nursing research Archives - Page 15 of 39

Choosing Wisely: American Academy of Nursing Highlights Unnecessary Nursing Practices

The American Academy of Nursing (AAN) recently announced that it has joined the ABIM Choosing Wisely campaign with a list that focuses specifically on nursing interventions or practices that are not supported by evidence. The list is called Five Things Nurses and Patients Should Question. Here it is in short form—full explanations of the rationale for each item are available at the above link.

Don’t automatically initiate continuous electronic fetal heart rate monitoring during labor for women without risk factors; consider intermittent auscultation first.
Don’t let older adults lay in bed or only get up to a chair during their hospital stay.
Don’t use physical restraints with an older hospitalized patient.
Don’t wake the patient for routine care unless the patient’s condition or care specifically requires it.
Don’t place or maintain a urinary catheter in a patient unless there is a specific indication to do so.

The Choosing Wisely initiative encourages health care provider organizations to create their own lists of tests and procedures that may be overused, unsafe, or duplicated elsewhere. Using these lists, providers can initiate conversation with their patients to help them choose the most necessary and evidence-based care for their individual situations. The lists are not meant to be proscriptive, and also address situations where the procedures may be appropriate. […]

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:03:40-05:00October 24th, 2014|health care policy, nursing perspective, nursing research, patient engagement, Patients|6 Comments

Planning Postdischarge Care with Cognitively Impaired Adults

A patient performs the CLOX 1, a clock-drawing task used to assess patients for cognitive impairment. Photo by Ed Eckstein.

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

The transition from hospital to home can be fraught with pitfalls, especially if the patient in question is an older adult with multiple conditions and a not-so-prepared caregiver. The transitional care model, in which NPs coordinate care and provide follow-up care after discharge, has been shown to be successful in reducing hospital readmissions in this group of patients.

With Medicare levying penalties on hospitals with higher-than-average readmissions rates, the stakes aren’t just high for patients and their families. Might similar models of care also work with cognitively impaired adults?

In “Studying Nursing Interventions in Acutely Ill, Cognitively Impaired Older Adults,” a feature article in AJN‘s October issue (free until the end of October), Kathleen McCauley and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania seek to answer this question, among others.

In the article, McCauley and colleagues describe the methodology and protocols used in their study, summarize their findings, and discuss some of the challenges in conducting research in the clinical setting. Among their findings is the important lesson that research involving cognitively impaired older adults must actively engage clinicians, patients, and family caregivers, as well as the need for hospitals to make cognitive screening of older adults who are hospitalized for an […]

Amy M. Collins, managing editor2016-11-21T13:03:45-05:00October 15th, 2014|Nursing, nursing perspective, nursing research, Patients|0 Comments

AJN in October: Getting Inpatients Walking, Calciphylaxis, Nurses and Hurricane Sandy, More

AJN’s October issue is now available on our Web site. Here’s a selection of what not to miss.

Calciphylaxis is most often seen in patients with end-stage renal disease. “Calciphylaxis: An Unusual Case with an Unusual Outcome” describes the rare case of a patient diagnosed with calciphylaxis with normal renal function, and how the nursing staff helped develop and implement an intensive treatment plan that led to the patient’s full recovery. This CE feature offers 2.5 CE credits to those who take the test that follows the article. To further explore the topic, listen to a podcast interview with the author (this and other podcasts are accessible via the Behind the Article page on our Web site or, if you’re in our iPad app, by tapping the icon on the first page of the article).

The adverse effects of bed rest. Prolonged periods of immobility can have adverse effects for patients, such as functional decline and increased risk of falls. “A Mobility Program for an Inpatient Acute Care Medical Unit” describes how an evidence-based quality improvement project devised for and put to use on a general medical unit helped mitigate the adverse effects of bed rest. This CE feature offers 2 CE credits to those who take the test that follows the article. […]

Amy M. Collins, managing editor2016-11-21T13:03:50-05:00September 30th, 2014|Nursing, nursing perspective, nursing research|0 Comments

Study Clarifies How Staff Nurses Use Research in Practice

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

Most health care professionals agree that it’s important to apply research findings to real-life practice. Indeed, several studies have shown that nurses place a high value on doing just that. Yet numerous barriers continue to prevent or hamper the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP).

Table 4. ‘Of the tools available to you at work and/or home, which tools do you use?’

To learn more, Linda Yoder and colleagues surveyed nearly 800 staff nurses in an acute care multihospital system. They sought to determine the extent to which these RNs used research findings in their practice; what types of knowledge they used; and what personal, professional, and organizational factors enhanced or hindered their use of research. In one of this month’s two CE features, “Staff Nurses’ Use of Research to Facilitate Evidence-Based Practice,” Yoder and colleagues report on their findings. Here’s a short summary.

Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive, online survey design was used. The survey, which asked about use of research findings in practice and EBP participation, was placed on the hospital system intranet.
Results: The forms of knowledge that staff nurses reported relying on most were their personal experience with patients, conferences, hospital policies and procedures, physician colleagues, and nursing peers. Although a variety of resources were available for help in locating research and implementing EBP, respondents reported many of the same […]

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Guest Author2017-07-27T14:44:50-04:00September 5th, 2014|Nursing, nursing perspective, nursing research|2 Comments

Nursing Homes Need Nurses

By Amy M. Collins, managing editor

Photo by Ulrich Joho, via Flickr.

Recently, the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) released updated nursing home inspection data, which is “derived from a large file that is split up for easier use by members.” (Members get a data set containing three years of the most severe deficiencies found during inspections, as well as current ratings assigned by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS]. To register for membership and gain access to more detailed information, click here.)

A news release put out by AHCJ based on their analysis of these ratings isn’t pretty. The latest number of deficiencies recorded by the CMS (which range from “isolated incident of actual harm” to “widespread immediate jeopardy to resident health or safety”) has reached 16,806.

Medicare ratings themselves have also been called into question in a recent article suggesting that nursing homes with the highest ratings may be gaming the system. Despite these ratings being the gold standard in the industry, the data they are based upon on is largely self-reported by the nursing homes and not verified by the government. Often, details such as fines and other enforcement actions by the state, as well as complaints filed by consumers with state agencies, are left out.

Could part of the problem be there […]

Amy M. Collins, managing editor2016-11-21T13:03:59-05:00September 4th, 2014|nursing perspective, nursing research|14 Comments