On this month’s cover, nurse Sarah Carruth comforts a young patient at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. This photo is the second-place winner of AJN’s 2015 Faces of Caring: Nurses at Work photo contest, in which readers worldwide submitted candid photos of nurses on the job.
When the child’s parents had to leave the room and he became unsettled, Carruth held him and comforted him with a stuffed toy. She says the photo captures the important type of quiet moment that often gets lost in the bustle: “It can be so busy that you forget about the times when you get to show that you care.”
Having worked as a pediatric nurse for 15 years, Carruth knows that meeting the emotional needs of children is a crucial aspect of caring for them. “It’s not just about giving medicine and assessing vital signs,” she says. “They need the time to be loved.”
Some articles of note in the February issue:
Original Research: “Latino Nurses in the United States: An Overview of Three Decades (1980–2010).” Latinos are underrepresented in the nursing workforce. The authors of this article find that while the overall number of Latinos has grown dramatically in the U.S. over the 30-year study period, the number of Latino nurses has not. As the Latino population in the U.S. continues to increase, nursing education programs and institutions will need to do more to ensure that Latinos are adequately represented in the nursing workforce. To help achieve this, the authors make recommendations for increasing access to and improving nursing education for Latinos.
CE Feature: “Hypoglycemia: A Serious Complication for the Older Adult with Diabetes.” Hypoglycemic events occur at an increased rate among older adults with diabetes. While hypoglycemia can often be easily treated, the physiologic, sensory, and cognitive changes of aging can inhibit the body’s warning symptoms of low blood glucose and impair the ability to recognize such symptoms when they occur. This article examines the risk factors, symptoms, and treatment of hypoglycemia in older adults with diabetes, and emphasizes the role of nurses in educating older patients in preventing hypoglycemic events and recognizing their warning signs.
CE Feature: “Using Essential Oils to Enhance Nursing Practice and for Self-Care.” With the growing popularity of integrative medicine, essential oils have found their way back into health care. Essential oils provide a simple way to alleviate certain physical symptoms, promote emotional well-being, and provide comfort. This article, the last in a five-part series on holistic nursing, discusses the administration and common uses of essential oils; their benefits, risks, and contraindications; and the current state of associated research. The authors focus specifically on the inhalation and topical application of essential oils, providing guidance that will enable readers to incorporate this modality into nursing practice.
Special Feature: “A Task Force to Address Bullying.” Bullying in the workplace can create a dysfunctional environment that is associated with serious physical and psychological harm to the person being bullied. Nurses’ experience with bullying has gained considerable attention in recent years, and warrants further discussion. This article reviews workplace bullying as experienced by nurses, and describes how nurses at one academic medical center developed and implemented a nurse-led initiative to address the problem.
There’s much more in our February issue, including a Legal Clinic article about discrimination against nurses and a Profile highlighting one nurse’s work with her local police department to help officers be prepared for field encounters with people with mentally illness. Click here to browse the table of contents and explore the issue on our Web site.
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