July 2011 - Page 2 of 2 - Off the Charts

Drunk on Water, Drug Shortages, Understanding Health Care News, Plus Nursing Blog Posts of Note

The water myth: A physician, writing in the British Medical Journal (abstract only), has looked at the evidence for drinking eight glasses of water a day and says the oft-recommended practice is “debunked nonsense,” a myth the bottled water companies have been only too happy to exploit and that many respected health care organizations and experts continue to support. Maybe common sense reasoning is also partly to blame—after all, the idea seems to make sense. And all that water certainly conjures images of purification, which is inevitably appealing in a world of pervasive toxins, chemicals, food additives, and the like, and in a time when fewer people in any given Western country practice the same or similar religious sacraments or rituals, practices that may—among other functions—have once served a similar “purifying” psychologic purpose.

Drug shortages: The Wall Street Journal Health Blog has reported on two surveys that suggest that “unprecedented” drug shortages are being experienced by most hospitals. The reasons are multiple: shortage rumors that prompt hoarding, FDA actions that halt production, lack of a crucial ingredient, poor inventory management, and others:

All treatment categories were affected, hospitals said, with 80% or more respondents experiencing shortages of surgery/anesthesia, emergency care, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal/nutrition, pain or infectious disease drugs. And 66% of hospitals reported shortages of cancer drugs. Some 47% […]

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Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:12:26-05:00July 15th, 2011|healthcare social media, Nursing|5 Comments

Patient and Family Cell Phone Use Can Seem Intrusive, Until It’s Not

Oh no, here comes another Dad with a Bluetooth.

My colleague and I roll our eyes at each other in frustration. Another self-important junior executive who must be in touch with everyone in the world while his wife labors unsupported, I mutter with dismay as I rise from my chair to greet our newest birthing couple.

I have to coach myself: Change your attitude. Change your attitude, as I weigh the mom and escort the couple to the birthing room. Dad-to-Be proceeds to spread out his equipment on the dresser in front of the window while Mom-to-Be, in obvious distress, changes into a gown in the bathroom.

That’s the engaging beginning of “Before the Signal Fades,” this month’s Reflections essay in AJN. The essay traces an unexpected path from complaint to something much deeper. Click the link to read the entire essay (and click through to the PDF version for a nicer reading experience). What’s your take on patient use of cell phones, cameras, smartphones, and the like?—JM, senior editor

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Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2011-07-15T16:19:24-04:00July 13th, 2011|nursing perspective|3 Comments

New Medical Residents and Patient Mortality – Does the ‘Nurse Effect’ Lessen the ‘July Effect’?

Last week, a post on the New York Times Well blog discussed whether mortality rates in hospitals are worse during July when new interns and residents begin their clinical training. It described findings from three studies, with the final conclusion, “Though the debate continues, most studies have not found a spike in hospital mortality rates in July.”

It was common thinking in hospitals when I worked clinically—“Never be sick enough to have to go to a hospital the first two weeks of July, and NEVER, EVER need surgery during that time”—and I’d venture that many people still believe it, despite what studies may report. (And, as I write, I see that ABC News is reporting on a new review of 39 studies, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, that does support the existence of the July Effect. Click the image below for the ABC article and videos.)

I remember working in the ED when the new residents on call would come to see patients, their “whites” impeccably spotless and starched, with new blank index cards in their pockets, looking eager and anxious to finally be getting to the real work of their profession. By mid-August, they all seemed a bit haggard, the whites rumpled and the pockets torn a bit, bulging […]

Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, FAAN, editor-in-chief (emerita)2018-04-26T10:16:40-04:00July 12th, 2011|nursing perspective|2 Comments

Giving Noise a Red Light

By Marcy Phipps, RN, whose essay, “The Soul on the Head of a Pin,” was published in the May 2010 issue of AJN. She’s a frequent writer for this blog.

This stoplight noise meter showed up at the nurse’s station last week.

I have to admit—we didn’t take it too seriously, at first.

It looks like something you could buy in a novelty shop, shelved next to lava lamps and strobe lights. And it’s modifiable; buttons and dials on the back of the gadget allow not only for sensitivity adjustments, but also give the option of changing the type of alarm that sounds when a noise infraction is detected. The default alarm warning is a soft-spoken, female “quiet, please!” that can be translated into Spanish, French, or German—but there’s also an option for a shrill siren, which seems ridiculous, considering that much of the cacophony of critical care is owed to noisy alarms and ringing phones.

We even discovered how to record our own admonishments (which opened the door to countless mischievous possibilities . . . not that we’d indulge in that sort of thing, of course).

In seriousness, noise reduction is vital to promoting a healing environment. In a recent article in Critical Care Nurse, the links between sleep deprivation and altered physiologic processes specific to the critical care population are reviewed. Noise reduction guidelines and recommendations from both […]

Marcy Phipps, BSN, RN, CCRN, CFRN2016-11-21T13:12:28-05:00July 8th, 2011|Nursing, nursing perspective, patient experience|2 Comments

Feel the Power (What Nursing Can Learn from the Dancing Man)

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief—Writing in a recent blog post on NursingTimes.net (a UK-based site), Mark Radcliffe poses this question:

“Do you, as a nurse, feel you have any collective power to influence policy? Are we as well versed as other professional groups in articulating loudly and clearly why nursing needs to be the foundation stone of any health service?”

I thought it was a good question for us here in the United States. Most U.S. nursing associations, nurse executives, and deans are invested in politics. The recent Institute of Medicine Report on the Future of Nursing is the most recent example of how nursing is collectively trying to influence health policy.

But I still wonder how many nurses involved in direct care feel that the politics of health is something they need to pay attention to. It seems that it’s only when it becomes part of the job, directly affects one’s ability to perform a job, or has an impact on one’s financial well-being that many people get involved.

When I was a young nurse, I and many in my cohort didn’t pay attention to things like politics or getting involved in associations. We were new and intent on acquiring skills and becoming competent in our jobs, and politics seemed esoteric and something we needn’t be concerned about.

But within two years, I found myself in court on a workmen’s compensation claim for an illness I’d contracted from a patient. I was going to be out of work for four to six […]

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:12:29-05:00July 5th, 2011|career, nursing perspective|1 Comment