Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:55:47+01:002 February, 2019|
The demand for severity, urgency, risk of death or its imminence, puts on the limit the capacity of emotional equilibrium in the human being. For the patient, ICU admission is a cut in the "existential continuity." Nowadays, there is ample knowledge regarding the emotional problems linked to the critical illness, the treatments required, the associated experiences and the post-ICU difficulties [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:55:47+01:0031 January, 2019|
I have read with special attention and interest the editorial Humanizing the intensive care unit recently published in Critical Care by Wilson et at. First of all, I would like to congratulate the authors for inviting us to reflect on a topic that I consider as a priority for the development of an excellent management in intensive care units. If [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:55:48+01:0023 January, 2019|
We usually start some of our trainings in #humantools remembering those moments (remote for some) in which we make the decision to dedicate our professional future to health care. We took a decision, ruling out others, probably moved by what, a priori, we consider as characteristics of our professions: principle of service, respect for dignity and compassion among others. Wrapped [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-01-16T13:17:07+01:0016 January, 2019|
Recently has been published Intensive Care Medicine as Open Access the original Development of an ICU discharge instrument predicting psychological morbidity: a multinational study. As you know, one of three ICU survivors has the psychological PICS components depression, post-traumatic stress (PTS) and anxiety. The aim of this study was to develop a screening instrument for use at ICU discharge, in [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:55:51+01:0015 January, 2019|
Last December, Journal of Critical Care published the article Patient and family engagement in the ICU: report from the task force of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine, thanks to the leadership of Ruth Kleinpell. Patient and family engagement in the ICU has demosntrated in a recent systematic review and meta-analisys an impact on ICU length of stay [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:55:56+01:0022 November, 2018|
Death is an inevitable fact, even if we try to delay it by all means. This process, being protagonists or companions, brings suffering. A group of people from different fields, health professionals and others with experience in the accompaniment of dying, want to accompany people at this stage of their lives. The Metta Hospice Foundation has just been born, a [...]
Gabriel Heras2018-09-05T06:59:03+01:005 September, 2018|
Dear colleague, The World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine (WFSICCM), an international organization of over 85 societies in over 75 countries of the world, conducted a survey earlier this year to collect information on patient and family centered care practices being implemented in ICUs. A total of 345 responses were received from 40 countries. The results of the study identified varying [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:56:08+01:0019 June, 2018|
A few years ago, we started going for a walk with ICU patients outside the unit, with the certainty that getting them out of those four walls was something positive. It is obvious that people are everyday in contact with the natural environment (sky, sun, pure air, nature) and the ICU admittance is unnatural because deprives us of the fundamental [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:56:09+01:008 June, 2018|
On March, social networks were filled with photos of unpaired socks to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day and as enunciated the slogan that accompanied the campaign: "Raise awareness of the difference and bet on inclusion." A few days ago, the colored socks again flooded our screens, this time with the hashtag #CrazySocks4Docs, aiming to draw attention to the problem of [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:56:10+01:003 June, 2018|
We could enjoy yesterday the article Supporting families improves communication and reduces ICU stay after an excelent research in NEJM, showing a family-support intervention leaded by nurses. So, the show must go on! Daniela Lamas has publicated the editorial Nurse-Led Communication in the Intensive Care Unit. Every day and from beside, nurses embrace and accompany millions of people around the world. [...]
