HIV-AIDS Archives - Off the Charts

HIV Update, Nurses’ Insights on Medication Safety: Recommended Reading in AJN’s December Issue

The December issue of AJN is now live.

World AIDS Day is commemorated on December 1 (see On the Cover). In this issue, you’ll find several articles related to HIV/AIDS:

In his editorial, “Ending the HIV Epidemic,” editor-in-chief Carl A. Kirton discusses his work in HIV/AIDS nursing, beginning early in his career—and early in the pandemic—in New York City.
Similarly, in his Specialty Spotlight column, “HIV Nursing,” Jonah Pierce provides an overview of the specialty, including progress in the field and current challenges in HIV prevention.
Infectious disease NP Amit “Mickey” Dhir outlines the latest on HIV pre‑exposure prophylaxis in “Preexposure Prophylaxis for HIV Prevention in the United States: An Overview and Update.”

Despite more than two decades of efforts to reduce medication errors, such errors remain prevalent. This month’s Original Research article, “Exploring Medication Safety Practices from the Nurse’s Perspective,” explores direct care nurses’ experiences with and perspectives on medication safety practices and errors.

Our December CE article, “Suicide Prevention: Protecting the Future of Nurses,” examines the state of nurse suicide, the latest statistics on nurse suicide rates, contributing factors, and current suicide prevention programs.

What […]

Diane Szulecki, editor2023-11-27T10:36:41-05:00November 27th, 2023|Nursing|0 Comments

September Issue: HIV Update, RN-Performed Bone Marrow Procedures, Debriefing Methods, More

“One day—and I remember distinctly that all I was doing was setting up [my mother’s] pills and preparing a few bites of food that I hoped she’d eat—a clear small voice inside me said, ‘You could do this for other people.’”—Linda Beall, author of the September Reflections column, “A Clear Small Voice”

The September issue of AJN is now live. Here’s what’s new:

CE: HIV Update: An Epidemic Transformed

This article describes the current state of HIV treatment and prevention—including HIV risk reduction strategies such as PrEP and PEP—and highlights the common comorbidities often seen in older people living with HIV.

Cultivating Quality: Bone Marrow Aspiration and Biopsy Performed by RNs: A Review of Clinical Practice

The authors discuss the policies and practices of their program to train RNs to perform bone marrow procedures, its clinical and diagnostic outcomes, and the opportunity for nurses to work to their full scope of practice.

Teaching for Practice: Using Debriefing Methods in the Postclinical Conference

This article examines various debriefing methods and describes scenarios in which clinical instructors can use debriefing to turn daily events into teachable moments.

CE: Original Research: Are Milk and Molasses Enemas Safe for Hospitalized Adults? A Retrospective Electronic Health Record Review

The authors of this study evaluated the safety of milk and […]

Diane Szulecki, editor2019-08-26T10:09:33-04:00August 26th, 2019|Nursing|0 Comments

Fighting HIV–AIDS with Public Health Billboards: September ‘Art of Nursing’

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

On a recent trip to the capital of Guinea-Bissau, Dawn Starin noticed numerous public health billboards urging people to get tested for HIV or to practice safer sex by wearing condoms. One of the six poorest countries in the world, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook, Guinea-Bissau faces an ongoing epidemic of HIV and AIDS. Prevalence is especially high in urban areas and among pregnant women and sex workers. Starin, a writer and a research associate in the department of anthropology at University College London, UK, was struck by the bright colors and larger-than-life figures in the billboards, and photographed several, including the one featured in the September Art of Nursing.

Are the billboards effective? Starin writes, “Although the billboards are fabulous to look at, many health professionals I spoke with thought they exemplified time and money wasted, in part because of the high nationwide illiteracy rate.” One health worker emphasized the need for more culture-specific studies on sexual practices and tradition, so that appropriate education programs could be developed.

Starin has also photographed public art by Thongleum Damviengkum, a mixed-media artist whose work appeared in the April Art of Nursing. Damviengkum’s often witty pieces, intended to raise public awareness about HIV and AIDS and address the stigma associated with having the disease, are on display at a restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand. “Humor is important if you want people to listen,” […]

Guest Author2016-11-21T13:15:57-05:00August 30th, 2010|Nursing|5 Comments

On Difficult Truths, Anger, and Compassion: Recent Poems in ‘Art of Nursing’

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

“Why couldn’t you leave cleanly?” asks the narrator of Ann Sihler’s poem, “Leavings,” featured in the June Art of Nursing. The poem, written in response to a suicide, speaks to the emotions of those left behind. Its central image, a pair of “oxblood loafers lying there / for all to see,” is somehow both mundane and horrifying. It’s a stark poem, suffused with the narrator’s anger; yet its lack of pretension also affords us relief.

The married man with “schoolboy cheeks” in Nancey Kinlin’s poem, “Practicing at Post Office Square,” has just heard what no one wants to hear: “the result / is positive.” The poem, featured in July’s Art of Nursing, gives us the disclosure—from the nurse’s point of view. It’s a poem about mistakes and compassion, about what it feels like to be the one delivering bad news. Kinlin’s spare, clear writing doesn’t flinch from its difficult subject.

Both poems are free online (you’ll need to click through to the PDF files). We invite you to have a look, sit with them, and tell us what they evoke for you in the comments.