Fast Facts About Neurocritical Care: What Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants Need to Know

“This practical and common-sense approach is an excellent companion to the care you provide to your patient.” -- Grace H. Bryan

President, Association of Neurosurgical Physician Assistants

[From the Foreword]

This pocket-sized guide distills complicated neurological conditions to deliver the essentials of best care for the neurocritical patient. Often missing from acute care courses, neurocritical care is a growing field, with more patients than ever admitted to the ICU for neurocritical conditions. This specialty requires specificity and precision, but as this practical resource demonstrates, the intricacies of neurocritical care should not be an insurmountable obstacle for any APP.

Written in an easy-access style, Fast Facts About Neurocritical Care covers the defining characteristics, clinical presentation, diagnostics, treatment, and nursing considerations of common neurological disorders seen in acute care settings. Chapters review the assessment and diagnosis of common and not-so-common neurological conditions that can often be difficult to recognize and manage. With learning objectives, illustrations, and Fast Facts boxes highlighting critical content, this reference is an invaluable resource for orientation into this oftenchallenging specialty.

Key Features:

• Useful pocket resource for difficult-to-master neurological conditions presenting in ICU
• Addresses a growing area of healthcare—a rapidly expanding specialty requiring well-versed nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants
• Reviews the basic neurological exam, as well as exam of the comatose patient
• Explains pertinent diagnostics including CSF interpretation and different imaging modalities
• Discusses commonly used treatments and medications
• Presents an orientation resource to this challenging specialty

Diane McLaughlin DNP, AGACNP-BC, CCRN, FNCS, FCCM is an acute care nurse practitioner at Mayo Clinic Florida and Baptist Medical Center Lyerly Neurocritical Care. She specializes in the field of neurocritical care and is a world expert and international speaker on topics such as stroke, advanced practice provider (APP) training and point-of-care ultrasound. She is active in healthcare, particularly in her work with the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), serving on Strategic Planning, Congress Program Planning, ACCM Awards, and Social Media Committees. She is a member of the American College of Critical Care Medicine as a Fellow of Critical Care Medicine, which is a designation honoring practitioners who have made outstanding contributions in critical care. Dr. McLaughlin is a member of the Neurocritical Care Society Guidelines committee and former APP Leadership committee and serves as a Social Media Ambassador for the Neurocritical Care Journal. She was also inducted as a Fellow of Neurocritical Care in 2022. She is the only nurse practitioner currently holding both FCCM and FNCS accolades. She is passionate about APP training and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. She spends much of her free time helping to advance the role of the critical care advanced practice provider at the bedside. She is knowledgeable in research and academia, with many publications, presentations, book chapters and authored Fast Facts about Neurocritical Care for Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants, Fast Fact about Stroke for Advanced Nurses, and now Fast Facts about Cardiac Surgery Nursing. She was a 2024 honoree of the University of Florida as one of the 40 Gators Under 40.