AJN Facebook Readers on Influences, Public Attitudes to Nursing, Practices of Yesterday

We loved readers’ contributions to AJN’s celebration of Nurses Week.  For those who missed our Nurses Week Questions of the Day on Facebook, here are some highlighted responses to some of the questions:

What nurse has most influenced your nursing career?

There were many shout-outs to mentors by name, lauded for their grace, commitment, integrity, vast knowledge, and patience, or described as nurses who “role-modeled intelligence, compassion, and professionalism.”

Moms, grandmothers, and wives were often mentioned, as were instructors in both RN and LPN schools, and charge nurses. One nurse described being mentored by a paramedic, who “showed me how to remain caring in a system that so many times does not have time for the small things.” Another cited “every nurse I’ve ever worked beside” as a mentor, because other nurses model both the best and worst of nursing practice.

What do you think the general public doesn’t understand about nurses and nursing?

The number one frustration expressed in these answers was that we are often thought of as caring but not intelligent—that “we don’t know what to do until a doctor tells us.” But as one nurse succinctly put it, “We know what’s going on with you before you or the […]

2017-05-31T15:49:58-04:00May 31st, 2017|Nursing, nursing perspective|2 Comments
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Killing Traditional Nursing Duties #3 – NPO after Midnight

fasting Buddha/ via Wikipedia Commons

By Shawn Kennedy, editor-in-chief

In early August, on our Facebook page, we asked if there were “old nursing habits” that should be killed off. We received a lot of feedback, which we described in a blog post called “Killing Traditional Nursing Duties #1.” We did another post on the answers to our second question, “When you give IM injections, what site do you most often use—dorsogluteal (upper outer quadrant of buttocks), ventrogluteal (lateral hip), or deltoid (upper arm)?” This also got many comments in response.

Our last question was this: “Does your institution routinely follow ‘NPO after midnight’ for preoperative patients?” Here’s some of the comments we received on the blog:

My institution does follow the NPO after midnight for preop patients. I sometimes disagree d/t the time patients may be going to surgery. If a patient is not scheduled for the OR until the following day at 5 pm, why should they have to be NPO after midnight the night before?

…most of the younger anesthesiologists/CRNA’s allowed BLACK COFFEE to be drunk right up until time  of surgery. No dairy or sugar in it, obviously.

The facility that I work for does routinely follow ‘nothing by mouth’ after midnight guidelines. If the patient  is scheduled for a late surgery I may call the doctor and request that the orders be altered and in most cases the doctor’s are agreeable and will change the orders, […]

2016-11-21T13:11:47-05:00October 11th, 2011|nursing perspective, nursing research|0 Comments
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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.
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