AJN in August: Oral Histories of African Nurses, Opioid Abuse, Misplaced Enteral Tubes, More

AJN0815.Cover.OnlineOn this month’s cover, a community nurse practices health education with residents of a small fishing village in rural Uganda. Former AJN clinical managing editor Karen Roush took the photo in a small community center made of dried mud bricks, wood, and straw.

According to Roush, nurses wrote the lessons out on poster-sized sheets of white paper and tacked them to the mud wall as they addressed topics like personal hygiene, sanitation, food safety, communication, and prevention of infectious diseases. The reality of nursing in Africa is explored this month in “‘I Am a Nurse’: Oral Histories of African Nurses,” original research that shares African nurse leaders’ stories so we may better understand nursing from their perspective.

Some other articles of note in the August issue:

CE feature: A major source of diverted opioid prescription medications is from friends and family members with legitimate prescriptions.  “Nurses’ Role in Preventing Prescription Opioid Diversion” describes three potential interventions in which nurses play a critical role to help prevent opioid diversion.

From our Safety Monitor column: More than 1.2 million enteral feeding tubes are placed annually in the United States. While the practice is usually safe, serious complications can occur. “Misplacements of Enteral Feeding Tubes Increase After Hospitals Switch Brands,” a report from the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, reviews cases of misplaced tubes and offers guidance for how […]

Health Technology Hazards: Top 10 for 2012

Advances in health technology can save patients’ lives, but can also cause harm, as the recent Ecri Institute report, Top 10 Technology Hazards for 2012, reminds us. Here’s a snapshot of the hazards nurses should be focusing on, and some suggestions they give on how to prevent them.

1. Alarm hazards
The risk: With nurses being constantly bombarded by bells, it’s easy to see how alarm fatigue can set in, leading to desensitization, nurses being unable to distinguish the urgency level of alarms, and improper alarm adjusting.

Some suggestions: According to the report, a facility should look at the big picture, examining the entire alarm environment when setting up an alarm-management system. Alarm notification and response protocols should be developed to ensure that each alarm will be recognized, that the appropriate caregiver will be notified, and that the alarm will be promptly addressed. Policies should also be established to control alarm silencing, modification, and disabling.

2. Radiation exposure
The risk: High levels of radiation used during radiation therapy can cause serious harm if errors occur, including damage to normal tissue and organs. And despite radiation levels being lower in diagnostic settings, the increasing number of patients undergoing diagnostic radiography may reveal more risks in the future.

Some suggestions
: The report suggests that […]

2016-11-21T13:11:03-05:00January 5th, 2012|Nursing|0 Comments
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