Archive for the ‘Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief’ Category

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Critical Care 2012: An Educational Extravaganza

May 29, 2012

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

So, for the 12th or 13th time (I’ve lost count), I attended the National Teaching Institute of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (the “other” AACN organization, not to be confused with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing) in Orlando last week. And as usual it was impressive—approximately 6,000 attendees, and rows and rows of exhibitors. There were two helicopters, a bus, and an ambulance in the exhibit hall, as well as two-story booths and classrooms. While there were some recruiters looking for staff, they were overshadowed by monitoring companies, bed and equipment manufacturers, and pharmaceutical companies.

Some highlights:

Left to right: Outgoing AACN president Mary Stahl and incoming president for 2013, Kathryn Roberts.

Kudos to the AACN for its creativity in making general sessions lively and interesting. This year, the organization held open auditions for a member to assist as “MC” for the general sessions (or “super sessions”). It was a tie, and attendees were treated to two of their own in action, hamming it up and enjoying the spotlight.

The “TED-talk” presentation style used by both AACN president  Mary Stahl and president-elect Kathryn Roberts was refreshing—and unique for nursing meetings.

I interviewed both presidents—click the link to listen to the podcast (it may take a minute to load). The 2013 president, Kathryn Roberts, MSN, RN, CNS, CCRN, CCNS, is a clinical nurse specialist in the pediatric ICU at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; she chose “dare to” as her theme for the year.

My favorite session, hands down, was Elizabeth Bridges’ “Critical Care Studies You Should Know About,” in which she pulled apart recent research and evaluated it in the context of other studies. She is the only person I know who can have 500+ people laughing and learning statistical analysis. (After hearing her speak last year, I approached her to do a column for AJN. Her column, Critical Analysis: Critical Care, debuted earlier this year with “Central Venous Pressure Monitoring: What’s the Evidence?”—free until June 12. And she’s working on two more.)

The engaging super session featuring Robyn Benincasa—a firefighter, world class adventure racer (think Survivor and The Amazing Race combined), and motivational speaker—illustrated what one could achieve with team support, leadership, and perseverance. (Of course, being in superb shape for firefighting, endurance biking, and mountain climbing doesn’t hurt either.)

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Big Changes for New York Nurses

May 21, 2012

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

On Thursday, May 17, the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) held a special members-only meeting at New York City’s Jacob Javits Center to vote on bylaw changes that will drastically alter the future of the organization, morphing it from a professional association into a union. One of the key changes had to do with who could hold office in the organization: going forward, only bedside nurses, retirees, and “non-statutory” supervisors (i.e., those not able to hire or fire employees) would be eligible for office.

Other changes include eliminating the position of CEO and changing it to that of executive director, in order “to better reflect the union’s democratic roots and greater accountability to working nurses,” and a decision to push for nurse–patient staffing ratio legislation in the next session.

The NYSNA, which with 37,000 members, was founded in 1901 and is the oldest state nursing association in the country. Until January, when it was suspended for one year, it was the largest constituent member association of the ANA.

According to ANA documents, the NYSNA violated ANA bylaws by engaging in “dual unionism” when its newly elected board of directors replaced the CEO with Julie Pinkham, who is also the executive director of the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA). The MNA had disaffiliated from ANA in the past, along with the California Nurses Association, and were founding members of National Nurses United. The ANA maintains that this is a concerted effort to undermine NYSNA and, by affiliation, the ANA. The NYSNA appealed the decision, but the ANA reaffirmed the suspension in March. This also means that the member benefits of the 37,000 members are also suspended for the year.

I asked Bernie Mulligan, NYSNA’s communications director, about where he thought the organization’s relationship with ANA was heading. He said he felt it was premature to discuss the question of any future relationship and that the board would address that. The top priority for the organization now, he said, was getting nurse–patient ratio staffing legislation passed. “The members are clear, in that they overwhelmingly support this.”

Read more on this here.

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How Good Are Your CPR Skills? Research Shows Monthly Practice Is Crucial

May 11, 2012

A nurse practices CPR on a voice advisory manikin. Photo courtesy of Laerdal Medical.

