AJN’s August issue is now available on our Web site. Here’s a selection of what not to miss.
Toward a new model of nursing. Despite the focus on patient-centered care, medicine continues to rely on a model that emphasizes a patient’s deficits rather than strengths. “Strengths-Based Nursing” describes a holistic approach to care in which eight core nursing values guide action, promoting empowerment, self-efficacy, and hope. This CE feature offers 2.5 CE credits to those who take the test that follows the article.
Decreasing pressure ulcer incidence. Hospital-acquired pressure ulcers take a high toll on patients, clinicians, and health care facilities. “Sustaining Pressure Ulcer Best Practices in a High-Volume Cardiac Care Environment” describes how one of the world’s largest and busiest cardiac hospitals implemented several quality improvement strategies that eventually reduced the percentage of patients with pressure ulcers from 6% to zero. This CE feature offers 2.8 CE credits to those who take the test that follows the article. And don’t miss a podcast interview with the authors (this and other podcasts are accessible via the Behind the Article page on our Web site or, if you’re in our iPad app, by tapping the icon on the first page of the article).
Read our Cultivating Quality column this month for another article on using evidence-based nursing practice to reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers and promote wound healing.
Nurses’ cannabis dilemma. Medical marijuana is being used by many patients across the country, but at the federal level the drug remains a Schedule I controlled substance, putting nurses in a difficult position when it comes to treating patients who want to use the drug to treat certain conditions. For more on this issue, see this month’s AJN Reports, “Medical Marijuana: A Hazy State of Affairs.”
Final installment on systematic reviews. Last month, the article in our series from the Joanna Briggs Institute on writing a systematic review detailed the extraction and synthesis stages of conducting a systematic review, with a special focus on performing a meta-analysis of quantitative data. The final installment in the series, “Presenting and Interpreting Findings” (abstract only; log-in required), describes what should be included when presenting the findings of such a review.
New installment in clinical faculty series. Read the second article in Teaching for Practice, a new quarterly series on the roles of adjunct clinical faculty and preceptors. “Starting a Job as Adjunct Clinical Instructor” takes nurses through the first steps of preparing to be a successful adjunct clinical educator, from orientation to the first day on the job.
To see the full table of contents and what else AJN has to offer this month, visit our Web site.
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