About Betsy Todd, MPH, RN

Former clinical editor, American Journal of Nursing (AJN), and nurse epidemiologist

Taking Skin Tear Prevention and Management Seriously

In the Past, Approaches to Skin Tears Were Inadequate

Many years ago, when I worked in a skilled nursing facility, it seemed my patients were always experiencing skin tears. We didn’t have wound care specialists then. My approach to these injuries, which I didn’t see as serious, was to cleanse them with saline and awkwardly attempt to reposition the detached flap. In retrospect, the nursing care I provided didn’t amount to much more than “a lick and a promise.”

Greater Awareness of Risks, Dangers of Skin Tears

screen-shot-2016-11-14-at-6-09-55-pmToday, we know that skin tears can evolve into serious, complex wounds. Available data indicate that in long-term care settings, these injuries affect up to 22% of residents. Wound care specialists have developed a classification system for skin tears—as for pressure injuries, specific recommendations from wound care specialists guide our nursing care.

In this month’s AJN, author Sharon Baranoski and colleagues from the International Skin Tear Advisory Panel detail the assessment and management of skin tears in “Preventing, Assessing, and Managing Skin Tears: A Clinical Review.” While the authors emphasize the need to involve wound care nurses in the management of these injuries, many readers may find the product selection guide in this article to be especially […]

2016-11-21T13:00:49-05:00November 14th, 2016|Nursing|3 Comments

Viewpoint: Some Arguments for More Autopsies

Detail from Rembrandt's 'The Anatomy Lecture of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp' Detail from Rembrandt’s ‘The Anatomy Lecture of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’

When families ask whether they should get an autopsy, what will you tell them?

When I was a nursing student at the University of Michigan, we learned anatomy by working on human cadavers. The experience left me with a deep appreciation for the beauty of the human body (even when ravaged by disease) and fundamentally shaped my view of a nurse’s role in health and healing.

The Viewpoint essay in the August issue of AJN,When Families Ask About an Autopsy,” reemphasizes the role of the human body as a teaching tool. Author Billie Holladay Skelley points out that autopsies can also

  • provide definitive answers about the cause of death (offering reassurance to family members).
  • reveal undiagnosed genetic conditions.
  • improve our understanding of diseases and disease trends.
  • and foster advances in treatment.

Virtual or minimally invasive autopsies may be more acceptable to some families while still offering some of the benefits of a full autopsy. […]

2016-11-21T13:01:01-05:00August 19th, 2016|Nursing|0 Comments

Zika Transmission Update: New Findings Shed More Light

zika-400The unfolding Zika epidemic demonstrates how we learn about any “emerging infection.” Ongoing surveillance, close clinical observation, and follow-up of recovering individuals steadily refine our understanding of its epidemiology, the public health measures needed, and management of the disease and its sequelae.

Local transmission in the U.S.

The U.S. has seen more than 1800 travel-related cases of Zika infection. Regular travel between countries and the presence of genus Aedes mosquitoes in much of the U.S. made the establishment of local transmission here inevitable, especially in the warmest and most mosquito-abundant parts of the country. Since early July, the Florida Department of Health has identified 15 cases of local Zika transmission in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Testing of close contacts of cases as well as of asymptomatic people in the community continues in an effort to confirm the extent of the outbreak.

An epidemic of locally acquired cases in the U.S. remains unlikely; window and door screens and the widespread use of air conditioning decrease (though don’t eliminate) human exposure to mosquitoes.

But even with limited local spread, the possibility of microcephaly or other neurological injury in utero is serious, and the CDC has issued its first ever infectious disease–related travel advisory inside U.S. borders. Pregnant women are cautioned to avoid travel to parts of Florida where […]

2016-11-21T13:01:02-05:00August 5th, 2016|Nursing|0 Comments

A Strong Case for the Professional Introduction in Nursing

nametagDo you always introduce yourself by name to your patients? Or do you simply say, “Hi, I’ll be your nurse today?”

In their Viewpoint essay in the June issue of AJN, Raeann LeBlanc and two colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Nursing make a strong case for the professional introduction, in which “a nurse states her or his full name and role in the patient’s care.”

The authors argue that professional introductions are “a powerful way to make clear the centrality of the nurse’s role in the care of the patient.” When nurses use professional introductions, we make our knowledge and expertise more visible and help patients better understand just what it is that nurses do.

The authors also address potential safety concerns nurses may have about disclosing their full name to a patient, and they offer some reasons why the importance of professional introductions may not be taught in nursing school.

[…]

When Patients Ask About Palliative Chemotherapy

Photo © Associated Press. Photo © Associated Press.

Nurses repeatedly witness the suffering of people with advanced, metastasized cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy. These drugs often seem to diminish rather than enhance the quality of the remaining weeks of their lives.

In the first article in a new AJN series on palliative care, author Marianne Matzo points to research indicating that chemotherapy in end-stage cancer does more harm than good. So what should we do when patients ask (as in this article), “Is the chemotherapy going to help me? And if it’s not, why are they offering it?”  […]

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