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

Most of you are probably aware of the AHA’s revised CPR guidelines that were issued in 2010. They include a major change in the resuscitation sequence—which now begins with chest compressions rather than ventilation—and emphasize the importance of achieving adequate compression of the chest—“at least two inches (5 cm)”—to achieve adequate blood flow. (You can see a video by the AHA demonstrating the new guidelines here.)  This change is especially important in light of recent research on CPR skills.

In 2011, Marilyn H. Oermann and colleagues conducted research with nursing students to determine how often one needs to practice CPR skills to maintain competence. 

As she explains in an article in the May issue of AJN, students who practiced briefly each month not only maintained their skills, but improved them significantly by the end of 12 months.

In comparison, the skills of those who only  had an initial training session deteriorated after three months; by 12 months, few could perform CPR adequately, especially in terms of achieving adequate depth for chest compressions. And although these were students, Oermann describes studies showing similar results with paramedics, non-ICU nurses, and nurse anesthetists. 

Most hospitals and agencies only require an annual review or demonstration of skills to be recertified in CPR; few, I bet, measure the depth of compressions. Sounds like it’s time to revisit this practice.

You can hear Oermann discuss her article in a podcast with Jo Haag, director of global training, ECC Programs, AHA, and Vanderbilt nursing professor Mary Fran Hazinski, a clinical specialist in pediatric critical care at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and a senior science editor at the AHA.

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Posted in nurses, patient safety, practice tips, public health nursing, Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief, Uncategorized, videos | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

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‘How Can You Bear to Be a Nurse?’ – Nurses Week Begins

May 7, 2012

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

Photo from otisarchives4, via Flickr.

Many people, myself included, have mixed feelings about Nurses Week. But since many institutions have finally gotten the message that “I love nurses” shoelaces and bumper stickers are not appreciated, I’m fine with using the week to highlight nurses’ accomplishments or provide special educational programs—we should use all opportunities available to increase awareness of the value nurses bring to health care.

Former AJN editor Mary Mallison wrote an editorial for Nurses Week in 1987 that’s been deemed a classic. We’ve reprinted it in the journal, but it’s timeless in how it captures what nurses do, so here it is again (either click the above link to the article on our Web site, or just click the PDF below) for Nurses Week.

  PDF version: HowCanYouBearToBeANurse?

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Got Leftover Prescription Drugs? Here’s a Chance to Toss Them Safely This Weekend

April 27, 2012

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN editor-in-chief

Camp Pendleton, CA - Packing returned meds into boxes during DEA's 1st National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, 2010. Photo via Flickr Creative Commons/U.S. Pacific Fleet

Each year, vast quantities of unused medications are discarded in household garbage or flushed down toilets, and end up polluting our rivers and oceans. These products and byproducts have been found in water supplies and in fish and wildlife. 

AJN’s 2010 article “Leftover Drugs in the Water Supply: Don’t Flush Those Pills!” discusses the harmful effects of carelessly discarded medications and highlights state “take-back” programs in Delaware and Maine that were organized by nurses.

The federal government also has a “national take-back” initiative under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Agency Office of Diversion Control. This Saturday, April 28, between 10am and 2pm, the agency will hold its fourth National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, and will have collection sites around the country. (Click here to find local collection sites. Just enter your zip code.)

Last year, the program conducted collections at 5,327 sites in all 50 states and territories. In all, 188.5 tons of unwanted or expired medications were collected. 

So, talk it up with colleagues and patients and hospital employers—help protect our environment.

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Books or e-Books: How Do You Read?

April 24, 2012

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN editor-in-chief

AJN iPad app display

I just finished reading a report, released earlier this month from the Pew Research Center, on the rise of e-reading—whether on e-book readers like Kindles and Nooks; tablet devices like iPads; cell phones; or computers. The report details the results of surveys of nearly 3,000 adults ages 16 years and older conducted in December, 2011, and then again in February, 2012, about their reading habits.

