AJN’s September Issue: Anaphylaxis at School, Central Line Care, EBP, More

SeptemberAJN’s September issue is now available on our Web site. Here’s a selection of what not to miss.

It’s back-to-school time, and on our cover this month is a photo of Head Start nursing supervisor Travia Williams weighing a student in the program’s classroom at Cocoa High School in Brevard County, Florida. The program provides enrolled children with screening, physicals, and other health care services.

According to the National Association of School Nurses, a third of all school districts in the United States have reduced nursing staff and a quarter don’t have any nurses at all. Yet there is the potential for more emergencies in school now than ever, with school nurses treating increasingly complex medical conditions and chronic illnesses. For more on the important role school nurses play in handling these health emergencies, see the In Our Community article, “Emergency Anaphylaxis at School.” And don’t miss a podcast interview with the author (this and other podcasts are accessible via the Behind the Article page on our Web site or, if you’re in our iPad app, by tapping the icon on the first page of the article).

Applying EBP to Practice. Despite the recognized importance of evidence-based practice (EBP), there continues to be a gap between the emergence of research findings and their application to practice. In this month’s original research article, “Staff Nurses’ […]

The Checklist – Taking Finger-Pointing Out of the Equation

By Peggy McDaniel, BSN, RN

Ok, I will admit right off that I am a huge fan of Atul Gawande’s writing. I have read his books Better and Complications, and I think much of his work should be required reading for all health care students. I haven’t read his newest book, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. I plan to soon, but it’s the 3rd book down in the pile on my bedside stand.

That confession aside, there has been some recent news around the use of checklists that bears some attention. Dr. Gawande helped develop a two-minute checklist that is to be done prior to surgery. 

Dr. Peter Pronovost was involved in the development of a similar checklist related to the insertion of central lines. 

Airlines and airplane manufacturers, such as Boeing, use checklists constantly to ensure consistent, high quality outcomes. 

I did a quick Google search for “checklists and nursing” and found various references to skills and competency checklists. As a nurse, my skills have been observed and validated with checklists over the years. I have also been party to filling out checklists on myself and my peers. Come to think of it, much of our charting has been done by filling out checklists. 

I guess I am a bit surprised that the use of checklists to validate competencies and keep […]

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