The April issue of AJN is now live.

Here are some highlights. Some articles are open access or temporarily free; others will require log-in for access.

A SPECIAL ISSUE DEVOTED TO FORENSIC NURSING

In this month’s guest editorial, “The Sherlock Holmes of Nursing,” Angela Frederick Amar, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean at the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, gives a compelling overview of the career of forensic nursing pioneer Ann Burgess. She begins this way:

Ann Wolbert Burgess is often described as the “Sherlock Holmes of Nursing,” but that title only captures half of her legacy. While Holmes deduced what had already happened, Burgess’s greatest gift has been her uncanny ability to “see around the corner”—to identify societal crises and clinical needs years, sometimes decades, before the rest of the health care and legal systems recognized them. Throughout her storied career, Burgess has operated at the vanguard of forensic nursing, victimology, and behavioral profiling. Her foresight is characterized by three distinct “turns” around the corner, where she anticipated the future of nursing and justice.

The rest of the editorial is free to read, and is both inspiring (in the best sense) and informative.

The April issue of AJN is a special issue with a focus on Ann Burgess and forensic nursing, a field that has evolved and continues to evolve in exciting ways. In keeping with the theme, the Specialty Spotlight is about sexual assault nurse examiners and the Viewpoint is called “Forensic Nursing: Incredible Legacy, Unknown Future” (both require log-in or subscription).

Most notably, the CE article in this issue (CEs are always free) is an unusual and fascinating one. A narrative review by Ann Burgess and colleagues called “The Menendez Brothers and Shifting Attitudes Over 35 Years,” this article reflects the always evolving curiosity and compassion that have driven Burgess to challenge received wisdom throughout her career, and we strongly recommend you read it whether you need CE credit or not.

Of more than historical interest, we are republishing a seminal article from the October 1973 issue of AJN, ‘The Rape Victim in the Emergency Ward.” This article, reads the editor’s note,

“…details Ann Burgess and Lynda Lytle Holmstrom’s research interviewing rape victims and establishing one of the first crisis counseling programs in the country. Groundbreaking at the time, it drew the attention of the FBI. As Burgess recently told AJN (see Conversations), Roy Hazelwood from the Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, was tasked with developing a curriculum for teaching rape investigation. At the end of one lecture, he asked if anyone knew anything about rape. A detective, who was also a nurse, told him she had recently read an article about rape in AJN. It was this article, and what followed, that led to Burgess teaching FBI investigators how to interview rape victims and eventually providing the methodology that served as the basis for profiling serial offenders.”

This issue also features a very readable and thought-provoking conversation with the present-day Burgess: “A Conversation with Ann Wolbert Burgess.”

And lastly, in our Reflections column, “I Almost Didn’t Write This Reflection (and That Is Why I Did),” a nurse reflects on her own sexual assault by an acquaintance; her experience of being at first disbelieved by people around her; and why only now, years later, she feels able to write about it.

Much else to explore.

In this issue as well, an in-depth AJN Reports looks at where we are with the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in nursing and health care: “AI and Nursing: Complicating the Narrative of Inevitability.”

The original research articles in this issue are “Nurses’ Actions to Advance the Sustainable Development Goals: A Global Study” and “Falls in Acute Care Patients—Exploring the Predictive Value of the Morse Fall Scale: A Retrospective Analysis.”

Finally, don’t miss the extensive health care news section, Drug Watch, and Journal Watch departments.

Browse and subscribe.

You can subscribe to AJN, America’s oldest (125 years and counting) general interest nursing journal, for just $52.00 for a year (12 issues), whether for yourself or as a gift. AJN stands out from other nursing journals for the variety and timeliness of its content, the rigor of its review and editing, and the continuing attention to appearance, including covers that often feature original and vivid artwork and illustrations. Visit us online at https://ajnonline.com.