Prior to the 2011 holiday season, approximately 17% of adults had read an e-book in the previous year, but in the post-holiday survey early the next year, following holiday gift giving, that number had jumped to 21%. While printed books still dominate (in December, 2011, 72% of Americans reported that they had read a printed book in the past 12 months), e-reading is growing more popular. And it seems that those who read e-books are spending more time reading “since the advent of e-content”: in particular, 41% of tablet owners and 35% of e-reading device owners say they are reading more now.

Format follows function. One question asked in the December 2011 survey was which format was better for a variety of reading situations. E-books scored slightly higher than print books for reading in bed (45% vs 43%), but considerably higher for reading while traveling or commuting (73% vs 19%), availability of broad selection of content (53% vs 35%), and “being able to get a book quickly” (83% vs 13%). I concur on all points. (Reading with a child and sharing books with others were notable exceptions, with traditional print books still highly favored for these activities.)

I wasn’t especially keen on getting an e-reading device, but my family gave me one as a gift. It proved itself when snowstorms left me stranded in Puerto Rico while I was on a winter vacation (see my blog post). The hotel’s paperback supply quickly became depleted. However, with my trusty Kindle, I just downloaded more reading material.

I love the portability of having scores of books at my disposal—and the option to get just about anything else I want, from newspapers to journals. Now, I take my iPad, which has a Kindle app that allows me to access books I downloaded on that device; it’s also backlit, which means I don’t have to keep a light on if I read in bed. I only take my Kindle if I plan to read on a beach, since it’s not backlit and doesn’t have any glare.

AJN now has an iPad app and many journals are developing them as well (we hope to eventually have applications to fit other e-reading devices too). I’m wondering—are many of you, our readers, reading e-books? Are you using the iPad, or do you prefer computers (used by a surprisingly high percentage of survey respondents), Kindles, Nooks, or other devices? We’d love to hear how you’re reading.

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Future Nurses Have Their Say

April 17, 2012

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

I spent part of last week in Pittsburgh, attending the National Student Nurses Association (NSNA) annual meeting. This one was special—the 60th anniversary of the organization.

NSNA Imprint Feb/Mar issue cover

Despite the celebratory air (not only because of the anniversary, but because the organization had exceeded its membership goal of 60,000 members), the 2,700 attendees seemed very serious about the work of the organization and about learning skills to help them in their careers—there were few slackers in this crowd.

The approximately 500 students who represented their states in the house of delegates dealt with some 40 resolutions, on such diverse topics as increasing awareness of the effects of third-hand smoke on children to supporting the “BSN-in-10” movement (a push for legislation requiring all new nurses to get bachelor’s degrees within 10 years).

For me, the best part is meeting future nurses and speaking with them about career plans. I met many students in the exhibit hall, where I was demonstrating AJN’s new iPad app. Unlike last year, when jobs seemed to be scarce, many of the seniors I spoke with this time around had already secured jobs—and those who hadn’t seemed confident they would.

Finish this sentence . . . I asked several of those about to start their nursing careers to finish the following sentence: “I’m excited about starting my nursing career because . . .” You can listen to their comments in this short podcast.

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Essential Nursing Resources: A Crucial Tool for Nurses Seeking Information on the Web

April 10, 2012

This nursing resource will help you find anything you need to know

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

Back in the dark ages, before the Web, when I was in school and researching a topic, I would go to the university library (in Manhattan, this meant a subway ride to the main campus), fill out a form, and hand it to the librarian. After a couple of hours, I’d check back and the librarian would have pulled up to eight “on-reserve” books (no more were allowed until these were returned) from the stacks and have them waiting for me. This cycle would repeat itself several times, and sometimes I’d have to wait for an “ILL”—an interlibrary loan. Of course, if I procrastinated, the material I wanted might already have been taken out by other students and I’d be out of luck, facing a deadline with no source material.

Of course, it’s all different now with the Web. This week, even the venerable Encyclopedia Britannica announced it is ceasing print production after almost 250 years and will only be available in digital format.

Now, researchers and students have virtually every article published available to them via the Internet. For nurses, there’s something called Essential Nursing Resources (pdf), an annotated listing of resources for nursing published by the Interagency Council on Information Resources in Nursing (ICIRN). 

