SICU Education Committee Newsletter
The SICU Shared Governance Education Committee is proud to present Issue #2 of the unit’s education-focused newsletter
You will notice new topics highlighted in this issue along with anticipated regular features Since the first issue premiered, members of the committee have discussed topics that may be important to our nurses - both those new to and those who have more experience in critical care nursing One area is a focus on “back to basics” and another is key considerations when caring for Maternal Fetal Medicine patients in the unit Our feature on “back to basics” serves a reminder to all of us on some of the simpler items that can often be overlooked when the primary focus is on hemodynamics, respiratory status or other critical care interventions.
As always, please let us know if you have any additional ideas or content suggestions You can now email the Shared Governance Education Committee at SICU Education@uchealth.com.
Enjoy this month’s newsletter!
EducationCommittee
FAST Assessment in Trauma
Trauma season The period of time between roughly Memorial Day and Labor Day when occurrences of traumatic injuries in the United States is most prevalent According to the study by Stonko, et al (2018), 88 1% of cases included were blunt injuries, with the mechanism of the injury for the majority being motor vehicle collisions (32 9%) and falls (30 4%)
When a patient enters the Emergency Department having suffered a blunt injury, the medical team performs a Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma - or FAST - to assess for pericardial, intraperitoneal and pelvic fluid as well as hemothorax or pneumothorax A positive FAST indicates to the critical care nurse that free fluid is present in the patient’s thoracic and/or abdominal cavity
Immediate nursing considerations include maintaining hemodynamic stability, monitoring for hypothermia and likely preparing the patient for surgical intervention
Maternal fetal medicine patients in the SICU
SICU nurses are seeing a greater number of patients from maternal fetal medicine in the unit and have inquired as to some of the key care interventions for this patient population Not generally caring for this patient on a regular basis, SICU nurses are eager to ensure we are up to date and well-informed on areas the primary team needs our team to consider beyond our standard excellent level of care
Understanding the Maternal Early Warning Signs (MEWS) and Urgent Maternal Warning Signs (UMWS) criteria provide helpful warning signs and symptoms to be aware of when caring for a maternal fetal patient
Review this material, as outlined in the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health website
Document and contact the provider for any patient exhibiting MEWS or UMWS
L&D/Antepartum: 584-2857
OBED/Postpartum: 584-2858
Maternity Early Warning Signs (MEWS)
RESP: <10 or >30
O2 SAT: <95
HR: <50 or >120
TEMP: >/= 100 4F
BP SYS: <90 or >160
BP DIAS: >/= 110
Oliguria: <35 mL/hr for 2 consecutive hours
Maternal agitation, confusion, or unresponsiveness
IF BP >/= 160 OR diastolic BP >/= 110, repeat in 15 min
Urgent
Maternal Warning Signs
(UMWS)
Headache that won’t go away or gets worse
Dizziness/fainting
Vision changes
Fever
Chest pain/tachypnea
Baby’s movement slows or stops
Swelling, redness or pain in leg(s)
Fever
Severe belly pain that will not go away
Vaginal bleeding or fluid leaking during pregnancy
Extreme swelling of hands or face
Severe nausea or emesis (not morning sickness)
From the Education Director
Registration for upcoming SICU educational events and offerings being presented by Maggie Calhoun, Clinical Nurse Educator, is now open via OneTouch under SICU Critical Care Chronicles in the Learning tab
Neurological Trauma: What Do I Need to Know?
Presented by Dr Valerie Sams, this session took place May 27 and is available to view via the link provided in an email
Advanced Respiratory Care
Presented by Jeremy & Rachel from our respiratory team
Date: June 24, 0800-1000
Date: June 30, 1600-1800
Care of the SICU Trauma
Patient
Presented by SICU Shared Governance Education Committee
Date: July 23, 0800-1000 & 1600-1800
All attendees will earn CE credits Additional offerings will be shared via email, in the Friday FYI and in this newsletter C-STARS
continues to focus on providing education and training on assessments and interventions common in critical care, a renewed emphasis is being placed on managing the basics of nursing behavior, etiquette and patient care
The Education Committee has identified items, topics and areas of care where a unified approach could aid not only our patients, but our fellow nurses as well While not comprehensive, this list is meant to start the conversation and encourage our team to prepare the incoming shift for success!
Do you have more ideas for this topic? Please email SICU Education@uchealth.com.
END OF SHIFT
Room Stocking
Flushes
Syringe/lab tubes
Alcohol swabs
4x4's
Curos caps
Trach/wound supplies
Pads/glide sheet
Iso cart
Disposing of and replacing single-use items like scissors, hemostats and timeout markers
Room Preparation
Clean and decluttered
Counters free of debris
Unused pumps returned to dirty utility
Fresh linen bag
Fresh lines as neededremember date stickers
Return phlebotomy and glucometers (clean)
Night Shift Specific
Fresh VAP care kits
Fresh NG/OG/PEG med administration kit
Fresh suction containers/tubing
ETIQUETTE
Did you replace electrolytes?
Is your handoff efficient?
Did you add your shift’s information to the patient summary?
Is your room prepared for the oncoming nurse in the way you would want the room prepared for you?
