Want to improve ICU patient care, but don’t know where to start?

You’re dedicated to the survival of your patients and the safety of your staff, but trying to change deep-rooted mentalities and methods can be daunting.

Our team will work with you to transform your ICU into an Awake and Walking ICU by helping you master the cost-effective, evidence-based protocols found in the ABCDEF Bundle.

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Patient awake and walking in the ICU

When patients are so ill that they require a ventilator in the ICU, the antiquated approach of heavy sedation and immobilization should be avoided in order to help prevent the immense burden of physical and cognitive disabilities suffered during survival.

Kali is leading ICU teams to become Awake and Walking ICUs through true mastery of the ABCDEF Bundle. I endorse her mission and look forward to the standardization of this evidence-based approach in ICUs all over the world.

– Dr. Wes Ely, author of Every Deep Drawn Breath, leading founder of the ABCDEF Bundle and ICU CAM delirium screening tool, and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Creating Awake and Walking ICUs: Master the ABCDEF Bundle

Hospitals that invest in training and resources to master the ABCDEF Bundle can achieve millions in annual savings while improving conditions for clinicians and outcomes for patients.

What’s more, the Awake and Walking ICU approach can help you decrease:

  • 7-day mortality by 68%
  • ICU readmission by 46%
  • Health care costs by 30%
  • Comas and delirium by 50%
  • Physical restraint use by 60%
  • Discharges to anywhere but home by 36%

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Consulting Services

Medical Professionals in the ICU

Modernizing ICU patient care methods will ensure a better work environment for my team, and improved outcomes for my patients, but I’m already overwhelmed. I need someone who’s an expert in this field.

I am a clinician.

Working with our team of experts will take some of the weight off your shoulders, and help you to:

  • Ensure patients have a greater chance of survival
  • Reduce burnout by improving the working conditions and morale of your staff
  • Align your ICU with current research and benefit your bottom line by implementing the most up-to-date, cost-effective practices
  • Formulate evidence-based sedation and mobility protocols, which will vastly improve patient outcomes

SEE HOW

Family member in the ICU

My loved one is in the ICU, and I want to understand what’s going on and ensure we’re doing everything possible to give them the best chance, but I’m not a doctor. I need support, and I need someone I can trust.

I am a family member.

Our consultants will give you the guidance you need to put your mind at ease, and ensure you can:

  • Be more involved in your family member’s care
  • Decrease your loved one’s chances of dying or experiencing other complications
  • Make sure your family member has a better quality of life once they leave the hospital
  • Have the knowledge to understand how you can help improve your loved one’s care and outcomes

SEE HOW

Speaking

Presentation Topics

  • How an Awake and Walking ICU Saves Lives
  • Optimizing the ABCDEF Bundle for each ICU Specialty
  • Financial Benefits of an Awake and Walking ICU
  • Delirium Management in an Awake and Walking ICU
  • Redefining Early Mobility in an Awake and Walking ICU

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Presentation Settings

Kali is available to present at a variety of settings, including:

  • Grand Rounds
  • Medical Conferences
  • ICU Team Meetings
  • Hospital Administrative Meetings

Upcoming Appearances

CHEST 2024 Conference: Roundtable discussion with Dr. Wes Ely, Dr. Dale Needham, Heidi Engel, DPT, and Kali Dayton, DNP, AGACNP.

October 6th-9th, 2024

HLTH 2024 Conference

October 20th-23rd, 2024

NICHE + Nebraska Methodist Hospital Regional Geriatric Nursing Conference 2024

November 7th-8th, 2024

2025 ASPHP National SPHM Conference

March 12th-13th, 2025

About Kali

Kali Dayton, DNP, AGACNP, is a critical care nurse practitioner, host of the Walking Home From The ICU and Walking You Through The ICU podcasts, and critical care outcomes consultant. She is dedicated to creating Awake and Walking ICUs by ensuring ICU sedation and mobility practices are aligned with current research. She works with ICU teams internationally to transform patient outcomes through early mobility and management of delirium in the ICU.

Kali Dayton, DNP, AGACNP

Resources

Diane’s Story- An Unfortunate Example of the Risks of Immobility and Sedation

Diane’s Story: An Unfortunate Example of the Risks of Immobility and Sedation

Despite their widespread use in the ICU, decades of research have proven the risks of immobility and sedation. And [...]

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Episode 173: ICU Outcomes by Dose of Mobility

Walking Home From The ICU Episode 173: ICU Outcomes by Dose of Mobility

We know that for each additional 10 minutes of early mobility in the ICU, hospital length of stay decreases [...]

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Prehab vs. Rehab- Which Approach Should be Prioritized in the ICU?

Prehab vs. Rehab: Which Approach Should be Prioritized in the ICU?

For the past five years, I have been engrossed in exploring the history and current culture of the ICU, [...]

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Over the last few years I have become aware of the PICS (post-intensive care syndrome) condition and the very serious negative impact that it has on our ICU survivors. I have become much more aware of the potential negative impact of anxiety, depression, PTSD and cognitive dysfunction. Many patients whom we consider saves in the sense they leave the ICU alive have many issues that most people would consider far from a successful experience. Their lives are often dramatically changed in a very negative fashion.

I am a professor of medicine and have been an ICU director for over forty years. What I find very disturbing in my own experience and that of many other intensivists is that this outcome is generally considered acceptable; the patient survived and will get better with time. We have little access to these patients and almost zero information about their condition unless they are unfortunate enough to return to our ICUs. Very few of us have a PICS clinic where we would have a chance to better understand the challenges that some of our patients encounter, and there are very few systems in place to provide feedback to us as ICU clinicians. Therefore, we are blissfully ignorant of the many challenges that a substantial number of our survivors encounter. This is a major problem. The vast majority of ICU survivors and their families will experience cognitive, emotional and physical symptoms which often have devastating impacts on their lives. At this time, with PICS clinics being a rarity, there is no reasonable mechanism for intensivists to have a solid perspective on the frequency and severity of this condition.

How patients and their families are treated in the ICU often has a major impact on how the patient and families survive post discharge. It is generally agreed that most sedation infusions, particularly benzodiazepines, frequently have higher incidences of delirium and post-discharge dysfunction. There are a few hospitals in this country where sedative infusions are rarely used and the incidence of the complications described above are dramatically decreased. I have visited one of these hospitals and was amazed to see how effectively patients on maximum ventilator support can be managed, even walking without sedative infusions. In an effort to explore this treatment option in greater detail I have identified Kali Dayton. She is a nurse practitioner who has practiced in this Awake and Walking ICU for many years and is an amazing source of information on this topic. After extensive discussion with many colleagues, administration and many others, and reviewing the major potential benefits of the program for our patients, we have decided to introduce this program into our hospital.

Peter J. Murphy, MD, FCCP, MRCPI, BSc

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