Virginia Henderson

Founded in 1960 (here’s a brief history) by librarian and nursing organizations, including representatives from the Medical Library Association, the National Library of Medicine, the American Nurses Association, the National League for Nursing, and others (Virginia Henderson was one of the founders), it worked to organize and index the nursing literature.

The 26th edition of Essential Nursing Resources (updates happen biennially) is “a resource for locating nursing information and for collection development.” It lists ”print, electronic, and web sources to support nursing practice, education, administration, and research activities,” plus other information to guide the user when pursuing nursing topics on the Web, like articles on signing up for RSS feeds, a list of nursing blogs of note (this blog is included!), and more.

This isn’t just a resource—it’s a truly essential stop for finding nursing content and Web resources, a gift from some forward-looking people back in 1960.

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April Apps and Other Good Things

April 4, 2012

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN editor-in-chief

April is one of those months most people like, I think—the weather becomes consistently warmer and flowers appear. And this month, we at AJN are especially delighted because we launch our very own iPad app! As a temporary introductory offer, you can download the app for free (click here, or search under American Journal of Nursing in the iTunes app store) and get the full April issue. (Eventual pricing is still being determined.)

It’s another way AJN is providing you with accurate, evidence-based information in formats that allow you to access it when and where and how you want it. Don’t forget to subscribe to our always free audio podcasts, too—there are monthly highlights and interviews with authors.

And April is a stellar issue. This month we focus on examining how we treat people with disabilities. The cover, the editorial, and two features all deal with how we need to do better in this area. In the original research article, Suzanne Smeltzer and colleagues report on their survey of people with disabilities, querying them on interactions with nurses during hospitalizations. Their findings are sobering and should serve as a wake-up call when providing care to people with disabilities when they are hospitalized.

There’s also a poignant piece, “Hard Lessons from a Long Hospital Stay,” describing the experience of one of the authors of the research article, Michael Ogg, who despite being severely disabled from multiple sclerosis, lives independently. Yet during his four hospitalizations, he was mostly bedridden, unshaven, and often left unfed because the system is not geared towards people with disabilities nor are nurses familiar with providing care for them.

I hope these articles will increase awareness and spur some changes in how hospital-based nurses view and interact with people with disabilities (and also among faculty who are developing curricula). There’s also an interview with the authors of these pieces—just click on the podcast icon when reading the article on our Web page (or tap the icon when on the iPad).

‘Course, there’s also another CE article in the issue, articles dealing with latent tuberculosis in health care workers, managing cancer fatigue, a QI report on early post-op ambulation, news, Drug Watch, the Reflections essay, Art of Nursing, and more. You can go right to the issue on our Web site, or download the app and check it out on your iPad (the graphics are awesome!), or  of course read it in print—your choice on how you want to keep up to date.

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iPad Apps, the Future of Nursing, More: Notes from the Nurse Execs Meeting in Boston

March 26, 2012

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

AJN iPad app exhibit

Last week, the city of Boston hosted the annual meeting of the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE). For those unfamiliar with this group, it’s a subsidiary of the American Hospital Association and its mission is, according to the Web site, “to shape health care through innovative and expert nursing leadership.” It’s been a few years since I last attended this conference, and I was amazed at increase in both sophistication of exhibits and number and variety of sessions. There was even an iPad app for the meeting!

Best-selling authors abounded: Dan Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth of What Motivates Us, opened the conference and Thomas Goetz, executive editor of Wired magazine and author of The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine, closed the meeting. Dee Dee Myers, former press secretary to President Bill Clinton, also talked about her new book, Why Women Should Rule the World.

As at many meetings this past year, the Institute of Medicine’s Future of Nursing report figured prominently, with a track focused on interpretations and implementation of its recommendations.

I asked Linda Burnes Bolton, chief nurse officer of Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and co-chair of the report, if she thought nurses in hospitals felt left out of the report because of the emphasis on NPs and community health. She acknowledged that many did, saying that chief nurse executives need to do a better job in communicating recommendations to staff and in building the recommendations into strategic plans. “Every nurse in my facility received a copy of the report, and we look at our policies and practices against the report. It can help hospitals help RNs to practice better.” Read the rest of this entry ?

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