PATIENT CARE
Offering/providing basic hygiene care
Oral care for patients not on ventilators
Peri care for patients without a foley
Hairbrush if needed
DOCUMENTATION
Concise, factual language only in comments/notes
Timely MIDAS and wound consults placed Provider notifications - if it’s not charted, it didn’t happen
Champions Corner
SICU Champion Committees are working to improve workflow, policies and nursing practice in the unit Our Champion Committee include:
Blood Culture Champion
CHG Champion
Epic Champion
PAR champion
Pressure ulcer champions
Relevant updates from each champion team will be shared in each edition of the newsletter
Blood Culture Champions
No update
CHG Champions
This team has reviewed the UCMC policy on CHG bathing and reviews CLABSI occurrences for commonalities and prevention opportunities As part of the CLABSI prevention efforts, a new central line insertion checklist is being developed, designed to reduce CLABSI occurrence on insertion. In addition, this team is working to obtain physical data for CLABSI investigation
EPIC Champion
UCMC has rolled out the new EPIC brain the end of Apri Questions? Please reach out to EPIC Champion, Tia Nicely, for further information.
PAR Champion
Emma is working to locate the SICU PAR stocking info/map, eliminate duplicates, review how we stock and have high use items on the both the high & low side PARs equally In addition, she is creating a binder with the item numbers required to request items not regularly used
Pressure Ulcer Champions
This team reviews all HAPI occurrences to determine commonalities and prevention opportunities In addition, this team participates in the house-wide skin checks and advocates for nursing excellence in HAPI prevention in the unit through accurate application and maintenance of prevention and therapeutic intervention
Mass Transfusion Protocol
As trauma season approaches, we encourage everyone to be familiar with MTP protocol, procedure and policy for the hospital Mass transfusion protocol (MTP) delivers blood products rapidly to a patient at bedside, primarily initiated on patients actively hemorrhaging who meet one of the following criteria:
Acute administration of 4-5 RBCs in 1 hour
Administration of products equal to or exceeding 1 total blood volume in 24 hours Blood loss rate of 150 mL/min
While MTP is active, the Blood Bank will continuously prepare rounds of blood products 6 RBCs + 6 FFP per round per round Platelets or cryoprecipitate are available upon request
It is the responsibility of nurses in the SICU to familiar with the location of the Level 1, tubing, and how to set up and administer blood The unit education director is available to train anyone not familiar or comfortable with this equipment
DISCONTINUING MTP
When the patient’s physician deems continuous blood administration no longer necessary, immediately contact Blood Bank with their name and return any and all unused products
NOTE:
Uncrossmatched units have “pink tags”. This tag must be filled out, removed and returned to the Blood Bank - white copy remains in patient chart
Trauma Team Update
UC Health’s Trauma Survivors Network and Trauma Center is rolling out a new Peer Mentoring program for trauma patients through an appbased service called TANDEM STRIDE
Patients can download the FREE app and be matched with a trauma survivor who has been where they are and can help them to navigate their recovery and path forward
These mentors will be there to provide emotional support, guidance, a sense of community and so much more We understand that recovery is more than physical- it’s personal We would love for you to help us spread the word about this free opportunity to your patients and their families
TO INITIATE MTP
Call Blood Bank and provide
Patient MRN & Name Gender and Age
Your name and name of ordering physician Location
TO PICK UP COOLER
Provide Patient Name and MRN at the Blood Bank Window
UCMC BLOOD BANK
513-584-7888
Tube Station: 315
UCMC POLICY
UCMC-PCS-Massive Transfusion Protocol-157-10
Shared Governance
SICU Shared Governance continues to provide valuable opportunities for nurses to bring a unified voice to leadership, work to build camaraderie, strengthen our nursing practice and identify and address the needs of the unit
Recently, the Safety Committee presented a Deep Dive on the Host vs Graft patient, providing our team with an in-depth look at this case and valuable learning outcomes The Education Committee prepared the recent ABC’s of the A-F Bundle with an eye towards a house-wide rollout of this program in EPIC. In addition, this committee will launch the new CCRN review whiteboards and review course offerings The Job Enjoyment Committee continues to plan and execute social engagements aimed at improving unit culture, increase team bonding and more
Throughout UCMC, Shared Governance is the departmental foundation for bringing key issues in nursing “up” the ladder, ultimately working towards becoming a high reliability organization capable of earning Magnet status.
Minutes, documents, charters, etc for each USG committee are available on the UCMC SICU SharePoint site Please follow this site for easy and quick access to relevant information
If you are interested in becoming a member of Unit Shared Governance or have ideas to pass along, please reach out to Lori Gamble, Kaitlin Silver, or Amy Watkins.
Links & Things
CCRN Review! The Education Committee will be presenting two (2) CCRN Review courses, September 17 & October 15 These will provide SICU nurses with complimentary education in preparation for sitting for the CCRN exam More to come!
Consider furthering your development as a critical care nurse by joining the Greater Cincinnati chapter of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACNGCC) The AACN-GCC is one of over 240 chapters of the world's largest specialty www.aacngcc.nursingnetwork.com
New Staff Highlights
Please extend your welcome, your patience, and your knowledge to our newest SICU nurses as we work to build the strongest team at UCMC! The following RNs, PCAs and HUCs have completed orientation since the end of February.
Patrick Arit, RN
Adeline Bauer, RN
Anya Difalco, RN
Natalie Enzweiler, RN
Nicole Onuorah
Esther Quaye
Daishia Runyon, RN
Brittney Williams, RN
Podcast Pick
Tune in to Up My Nursing Game on Spotify (or other platforms) to listen to the episode on Physiology of Immobility
Have a good podcast you listen to to increase your ICU knowledge? We’d love to hear about it!
Email the Education Committee at SICU Education@uchealth.com@uchealt h.com so we can share it with everyone and feature relevant episodes in future newsletters
Tuition reimbursement for RN to BSN and BSN to MSN degrees is available for UCMC nurses employed at least 90 days, have no corrective action, work a minimum of 0 5 FTE and meet all UC College of Nursing Requirements
The BSN to MSN application deadline for Fall 2025 has closed Scan this QR code for the RN to BSN application
