AJN in December: Vascular Access Certification, Pressure Injuries from Medical Devices, More

The December issue of AJN is now live. Here are some articles we’d like to bring to your attention.

CE: Original Research: Does Certification in Vascular Access Matter? An Analysis of the PICC1 Survey

Although certification by an accredited agency is often a practice prerequisite in health care, it is not required of vascular access specialists who insert peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs). The authors of this study explored whether and how certified and noncertified PICC inserters differ regarding their practices and views about PICC use.

CE: Pressure Injuries Caused by Medical Devices and Other Objects: A Clinical Update

A review of the etiology, identification, and prevention of pressure injuries caused by medical and other devices, plus highlights from the current National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel clinical guidelines.

Supporting Family Caregivers: No Longer Home Alone: Teaching Family Caregivers to Assist Safely with Mobility

Information nurses can use to educate family caregivers on mobility issues, including a tear sheet of key points and links to instructional videos. This is the first article in a new series published in collaboration with the AARP Public Policy Institute. […]

2017-11-27T09:12:37-05:00November 27th, 2017|Nursing|0 Comments
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Drilling into Bone: A Nurse’s Guide to Intraosseous Vascular Access

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

An example of a pediatric manual intraosseous needle insertion. Used by permission. An example of a manual pediatric intraosseous needle insertion. Reprinted with permission from King C, et al. Textbook of Pediatric Emergency Procedures. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2007.

In this month’s CE Emergency feature, “Intraosseous Vascular Access for Alert Patients,” authors Stacy Hunsaker and Darren Hillis  describe this scenario: a three-year-old girl arrives in the ED after three days of fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. She needs fluids urgently, but efforts to establish IV access have been unsuccessful. Now she’s on the verge of decompensated shock. The team is about to try an alternative route—intraosseous (IO) vascular access—but there are concerns: “Could such access be attempted on a patient who wasn’t unconscious? Would the parents understand why a hole was going to be drilled into the bone of their child’s leg?” The team must decide whether and how to proceed.

If this child were your patient, would you know what to do? If you aren’t sure, you are not alone. In this article, Hunsaker and Hillis provide some answers. Here’s a short summary. […]

2017-07-27T14:49:36-04:00October 31st, 2013|Nursing|4 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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