My nursing setting is critical care and it therefore heavily relies on standard nursing terminologies considering the level of complexity associated with the equipment and processes conducted within critical care units at clinics. The standardized terminology within the critical care practice that would most likely be adopted is “Daily GPD’s”. Daily Pattern Duration is a way that nurses can periodically monitor the pattern of seizures that are being experienced by a patient for a 24 hour period (LaRoche, 2012). For example, in pre-existing clinical settings, nurses will refer to the pattern of seizures for a patient as their Daily Pattern Duration when specialists inquire about with regards to the health and state of a particular patient. However by implementing Daily GPD’s as a replacement terminology for Daily Pattern Duration and conglomerating it with the Daily Pattern Index terminology, nurses can more efficiently relay vital information to specialists particularly if the Daily GPD for a patient is high and the specialist requires this information in order to conduct further examinations on the patient. In addition, specialists and nurses would normally use the term “GPDs” to account for the pattern of seizures within an undefined period of time (LaRoche, 2012).
The “Daily GPD’s” terminology allows nurses and doctors to relay information about numerous patient data in relation to their daily occurrence of seizures. Originally, GPD’s would not provide any indication of a consistent or inconsistent pattern in the seizure rate of a patient and the timeframe would be unknown. Furthermore, the fact that Daly GPD’s includes the patient’s Daily Pattern Index provides specialists with more information in a shorter period of time in order to make a more extensive diagnosis of the particular patient (LaRoche, 2012).
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In determining the suitability of this new terminology, it would be considered that it halves the time that nurses would normally take to relay vital information back to doctors. The standard figure provided accounts for a number of different patient conditions and can be deemed highly effective for hastening the diagnosis process. For example, a lower Daily GPD would indicate to a doctor that the patient’s Daily Pattern Index must also be low meaning that other defects in relation to seizures are not present (LaRoche, 2012).
The standardized terminology, G or L for generalized or lateral rhythmic patterns and movement of the heart would positively impact my critical care clinic. There is currently significant confusion in relation to specialist’s assessment of heart rhythm in order to diagnose a patient with specific heart disorders such as heart arrhythmia. Often, nurses and specialists coin different phrases for normal or abnormal heart rhythm and there is no standardized terminology that all healthcare staff can use. When one doctor determines the heart rhythm of a patient to be G (for genera), another specialist may diagnose it as being normal whereas the nurse may refer to this normal activity as generalized activity of the heart (NANDA, 2014). It is essential that this standardized terminology be implemented in my critical care unit. It allows doctors and nurses to better communicate with each other and most significantly, understand the condition and status of a patient who is suffering from a heart disorder. The terminology is also very simple and easy to remember and understand. Nurses and doctors can assess a patient’s heart disorder based on single letters such as G or L rather than extended names that can cause significant confusion and lapses in communication (NANDA, 2014).
Therefore, as discussed, it is essential that clinics provide the necessary terminology that can hasten procedures and processes particular in a critical care unit such as my own. It assists in standardizing terms and maintaining consistent and efficient lines of communication between doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff in a high paced environment such as critical care.
- LaRoche, H et al. (2012). American Clinical Neurophysiology Society’s Standardized
Critical Care EEG Terminology: 2012 Version. ACN Retrieved from http://www.acns.org - NANDA. (2014). Nursing Diagnoses 2012-14: Definitions and Classifications. NANDA
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