“This will be nursing’s postpandemic challenge: to identify how, with all our competing organizations, unions, and special interest groups, we can come together in this pivotal moment to remodel our health system . . .”—editor-in-chief Shawn Kennedy in her editorial, “Where Do We Go from Here?”

The March issue of AJN is now live. Here’s what’s new. Some articles may be free only to subscribers.

A Nurse’s Guide to COVID-19

An evidence-based review of the care of hospitalized adults with this disease, including pharmacological management, critical illness management, oxygen therapy, prone positioning, and an overview of investigational agents.

Policy and Politics: A Call to the CMS: Mandate Adequate Professional Nurse Staffing in Nursing Homes

The authors address the association between low RN staffing levels and poor health outcomes in nursing homes and urge the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to enact reform.

Special Feature: QSEN in an Amazon World

Citing Amazon as a powerful social force, the authors examine its impact on both the health care industry and the six Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) competencies, and outline steps nurses can take to incorporate the QSEN competencies into practice.

Clinical Feature: Missing the Care in Health Care

How a chronically ill patient’s care was grossly mismanaged as a result of the policies and practices of a dysfunctional health system: a real case.

Perspectives on Palliative Nursing: Monitoring Equianalgesic Opioid Dosing

This article—one in a series on palliative care developed in collaboration with the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association—discusses the basic principles of opioid conversion and guides nurses through making equianalgesic dosing calculations.

There’s much more in our March issue, including:

  • A Viewpoint on addressing vaccine hesitancy in the Black community.
  • An AJN Reports on new guidelines for prescribing opioids to children and teens after surgery.
  • A Profile of congresswoman Cori Bush.

Click here to browse the table of contents and explore the issue on our website.

A note on the cover.

On this month’s cover, an American Red Cross nurse checks a child’s temperature as part of a COVID-19 screening protocol at a hotel in Livingston, Texas, following an April 2020 tornado that killed three people and destroyed 235 homes. Because of the pandemic, the Red Cross provided emergency shelter at the hotel instead of opening a traditional congregate shelter. Nurse volunteers have many roles within the Red Cross and are needed to support its humanitarian efforts. Interested nurses can find opportunities here.