nursing & Health Sciences Building, Pitt-Johnstown, 450 Schoolhouse Road, Johnstown, PA 15904 (e-mail: [email protected]).
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Nicole Custer, RN, MS, CCRN-CSC
Nicole Custer, RN, MS, CCRN-CSC
Nicole Custer is a teaching associate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Pennsylvania.
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Crit Care Nurse (2015) 35 (6): 29–37.
Citation
Dawn M. Drahnak, Nicole Custer; Prone Positioning of Patients With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. Crit Care Nurse 1 December 2015; 35 (6): 29–37. doi: https://doi.org/10.4037/ccn2015753
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