AJN’s Top 15 Most Viewed Articles in 2013

by rosmary/via Flickr by rosmary/via Flickr

We thought readers might be interested in seeing which articles and topics got the most page views in 2013. Many of these articles are open access, including a number of CE articles as well as the articles from our Evidence-Based Practice: Step by Step series. Some articles require an AJN subscription or individual article purchase. Several of the articles in this list were from recent years other than 2013; a couple were much older, but are evidently still relevant, since not every idea in nursing is ephemeral or subject to improvement by the next generation.—Jacob Molyneux, senior editor

1. “Asking the Clinical Question: A Key Step in Evidence-Based Practice” – (March, 2010) – part of AJN‘s EBP series

2. “Improving Communication Among Nurses, Patients, and Physicians” – (November, 2009)

3. “The Seven Steps of Evidence-Based Practice” – (January, 2010) – part of our EBP series

4. “Nurses and the Affordable Care Act” – (September, 2010)

5. “From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice” – (December, 1984; not HTML version; readers must click through to PDF version)

6. “COPD Exacerbations” – (CE article; February, 2013)

7. “Therapeutic Hypothermia After Cardiac Arrest” – (CE; July, 2012)

8. […]

2016-11-21T13:05:35-05:00January 24th, 2014|Nursing|0 Comments
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Why Don’t We Pay Attention to Oral Care in the ICU?

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN editor-in-chief

“Although meticulous oral care has been shown to reduce the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), oral care practices among critical care nurses remain inconsistent, with mouth care often perceived as a comfort measure rather than as a critical component of infection control.”

scanning electron micrograph of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria, one several types that can cause VAP/CDC Scanning electron micrograph of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one of several bacteria types that can cause VAP/ CDC image

So begins one of our CE feature articles in the current issue of AJN. In “Mouth Care to Reduce Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia” (which you can read for free), the authors discuss why mouth care is so important among the interventions to reduce VAP—and why it is often not given a high priority among patient care procedures.

I have to confess that in my clinical days, mouth care was done almost as an afterthought. In our critical care unit, we were always diligent in monitoring vitals signs and IV fluids, suctioning, turning and positioning the patient, but oral care usually was a perfunctory task, completed with a few quick swipes with lemon-glycerine swabs.

Booker and colleagues explain why oral care deserves the careful attention we give to other measures. They also review the research […]

2016-11-21T13:06:16-05:00October 16th, 2013|nursing perspective, nursing research|2 Comments
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AJN’s October Issue: Reducing VAP, Decreasing Patient Agitation, Bedbugs, Helping Transgender Kids, More

AJN1013.Cover.OnlineAJN‘s October issue is now available on our Web site. Here’s a selection of what not to miss.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is one of the most common hospital-acquired infections and a leading cause of death in ICUs. The authors of “Mouth Care to Reduce Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia” discuss the importance of oral care in infection control and offer an evidence-based, step-by-step guide to providing optimal mouth care for intubated patients. You can earn 2.3 CE credits with this article. If you’re reading AJN on your iPad, you can listen to a podcast interview with the author by clicking on the podcast icon on the first page of the article. The podcast is also available on our Web site.

The stress of hospitalization can lead to anxiety or agitation, especially in patients with psychiatric or cognitive disorders, putting them at increased risk for falls and self-harm. “Decreasing Patient Agitation Using Individualized Therapeutic Activities” describes a nurse-led quality improvement project that reduced agitation in patients suffering from cognitive impairment, delirium, and other behavior-altering conditions who were receiving continuous observation on a nonpsychiatric unit. Earn 2.4 CE credits by reading this article and taking the test that follows. Don’t miss the podcast interview with the author (click on the podcast icon on the first page of the article if you’re using your iPad, or visit our podcasts page).

Increasing […]

2016-11-21T13:06:27-05:00September 30th, 2013|Nursing|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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