AACN Protocols for Practice: Noninvasive Monitoring

This Protocol delineates the evidence for using devices for noninvasive patient monitoring of blood pressure, heart rhythms, pulse oximetry, end-tidal carbon dioxide, and respiratory waveforms. These protocols guide clinicians in the appropriate selection of patients for use of the device, application of the device, initial and ongoing monitoring, device removal, and selected aspects of quality control.

American Association of Critical-Care Nurses began developing research practice protocols in 1994 in response to a request from bedside clinicians and advance practice nurses to provide them then with an easily understood guide to use not only at the point of care, but also as a tool for advocating for necessary changes in practice based on the latest scientific evidence. Designed for use in a variety of acute and critical care setting—including intensive care, progressive care, and medical-surgical units—the protocols address non- invasive cardiac, respiratory waveform, end-tidal carbon dioxide, blood pressure, and pulse oximetry monitoring. No date is noted for the first edition. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Janice J Hoffman, RN, PhD(Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing)
Description:This is the second edition of a book of protocols for noninvasive monitoring. Five protocols are described: bedside cardiac, respiratory waveforms, end-tidal carbon dioxide, noninvasive blood pressure, and pulse oximetry monitoring. Particularly useful for bedside critical care nurses is the consistent format of each protocol, including case studies, descriptions, content related to precision and accuracy, competency, suggested readings clinical recommendations, annotated bibliographies, and areas for future research.
Purpose:The purpose is to provide bedside clinicians and advanced practice nurses with the most recent available research regarding noninvasive monitoring. In particular, these protocols present research findings in reader friendly formats for immediate analysis and application. Due to the dynamic changes in the care of the critically ill patient, this book is very beneficial for both new and experienced nurses; it also provides a benchmark against which units or facilities can compare their current clinical practice.
Audience:This book is useful for both novice and experienced nurses, bedside clinicians, and advanced practice nurses. The author's expertise and practice in critical care nursing make her ideally suited to oversee this project.
Features:Comprehensive protocols are provided for cardiac, respiratory, blood pressure, carbon dioxide and pulse oximetry monitoring. The protocol structure is one of the best features of this book. The contributors provide organized, logical and chronological content for each protocol. Additionally, each protocol provides information related to selection of patients, application of device and initial use, ongoing monitoring, prevention of complications, quality control, and recommendation ratings based upon the level of data available to support the content. Inclusion of case studies for each protocol is another benefit of this book as it provides the reader with a framework/context upon which to compare or apply the procedural content. Chapter 2 on respiratory waveforms monitoring is particularly well written as the case study, introducing the chapter, is followed throughout the remainder of the chapter. Finally, the annotated bibliographies in each chapter provide summaries of the research publications that were used for protocol development; this is a significant strength of the book.
Assessment:This protocol reference provides succinct, useful, and valid information related to noninvasive monitoring useful for bedside clinicians. The format is extremely easy to read and use, and the content has been updated based upon the most recent advances in these areas of clinical practice.