ANA Releases Letter Urging Nurses to Get Vaccinated

 

As the influenza season begins, the American Nurses Association (ANA) calls on all registered nurses to get the seasonal influenza vaccine. After all, as nurses, we have an ethical obligation not only to protect ourselves, but also to protect our patients and our families from influenza illness. ANA has long emphasized to nurses that vaccination is one simple step that everyone should take. Simultaneously, during the 2009-2010 influenza season, this nation is also facing a major health threat caused by the H1N1 virus.

 

The above is an excerpt from a letter by President Rebecca Patton, MSN, RN, CNOR, of the American Nurses Association (ANA) urging nurses to get vaccinated for both the seasonal flu and the H1N1 virus (swine flu). To read the full letter, click here: ANA Letter to Nurses.

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2009-11-03T12:40:36-05:00November 3rd, 2009|nursing perspective|2 Comments
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Trauma in Pregnancy: An Expert’s Calm Look at What Nurses Need to Know

PregnantTrauma.

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

In this month’s CE feature on Trauma in Pregnancy, author Laura M. Criddle takes a calm look at a distressing subject. After outlining possible mechanisms of injury, Criddle reminds readers that “trauma care priorities don’t change when the patient is pregnant.” Initial interventions will still focus on the “ABCs”—airway, breathing, and circulation. She also points out that the fetus’s best chance for survival is “vigorous resuscitation of the mother,” since most fetuses will not survive maternal death.

However, the normal changes of pregnancy can affect both the nature of injury and the body’s responses; this has important implications for nursing care. Among Criddle’s key points:

  • Compression and displacement of various organs occur as pregnancy advances. This makes some injuries more likely, others harder to detect.
  • The normal changes of pregnancy can mask the signs of decompensation.
  • Pregnancy and its changes can also make complications after injury more likely.

Criddle provides several examples for each point. She also offers strategies for assessment and interventions for both mother and fetus.

Have you cared for pregnant trauma patients? What was the experience like? Please tell us in the comments.

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2016-11-21T13:21:20-05:00November 3rd, 2009|nursing perspective|2 Comments
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Nurses Write, Right?

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

WRITE

As nurses, we have great stories and insight. We see a side of life few other people see. We see people when they’re sick and tired and defeated by illness. We witness the intimacy of people when they’re most vulnerable, when all pretense has been stripped away. We also have a wealth of scientific knowledge about the effects of illness, how to prevent it and manage it, and what it takes to restore individuals to health or at least to the optimum health possible for them.

As an editor, I’m constantly seeking manuscripts. And I mean constantly—I sometimes feel like a beggar, asking people to “please write that as a case study,” or “please submit that (poignant, funny, revealing, uplifting) story,” or “consider doing an update on (name the problem) incorporating new evidence.” Maybe one out of four pieces materializes.

Nurses writing about nursing is vital to the profession. And it’s not just about writing about research. Research advances knowledge but we also need to know how practitioners are applying knowledge. We know “one size does not fit all”—how does practice need to change to meet the needs of diverse groups? What are the problems and issues aound practice? Is the nursing taught in the classroom connected to the nursing we actually do?

We need to document what we do, why we do it, and what are the outcomes. We need to do this not only to share information that can be helpful to colleagues, but also […]

2016-11-21T13:21:21-05:00November 2nd, 2009|nursing perspective, nursing research|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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