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The Critical Role of Nurses in Intravenous Fluid Conservation

Image credit: AHVAP.org (Association of Healthcare Value Analysis Professionals)

Baxter International’s North Cove Facility in North Carolina was severely damaged by Hurricane Helene on September 26, 2024. The temporary closure of that facility and production interruption has resulted in significant shortages in intravenous, dialysis, and irrigation fluids and supply disruption impacting health care facilities across the United States. The responsibility to effectively and responsibly manage these critical resources has fallen heavily on the shoulders of nursing teams and health care supply chain professionals.

The crucial role of nurses during shortages.

Nurses are responsible not only for administering IV fluids but also for monitoring fluid needs, assessing patient status, and adjusting plans of care accordingly. When these lifesaving fluids become scarce, nurses must ensure that every intravenous fluid or irrigation product is used wisely, balancing patient safety with resource availability.

Why conservation is essential.

The consequences of IV fluid shortages extend beyond inconvenience. Fluids such as 0.9% normal saline and Lactated Ringer’s are vital in stabilizing patients, hydrating those who cannot take fluids orally and serving as carriers for essential medications. Shortages can lead to critical delays in patient care, increased length of stay, and negative outcomes for […]

2024-11-18T13:53:43-05:00November 18th, 2024|climate change, disaster preparedness, environmental health, Nursing, Public health|0 Comments
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Pertussis Rates Have Been Rising: What Nurses Need to Know

Pertussis, or whooping cough, remains one of the leading causes of vaccine-preventable deaths worldwide, with most deaths occurring in young babies who are either unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the infection prevention and control measures such as masking, social distancing, and remote learning for children resulted in decreases in reported cases of pertussis. However, in 2023 and 2024 a return to routine activities has resulted in an increase in pertussis cases. Preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that more than five times as many cases of pertussis have been reported as of October 19, 2024, compared to the same time period in 2023. This is higher than was seen during the same time period in 2019, prior to the pandemic. Compounding this problem are the alarming trends showing lower rates of routine vaccination among adults and children, trends which indicate reduced vaccine confidence and increases in vaccine hesitancy in the U.S. population.

Key points of knowledge and action for nurses

Epidemiology of pertussis

Pertussis is caused by Bordetella pertussis, a gram-negative coccobacillus and is highly contagious and easily spread person-to-person via respiratory droplets or through direct contact […]

2024-11-11T11:32:08-05:00November 11th, 2024|infectious diseases, Nursing, pediatrics, Public health|0 Comments
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Blood Culture Bottle Shortage: Reducing ED Utilization in One Health System

Jonathan Nover, MBA, RN
Vice President of Nursing | Emergency Services
Mount Sinai Health System, New York City

The problem.

In early July 2024, a nationwide blood culture bottle shortage was announced. At the Mount Sinai Health System, specifically for our eight emergency departments (ED), naturally high utilizers, it was critical to devise contingency plans to reduce utilization and preserve supplies. Since it was evident early on that ED nursing would play a critical role in reducing utilization and waste, it was crucial to understand our current burn rates, utilization rates, contamination rates, and fill volume rates. We would need to recalibrate our blood culture stewardship and check in with our teams to understand workflows and their knowledge baseline about the nationwide shortage.

Discovering a gap in knowledge.

Through varying methods including huddles; “walking the GEMBA” with nursing leaders, epidemiologists, and infection preventionists; and eliciting transparent feedback we learned very quickly that our ED teams were not all aware of the top reasons for blood culture waste.

A nursing practice alert.

We created a nursing practice alert to highlight several key elements we’d learned . The areas of focus,

2024-09-12T10:31:16-04:00September 3rd, 2024|Nursing|0 Comments
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How to Get Started as a Nurse Advocate Around Key Issues Like Scope of Practice

Have you ever been frustrated by a professional issue and wondered if new legislation could fix it? This happened to me as a nurse practitioner after moving to a new state.

I was young and newly married, wanting to be closer to family. I didn’t realize how drastically different each states’ Nurse Practice Act could be in terms of advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) scope of practice. My work as a psychiatric NP had been focused on child and adolescent psychiatry, but moving to Florida in 2013 hindered my ability to continue this practice. State laws did not allow advanced practice nurses to prescribe controlled substances, and the majority of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder medications are considered Schedule II.

Getting started as an advocate.

Ultimately, this legal restriction led to two things: my transition to adult-only practice, and learning how to be a nurse advocate. This overview was developed as an introduction to the process of impacting legislative change as an advocate for your patients and your profession.

2024-08-23T15:25:02-04:00August 19th, 2024|career, Nursing, nursing roles|0 Comments
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Beyond ‘Leaning In’: Pull Up a Chair for Others

A commitment to ‘always be at the table.’

Many years after reading Sheryl Sandburg’s 2013 book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, and watching her Ted Talk, “Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders,” the phrase “sit at the table” sticks with me.

At the time I read the book I was working for a hospital system, overseeing a large research team. I often sat in interdisciplinary meetings where the doctors would occupy the seats at the table and the support team members, often early career professionals and nurses, would sit on the periphery of the room. These seats were not assigned—it was just how people sat themselves. In her book, Sandberg observed that those who sit at the sidelines of decisions are more often seen as spectators instead of as active participants or decision-makers.

After finishing the book, I made a commitment that I would always be at the table because I refused to believe that my experience, knowledge, or opinions were any less valuable than those of anyone else in the room.

Bring a chair for someone else.

I now work in a nursing academic setting that seeks to offer an environment of belonging and inclusivity for faculty, students, […]

2024-08-12T13:36:16-04:00August 12th, 2024|equity, Nursing, nursing perspective|1 Comment
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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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