RESOURCES

Lawrence Bistrong, MD, FCCP

July 3, 2024

The service Dayton ICU Consulting provided was exceptional and above expectations.

As an ICU medical director, I have had to unlearn what has been taught to us over the years and what we thought was right. When I started listening to Kali’s Walking Home From The ICU podcast, I felt profound sadness and guilt for what we have done to other human beings while thinking what we’re doing is right.

I have changed my practice and we had Dayton ICU Consulting at our hospital in each of our intensive care units for multiple sessions. It was eye-opening for the staff, especially the bedside RNs.

We have developed significant momentum, especially in our surgical and trauma ICUs where staff that were nonbelievers are now champions of this movement. We have even done videos of patients’ experiences and plan to use them as education for new hires.

I am very excited about where we have come from and expect great things, and I cannot thank Kali Dayton and our staff enough for helping us improve ICU care and experiences for our patients.

About the Author, Kali Dayton

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.

I am a nurse leader responsible for improving practices across the intensive care units of a large health system. As an experienced ICU nurse, I know the culture that most often exists in ICUs is one that promotes and accepts over-sedation that often causes unintended harm. While reviewing the literature to better align our liberation practices with the best evidence, one of our bedside nurses discovered Walking Home From The ICU. The combination of poignant stories from ICU survivors with the expertise of some of ICU Liberation’s leading experts became the impetus for a system-wide evidence-based practice improvement project aimed at changing analgesia and sedation management in our ICUs.

After initially being inspired by Kali’s podcast and the incredible stories it provides, we saw an opportunity for more. We brought Kali in to present a webinar to almost 100 of our critical care team members, including nurses, APPs, physicians, and respiratory therapists. Kali’s presentation struck a needed balance between evidence-based practice information and inspiring stories, highlighting real patients who benefited from a practice that is often very different from what occurs in most ICUs today. The webinar was very well-received by all who attended, and the lessons learned have continued to be referenced by our team members as we strive to create an Awake and Walking ICU culture.

Kali offers a refreshing perspective on critical care, and she supports it with a wealth of knowledge garnered from years as a bedside nurse and advanced practice provider. Kali knows how to speak to clinicians because she is one, and she’s still very connected to the daily lived experiences of those on the frontline of critical care. I believe anyone working in critical care will find inspiration in Walking Home From The ICU to change the harmful culture of sedation in their practice. I would even go so far as to recommend the podcast as required listening for all ICU team members, whether experienced clinicians or new residents and nurses. When additional support is needed, I encourage clinical leaders to utilize Kali’s expertise and experiences to further inspire and motivate their teams. Time spent working with Kali is an investment that will pay dividends in the positive impact it has on the lives of the patients we serve.

Patrick Bradley, MSN, RN, CCRN
Virginia, USA

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