Fast Facts for Adult Critical Care

Fast Facts for Adult Critical Care is a reference guide for caregivers who care for the critically ill. Having a fast facts book available on an adult critical care ward is extremely important. The fast facts book is designed to provide essential information quickly during an emergency situation. All critical care units must have a fast facts book with easy-to-follow guidelines.

Considerations

• A critical care nurse must be ready for any situation that arises. Despite advances medical training, it is impossible for any person to have the immense knowledge necessary for that level of readiness. The fast facts book should contain a complete list of care that a nurse may need to provide in an emergency.

Functions

• A critical care nurse will need information fast in an emergency situation, especially if the emergency involves something that she has not experienced before. The fast fact book is designed for this purpose. It will provide easy to access information that can save a patient's life.

Features

• A fast facts book must be extremely simple and easy to use. Typically, they have color-coded tabs with a heading and related fast facts listed alphabetically, so the nurse can go right to the information needed. The same information is available in electronic format and is continuously updated. The electronic version can be downloaded to a PDA or a PC.

Identification

• When deciding on a fast facts book for a critical care unit, the decision-makers should find a fast facts book that is widely used, that satisfies applicable standards, that the nurses find useful, that is comprehensive, and that is easy to use. The book should be thoroughly reviewed by administration and staff and input should be obtained from other critical care units using that book at other institutions.

Warning

• The fast facts book must be continually updated so the subscription must include updates. A nurse should be assigned the task of ensuring that the updates are properly added to the book as soon as they are received. The nurse may use clerical support for this task, but must review the updated book to make sure the updates were added properly.

  Nurses on the critical care unit must be trained on how to properly use the book. They need to be familiar with how it is organized and how to find information quickly. The fast facts book is for use during life-and-death emergency situations, when every second counts.