Clarifying the DNP Role, Assessing Discharge Readiness: Highlights in our February Issue

The February issue of AJN is now live. Here are some highlights.

In this issue, a review article (CE credit available), “Nurses in the Fight to End Food Insecurity: An Integrative Review,” synthesizes and analyzes findings of nurse-involved studies that address food insecurity, identifying key interventions and outcomes across diverse health care and community settings.

Notably, there are a number of open access articles in this issue:

“Assessing Discharge Readiness and Influencing Factors Among Patients with Aortic Dissection: A Cross-Sectional Study” is an original research (and open access) article. The authors note that this study “revealed that patients with aortic dissection generally had discharge readiness scores at the lower end of the moderate range, indicating the need for improvement. It’s imperative that health care providers emphasize patient education prior to discharge and develop and implement personalized discharge plans.”

The second open access original research article in our February issue is “An Examination of Factors Affecting Bowel Preparation for Colonoscopy: A Meta-Analysis.” According to the authors, “Health care providers, including nurses, should consider these determinants of bowel preparation effectiveness and implement appropriate interventions in a timely manner to enhance patient education and care.”

Our […]

2026-01-22T15:16:34-05:00January 22nd, 2026|Nursing, Nursing education, nursing research, Quality improvement|0 Comments
Read More

Reducing Assessment Frequency: And Other Recommended Reading from AJN’s August Issue

The August issue of AJN is now live.

Does decreasing comprehensive physical assessments from twice daily to once daily in the general care setting affect patient safety or care quality? The authors of “Optimizing Nurses’ Time: Reducing Assessment Frequency in General Care” discuss a quality improvement project that addressed this question.

This month’s CE article, “Auto-Brewery Syndrome: Diagnosis and Treatment of This Little-Known Condition,” outlines presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up and the nursing implications for the care of these vulnerable patients. (Open access)

In “Health Care Workers and Burnout: A Cross-Sectional Study,” Vidal and colleagues note that “the effects of trauma-informed care practices on health care worker burnout, in the context of stressors such as workplace violence, are not fully understood.” Their study explores associations between workers’ attitudes toward trauma-informed care, worries about workplace violence, and burnout through a survey administered as part of a public health initiative.

Our August AJN Reports, “Barriers to Full Practice,” examines the American Medical Association’s push against APRN independence.

The latest article in the Nursing Research, Step by Step series, “Reporting Guidelines: An Overview,” explains reporting guidelines relevant to nursing research, how they’re developed, and why they’re important; introduces the EQUATOR Network, […]

2025-07-24T14:40:03-04:00July 24th, 2025|Nursing|0 Comments
Read More

Navigating Shifts in Health Equity Research Funding Priorities: A Nursing PhD Candidate’s Perspective

“I don’t mention my background to suggest that I’m unique, but rather to show how my experiences reflect those of many patients who would benefit from research designed by people who understand their needs.”

AJN has recently discussed the impacts of research budget cuts in The Repercussions of Trump Administration Cuts to NIH and Research Funding and Maternal Health: Funding Cuts Amid an Ongoing Crisis. As a third year in Columbia University’s nursing PhD program, I have also been directly impacted from recent government funding changes.

An application withdrawn without review.

The F31 is a predoctoral fellowship through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that provides funding for dissertation research and training. I applied for the version designated for applicants from underrepresented backgrounds, following the application guidance at the time. But a few weeks ago, I was notified that my application had been retroactively withdrawn without review, as it no longer aligned with the current administration’s research priorities. My application was not transferred to the general F31 pool for funding consideration, which made the decision feel especially unfair.

I spent well over 100 hours on this F31 grant proposal. In collaboration with my research mentors, I focused on the following research question: How do nurses help patients manage their […]

2025-05-29T12:11:08-04:00May 29th, 2025|equity, Nursing, nursing research|0 Comments
Read More

Advancing the Primary Health Care Mandate for Nursing: Recommended Reading from AJN’s July Issue

The July issue of AJN is now live.

To what degree are nurses familiar with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and their relevance to nursing practice? Read this month’s Original Research article, “Nurses’ Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding the Sustainable Development Goals: A Global Study,” to find out. (A mural depicting Goal 6,  clean water and sanitation, is featured on the cover.)

In “Reducing Lung Injury from Blind Insertion of Small-Bore Feeding Tubes,” the authors describe a quality improvement project involving the implementation of capnography-guided small-bore feeding tube placement to reduce complications and the incidence of lung perforation in adult patients. (CE credit is available.)

The July issue also includes new installments in several series:

2024-06-24T15:33:53-04:00June 24th, 2024|Nursing|0 Comments
Read More

Leveraging AI and Technology for Comprehensive Research: Tips for Researchers and Students

The research-to-practice gap.

Today’s rapidly changing health care settings require medical and nursing professionals and students to remain up to date on trending research, topics, and evidence for guiding practice. While this may sound fundamental for nurses, multiple barriers make this incredibly challenging. Factors such as limited time, large volumes of new research to sift through, and experience with reading and analyzing research contribute to what is known as the research-to-practice gap. This blog post will explore how to harness AI and technology to gain a high-level and comprehensive overview of a research topic of interest.

Define the topic.

Before leveraging AI tools, it’s critical to develop the focus of the topic of interest. It is helpful to frame or organize your topic or area of interest to ensure the search is thorough. For example, you could use the PICO format (patient/population, intervention, comparison, and outcomes) to phrase your question or area of interest.

Let’s say you want to learn more about skin damage related to external urinary devices for adult females. A good PICO question might be: Among adult females in acute care settings, what type of skin damage occurs when using external urinary devices compared to those who do not use these devices?

Search the literature.

Searching academic databases can be daunting, […]

2024-02-02T09:40:10-05:00February 1st, 2024|artificial intelligence (AI), Nursing, nursing research, Technology|0 Comments
Read More

Comment ground rules

1. Please be respectful.
2. We moderate all comments.

Content disclaimer

Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Go to Top