About Diane Szulecki, editor

Editor, American Journal of Nursing

How Nurses Use Humor at Work: And Other Recommended Reading from AJN’s September Issue

On this month’s cover is ephemeral snow, a painting by Pennsylvania medical–surgical nurse Ren Hernandez. See our “On the Cover” column to learn more about his work.

The September issue of AJN is now live.

“Through both happy and tragic moments, humor can change one’s perceptions of a situation, making it easier to face workplace challenges and demands,” write Edessa Cadiz and colleagues in this month’s Original Research article, “Exploring Nurses’ Use of Humor in the Workplace: A Thematic Analysis.” Their study findings clarify how humor serves as a coping strategy.

The September CE article, “Strengthening Nurses’
Influence in Health Policy,” introduces the Patton Zalon Ludwick Policy Assessment Framework that nurses across settings and roles can use to examine their knowledge and actions for expanding policy activities.

What does it mean to take an intersectionality-informed stance in nursing practice? Read editor-in-chief Carl A. Kirton’s Focus on DEI column to find out.

In “Professional Licensure: Protecting Your Nursing Livelihood, Part 1,” nurse and attorney Edie A. Brous explains why nurses […]

2024-08-26T12:27:51-04:00August 26th, 2024|Nursing|0 Comments
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Nurses’ Experiences as Patients: Recommended Reading from AJN’s August Issue

This painting by emergency physician Lindsey Ball is one of 40 in a series in which Ball painted on deidentified photocopies of electrocardiograms (ECGs). See our “On the Cover” column to learn more.

The August issue of AJN is now live.

“An ED visit and ensuing hospitalization are frightening experiences for anyone, and potentially more so for nurses, who have a deeper understanding of what is happening to them than a lay person might, and thus perhaps a greater level of fear about the consequences,” write Judith Kimchi-Woods and colleagues in this month’s Original Research article, “The Lived Experiences of Nurses as Patients: A Qualitative Study.” Based on their study findings, they offer recommendations for meeting the needs of hospitalized nurses.

To address premedication overuse in blood transfusions at their institution, the authors of “Decreasing Premedication for Blood Transfusions: A Quality Improvement Project” developed and implemented an evidence-based algorithm to guide clinicians in when to administer premedication and an electronic order to be integrated with a premedication plan for each patient on an adult hematology–oncology unit. Learn more—and earn CE credit—here.

Also in this issue, you’ll find the latest installment of AJN‘s Strip Savvy column, “A Case of Symptomatic Bradycardia After […]

2024-07-25T11:15:47-04:00July 25th, 2024|Nursing|0 Comments
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Advancing the Primary Health Care Mandate for Nursing: Recommended Reading from AJN’s July Issue

The July issue of AJN is now live.

To what degree are nurses familiar with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and their relevance to nursing practice? Read this month’s Original Research article, “Nurses’ Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding the Sustainable Development Goals: A Global Study,” to find out. (A mural depicting Goal 6,  clean water and sanitation, is featured on the cover.)

In “Reducing Lung Injury from Blind Insertion of Small-Bore Feeding Tubes,” the authors describe a quality improvement project involving the implementation of capnography-guided small-bore feeding tube placement to reduce complications and the incidence of lung perforation in adult patients. (CE credit is available.)

The July issue also includes new installments in several series:

2024-06-24T15:33:53-04:00June 24th, 2024|Nursing|0 Comments
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A Paradigm Shift in Obesity Care: Recommended Reading in AJN’s June Issue

The June issue of AJN is now live.

Obesity, which is depicted on the June cover, has steadily increased in prevalence in the United States over the past three decades. This month’s AJN Reports, “Weight Loss Medications: Stigma and Shortages,” takes a close look at the multifaceted implications of new medications to treat obesity. (Also see editor-in-chief Carl Kirton’s editorial, “A Paradigm Shift in Obesity Care.”)

“Nursing Care for Patients After Urostomy Surgery” details pre- and postoperative interventions for nurses who encounter patients undergoing urostomy surgery. It also includes a tear sheet that nurses can use to provide patients with the basic information and skills they need for effective self-care. (CE credit available)

Can physical activity help alleviate nurse burnout? This month’s Original Research article, “Addressing Nurse Burnout: The Relationship Between Burnout and Physical Activity” describes a cross-sectional study that sought to determine whether a correlation exists between self-reported physical activity levels and nurses’ perception of burnout in a sample of hospital RNs.

In “Improving Compliance with  a Nurse-Driven Protocol for Unfractionated Heparin Infusions in Patients with Venous Thromboembolism,” the authors discuss a QI initiative to reduce patient safety events related to […]

2024-05-28T15:00:03-04:00May 28th, 2024|Nursing|0 Comments
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Nurses’ Duty to Care: Recommended Reading in AJN’s May Issue

The May issue of AJN is now live.

“If nurses are expected to have a strong sense of duty to care and to report to work even in disaster situations, then it’s essential to understand what factors influence that sense, in order to foster and sustain a workforce ready to do so,” write the authors of this month’s Original Research article, “Exploring U.S. Nurses’ Perceived Duty to Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Read the study here.

“The Mountain Model for Evidence-Based Practice Quality Improvement Initiatives” introduces a conceptual model that merges evidence-based practice and quality improvement principles into a unified framework with the goal of disseminating and sustaining EBPQI projects across health care. (CE credit available)

“Clinical Inquiry and Problem Identification,” the second article in our new Evidence-Based Decision-Making series, discusses optimizing clinical inquiry, using data to describe a clinical problem, and strategically developing a focused clinical question. A commentary on navigating clinical questions accompanies the article.

“Improving Medication Management for Inpatients with a Secondary Diagnosis of Parkinson Disease” describes how a nurse-led multidisciplinary team implemented a quality improvement project to identify patients with Parkinson disease and customize medication management in […]

2024-04-29T10:19:38-04:00April 29th, 2024|Nursing|0 Comments
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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