About Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor

Senior editor, American Journal of Nursing; editor of AJN Off the Charts.

Top 10 New AJN Posts of 2012

British Nurse and Baby, via Flickr/jdlasica British Nurse and Baby, via Flickr/jdlasica

By Jacob Molyneux, AJN senior editor/blog editor

Maybe, who knows, some social media content isn’t really quite as ephemeral as we usually believe. Some of our posts seem to keep finding readers, like 2009’s “New Nurses Face Reality Shock in Hospitals–So What Else Is New?” They’re still relevant and timely, addressing as they do some of the more perennial topics in nursing.

Our 20 most-read posts for the year include several others that aren’t “new” this year: “Parting Thoughts: 10 Lessons Learned from Florence Nightingale’s Life”; “Confused About the Charge Nurse Role? You’re Not Alone”; “‘Go Home, Stay, Good Nurse’: Hospital Staffing Practices Suck the Life Out of Nurses”; “Is the Florence Nightingale Pledge in Need of a Makeover?”; “Do Male Nurses Face Reverse Sexism?”; “Fecal Impaction and Dementia: Knowing What to Look for Could Save Lives”; “Are Nursing Strikes Ethical? New Research Raises the Stakes”; and “One Take on the Top 10 Issues Facing Nursing.”

The upstarts. Putting aside posts that have shown a certain longevity, here are the top 10 new posts of 2012, according to our readers, in case you missed them along the way. Are they our best posts of 2012? We will leave that to you. Thanks to everyone who wrote, read, and commented on this blog over the past year.

1.

2016-11-21T13:08:45-05:00December 12th, 2012|healthcare social media|0 Comments
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Kasandra Perkins, Domestic Violence, and the Senseless Search for a Reasonable Explanation

photo via Facebook photo via Facebook

By Karen Roush, MS, RN, FNP-C, AJN clinical managing editor

Let’s call it what it was. Kasandra Perkins was murdered in a domestic violence attack. This was not about a football player who took one too many hits to the head. This was not about a good, loving family man who was driven to take this terrible action. This was not about someone who snapped from stress (would he get enough playing time? would he make enough money to pay for his expensive new car?).

This was about what domestic violence is always about: control, rage, and power. There is no mystery here—we don’t need to search for reasons why a good, loving family man would shoot someone he loved. Because they don’t. Violent men commit acts of violence.

This searching for a reasonable explanation distracts us from the truth. It bolsters myths and misconceptions. It creates the illusion that each domestic violence attack is a special case, not part of the fabric of our society. One in four women experience domestic violence. Over a thousand die every year. Do the math—Kasandra was one of at least three women we could expect to have been murdered in a domestic violence attack on Saturday. We didn’t read about the other two. We wouldn’t have read about Kasandra either if her murder weren’t at the hands of a professional football player.

Not that the […]

2016-11-21T13:08:47-05:00December 6th, 2012|Nursing|6 Comments
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A Crucial Distinction: Missing Incidents vs. Wandering in People With Dementia

At every stage of dementia, people with the condition are at risk for both missing incidents, in which they are unattended and unable to navigate a safe return to their caregiver, and “wandering,” a term often used to describe repetitive locomotion with patterns such as lapping or pacing. By understanding the differences between these two phenomena, nurses can teach caregivers how to anticipate and prevent missing incidents, which are not necessarily related to wandering. The authors differentiate missing incidents from wandering, describe personal characteristics that may influence the outcomes in missing incidents, and suggest strategies for preventing and responding to missing incidents.

When someone’s behavior is consistently outside the norm, our tendency is to stop paying close attention to observable differences in that behavior. This may be particularly true when we are responsible for the care and safety of a person with dementia. As described by the overview above, one of the CE articles in the December issue of AJN, “Missing Incidents in Community-Dwelling People with Dementia,” focuses on a crucial distinction between two types of behavior in people with dementia, one that is expected and manageable and even at time beneficial (for exercise, self-calming, etc.), and one that can be far more dangerous. Here’s a useful table that spells out some of the key differences to keep in mind between missing incidents and wandering. But for a more detailed look at the topic, please click the link above and read the entire article.—Jacob Molyneux, senior editor

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2016-11-21T13:08:49-05:00December 3rd, 2012|nursing perspective|0 Comments
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More Evidence: Should We Get Rid of 12-Hour Nursing Shifts, Despite Their Popularity?

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

A new study in Health Affairs provides yet more support that reliance on 12-hour nursing shifts (or longer—we all know that shifts often extend a bit longer than scheduled) should be reconsidered. The study supports previous findings of increased burnout among nurses who work shifts longer than eight hours, but finds as well that longer shifts (13 hours or more) are associated with increased levels of patient dissatisfaction.

Despite these negatives for both nurses and patients, 80% of nurses surveyed across four states said they were happy with their hospitals’ scheduling practices.

I imagine that, with all the recent emphasis on patient satisfaction scores, this study will make nurse executives and hospital administrators take notice—especially as consumers become more aware of the research through coverage like this story at the U.S News & World Report site.

We’ve had evidence for a while that the 12-hour shift is not a best practice. For example, in 2004, Anne Rogers and colleagues also published research in Health Affairs. In their national survey of over 1,000 nurses, they found that most nurses generally worked longer than their actual shifts; nearly 40% of shifts were longer than 12 hours, and 14% of respondents had worked “16 or more consecutive hours at least once during the four-week period.” More importantly, they found that “the likelihood of making an error increased with longer work hours and was three times higher when nurses worked […]

2016-11-21T13:08:51-05:00November 27th, 2012|nursing perspective|19 Comments
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Post-Sandy Emotional Self-Care for Nurses and Others

Hurricane Sandy, from International Space Station at 16:55:32 GMT on Oct. 29, 2012 / NASA

By Donna Sabella, MEd, MSN, PhD, RN, mental health nurse, AJN contributing editor, and coordinator of the monthly Mental Health Matters column

With the recent devastation caused by Sandy in the mid-Atlantic and New England areas we need to be mindful that the harm done in such events goes beyond property and the physical domains. Many exposed to Sandy’s wrath may be suffering from varying degrees of stress and psychological trauma. It is important to remember that, along with taking care of our physical needs, in the process of getting back to normal we also need to be mindful of our emotional needs and reach out for help as necessary.

As health care providers we nurses pride ourselves on being able to handle anything that comes our way as we strive to give patients the best care possible, but it is important for us to be aware of our own emotional needs during times of crisis and disaster. Sandy is considered a disaster—for those affected by the storm, either directly or indirectly, the experience can lead to thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are outside our usual range, and which may indicate it’s time to seek help. Below, I offer some information that provides tips on how to take psychological care of ourselves after Sandy :

2016-11-21T13:08:52-05:00November 19th, 2012|nursing perspective|0 Comments
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