Page 33 - University of Martland Nursing Forum - Winter 2017

Mueller (left) reviews an infection control Mueller reviews an infection control audit with nurse Tara Stockdale,
BSN, RN, in the UMMC MICU
RN, in the UMMC MICU.
audit with nurse Tara Stockdale, BSN ’14,
of challenges ... and we’re trying to make that experience the best we can. It is very difficult because you don’t know the family and how they’re going to react.”
Patients and families are often in crisis when they arrive in the MICU, according
to Mueller. Some families are quiet and withdrawn; others ask many questions; some may be hysterical. “We have to be prepared at all times for any situation,” she says.
Even with the challenges the MICU team must often address, Mueller says much has changed over the past two decades to make
working in the department much easier. She recalls how all information was on paper when she began her nursing career
in 1990. Now, the work is completely paperless and web-based. Keeping up with new technologies is just part of the job, from dealing with a simple tool like an
IV pump to a much more complex bedside dialysis machine.
Innovation extends to new approaches to patient care. “One example is the development of a protocol to prone position critically ill patients in a regular
hospital bed,” Mueller says. “This protocol was developed by two MICU nurses who reviewed the literature and collaborated with a multidisciplinary team to devise
a simple method for the Medical Center. While this does not use any fancy machines, it has provided a method to safely
provide care to patients with severe respiratory illnesses.”
As new protocols and technologies are developed, Mueller promises that her award-winning staff “will continue to innovate to improve patient care.”
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