[Practical nursing guide in the critical patient]

Nursing staff that have recently arrived to the ICU, nurses and students, may feel anxiety and fear due to lack of skill and/or knowledge of the techniques, the service's organization and the diseases treated.

1. To know the intensive care aspects that pose greater difficulties to the professionals newly incorporated into the ICU of the Hospital General Universitario of Alicante 2. To provide these professionals with a written guide that responds to the needs and situations that they face day to day. 3. Inform the nursing students, prior to the onset of their practice activities in the ICU, on a combination of basic procedures that make it possible to take better advantage of them. 4. Communicate and facilitate access to the information contained in the guide to the maximum.

The professional workers who had recently received their degress and who worked in the ICU during the summery were surveyed to determine the techniques or procedures that posed the greatest difficulties. A <> was designed in paper and electronic form.

The respiratory, Swan-Ganz catheter, defibrillation, cardiac arrhythmias and insertion of temporal pacemakers were the subjects posing the greatest difficulty. A total of 92% of the colleagues would re-chose their practices in the ICU; 33% liked working as a team most.

1. The technology used in the ICU poses problems for the recently arrived colleagues. 2. The guide may be used by the new professionals and students as work tool and contribute to communication between the university and the hospital. 3. The use of Internet to communicate the work done by the Nursing professionals offers great advantages and should be used as one more tool.