About Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, FAAN, editor-in-chief (emerita)

Editor-in-chief, (emerita), AJN

Revisiting Psychedelic Drugs for Therapeutic Use

Renewed interest in psychedelics to treat depression and PTSD.

An MDMA therapy session is conducted by researchers Marcela Ot’alora, MA, LPC, and Bruce Poulter, MPH, RN. Photo courtesy of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.

As the saying goes, “everything that’s old is new again,” and that apparently applies to the exploration of using psychedelic medications as part of mental health therapy. That’s the topic of one of our feature articles in the June issue.

When I was an ED nurse in the early 1970s, we often saw patients who were brought in because they were on a “bad trips” from illicit use of psychedelic drugs: acid (LSD, lysergic acid diethylamide), but also mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine, a hallucinogen derived from the peyote plant), or “magic mushrooms,” which contained psilocybin.

While these drugs were used in in psychiatric research as early as the 1950s (see the AJN article from 1964, “Supporting the Patient on LSD Day,” free until the end of June), they were later banned for use in the 1970s under the Controlled Substances Act after they became popular illicit drugs in the […]

2021-06-11T07:50:48-04:00June 11th, 2021|Nursing|0 Comments
Read More

Summertime: Rest, Relax, and Write

With summer stretching ahead, I hope many nurses will take some well-deserved time off—rejuvenating bodies and spirits, processing emotions that were put aside, and reflecting on the long and difficult past year. But time off is also good for doing those “other things”—items that have drifted to the bottom of a to-do list. Perhaps writing is one of them.

As I noted in a 2014 editorial, there are various perspectives on how one should approach writing, and I list some from editors and scholars. I also offer what works for me:

First, spend some time thinking about what you want to say before you start writing. Know what you want to tell readers—the purpose of your paper—so that you can say it clearly.

Next, sit down and start writing. Write anything you want to say about the topic; you can go back and organize later. (Contrary to what many of us were taught, you don’t have to outline first. Some writers write this way, but many don’t.)

Third, leave the work alone for a while. Take a walk or do something else.

And fourth, go back and start shaping and polishing your piece, paying attention to organization and transitions. Aim for a logical flow of ideas. Weed out the jargon, too.

AJN has a collection of writing resources for nurses—we’ve made them free to access through September 1. You’ll also find some great resources at Nurse […]

2021-06-07T14:10:43-04:00June 7th, 2021|Nursing|0 Comments
Read More

On the Road Again (Sort of) with Virtual Nursing Meetings

Virtual meetings are likely here to stay, at least in part.

For the past 18 months, I’ve spent a lot of time attending virtual meetings. You name the app—Zoom, Facetime, Microsoft Teams—I’ve been on it. While I appreciate the advances that enable us to have visual as well as audio connections with colleagues, family, and friends, I do miss meeting the old-fashioned way: in person. The good news is that many people who might not have been able to attend meetings because of the travel costs are now able to “zoom-in” on meetings.

I’ve “attended” several virtual meetings this spring but messages from two of them stay with me:

The resurgence of the clinical nurse specialist (CNS).

The National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS) had its virtual meeting with 900 attendees from 46 states. The theme was “The Resurgence of the CNS,” focusing on how the CNS has become the “go to” professional to lead quality initiatives. I recall the 1980s, when hospitals were in a cost-cutting mode and many cut the CNS role.

A decade later, reports from the National Academies of Medicine on medical errors (To Err is Human) and later, on safety and quality (Crossing the Quality Chasm) called for change, but there was no one […]

2021-04-30T08:22:25-04:00April 30th, 2021|Nursing|0 Comments
Read More

Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathy: More Than Just Pins and Needles

When I was in graduate school, I worked as a chemotherapy nurse. Patients would often talk about the side effects of the medications. One of the most bothersome was the peripheral neuropathy that caused numbness and tingling—the “pins and needles”—and often cramping, pain, and weakness that made walking difficult.

Assessing and managing CIPN as well as educating patients.

This month, Robert Knoerl’s article, “Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy” (CIPN), provides a review of “strategies to use in assessing, managing, and educating patients who are at risk for or are experiencing CIPN.” He notes that CIPN affects 68% of patients receiving many commonly used drugs for cancer treatment and can begin as early as the first treatment and continue long after treatment ends, resulting in months of debilitating symptoms.

Although certain classes of medication may help alleviate symptoms in some patients, there are no medications approved specifically for treating CIPN. There is, however, some evidence that exercise can help mitigate the effects. […]

2021-04-22T07:29:29-04:00April 19th, 2021|Nursing|0 Comments
Read More

Remembering the Polio Vaccine Rollout, Addressing Concerns Today

‘A Most Welcome Spring.’

That’s the title of the editorial in the recently published April issue of AJN. And if you receive the print issue or go to our Web site, www.ajnonline.com, I think you’ll see that our cover reflects an image that harkens to the end of a hard pandemic winter of isolation and—for many families—desolation. Spring has arrived, along with a feeling of hope that the vaccines will allow the world to open again, IF we can do so with caution and are successful in vaccine campaigns.

Remembering the relief at having a polio vaccine.

I was in kindergarten when Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine was rolled out. I remember my mother telling me that everyone was going to be getting a new medicine and I vividly recall my entire class lining up to get the injection from the school nurse.

I remember my mother being very happy about it because a boy in the neighborhood—a friend of my brother—had had polio and now wore leg braces and used crutches. When she saw him, she would sometimes say, “too bad the vaccine came too late for John.”

Nurses’ role in addressing vaccine concerns.

2021-04-26T11:50:12-04:00April 5th, 2021|COVID-19, infectious diseases, Nursing, patient engagement, Public health|0 Comments
Read More

Comment ground rules

1. Please be respectful.
2. We moderate all comments.

Content disclaimer

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.
Go to Top