‘Do You Consider Yourself Healthy?’ Study Sheds Light on RNs’ Lifestyle Practices

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

Over the past decade, the lifestyle practices of nurses and their connection to quality of care and patient outcomes have been gaining attention. Indeed, according to the patient-centered, relationship-based care model, one of the main conditions for optimal care is that providers engage in healthy self-care behaviors. Yet there is some evidence suggesting that RNs don’t consistently do so, especially when it comes to exercise and stress reduction—even when they believe they should.

Nurse researchers Karen Thacker and colleagues recently conducted a study to learn more. They report their findings in this month’s CE–Original Research feature, “An Investigation into the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Practices of RNs.” Here’s a brief summary:

Purpose: To gather baseline data on the health-promoting lifestyle practices of RNs working in six major health care and educational institutions in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Methods: The 52-item Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II instrument was used to explore participants’ self-reported health-promoting behaviors and measure six dimensions: health responsibility, physical activity, nutrition, interpersonal relations, spiritual growth, and stress management.
Results: Findings revealed that physical activity and stress management scores were low for the entire group of RNs. There were statistically significant differences between nurses 50 years of age and older and those 30 to 39 years of age for the subscales of health responsibility, nutrition, and stress management, suggesting that older nurses are more concerned […]

2016-11-21T13:01:18-05:00April 15th, 2016|Nursing, nursing perspective, nursing research, personal health practices|0 Comments
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AJN in April: Nurses and Self-Care, Late HL Treatment Effects, POC Blood Glucose Meters in ICUs, More

AJN0416.Cover.Online

On this month’s cover is a 1924 portrait of the Grace Hospital School of Nursing basketball team in Detroit. Most nursing schools had basketball teams in their early days—as far back as the 1920s. This photo of the Grace Hospital team was featured in the September 1924 issue of AJN in an article on basketball in Detroit nursing schools.

Understanding the importance of maintaining physical well-being is a fundamental aspect of nursing. For a variety of reasons, including competing priorities and the demands of caring for others, nurses may not practice sufficient self-care. To read a study that analyzed how today’s RNs fare in terms of health-promoting behaviors like physical activity, stress management, and more, see “Original Research: An Investigation into the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Practices of RNs.” While “physical activity and stress management scores were low for the entire group of RNs,” there were some notable differences between age groups of nurses.

Some other articles of note in the April issue:

CE Feature: “Cardiotoxicity and Breast Cancer as Late Effects of Pediatric and Adolescent Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatment.” This second article in a series on cancer survivorship care from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center reviews the late adverse effects associated with the management of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). Nurses’ familiarity with and attention to the late effects of the chemotherapy and radiation therapy used to treat HL, which include breast cancer as […]

2016-11-21T13:01:20-05:00March 25th, 2016|Nursing, nursing research|0 Comments
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‘Less Codes, Less Death’: A Study Explores Nurses’ Perceptions of the Benefits of Rapid Response Teams

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

For any given health care program, staff perceptions about how well it works will affect its use and maintenance. This is the case with regard to rapid response teams (RRTs). Nurse leaders’ perceptions of the benefits of RRT teams will influence their sup­port for these teams; and the perceptions of RRT members and end users similarly will influence use. Yet little is known regarding such perceptions.

Semistructured Interview GuideNurse researcher Deonni Stolldorf recently conducted a study to learn more. She reports on her findings in one of this month’s Original Research features, “The Benefits of Rapid Response Teams: Exploring Perceptions of Nurse Leaders, Team Members, and End Users.” Here’s a brief summary:

Objective: This study sought to explore and compare the perceptions of nurse leaders, RRT members, and RRT users regarding the benefits of RRTs.
Methods: A qualitative, multiple-case study design was used. Semistructured interviews were con­ducted with nurse leaders, RRT members, and RRT users at four community hospitals, as part of a larger mixed-methods study examining RRT sustainability.
Results: All participants reported perceiving various ways that RRTs benefit the organization, staff mem­bers, and patients. Variations in the benefits perceived were observed between the three participant groups. Nurse leaders’ perceptions tended to focus on macro-level benefits. RRT members emphasized the teaching and learning opportunities that RRTs offer. RRT […]

2016-11-21T13:01:24-05:00March 4th, 2016|Nursing, nursing perspective, nursing research|3 Comments
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AJN in February: Latino RNs in the U.S., Nurse Bullying, Hypoglycemia in Older Adults, More

AJN0216.Cover.OnlineOn this month’s cover, nurse Sarah Carruth comforts a young patient at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. This photo is the second-place winner of AJN’s 2015 Faces of Caring: Nurses at Work photo contest, in which readers worldwide submitted candid photos of nurses on the job.

When the child’s parents had to leave the room and he became unsettled, Carruth held him and comforted him with a stuffed toy. She says the photo captures the important type of quiet moment that often gets lost in the bustle: “It can be so busy that you forget about the times when you get to show that you care.”

Having worked as a pediatric nurse for 15 years, Carruth knows that meeting the emotional needs of children is a crucial aspect of caring for them. “It’s not just about giving medicine and assessing vital signs,” she says. “They need the time to be loved.”

Some articles of note in the February issue:

Original Research: “Latino Nurses in the United States: An Overview of Three Decades (1980–2010).” Latinos are underrepresented in the nursing workforce. The authors of this article find that while the overall number of Latinos has grown dramatically in the U.S. over the 30-year study period, the number of Latino nurses has not. As the Latino population in the U.S. continues to increase, nursing education programs and institutions will need to do more […]

2016-11-21T13:01:31-05:00January 29th, 2016|Nursing, nursing research|0 Comments
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Attention to Patients’ Mobility: Low-Tech But Essential

A critical care nurse led a multidisciplinary team to explore the effects of a dedicated ‘mobility team’ on functional and other outcomes in ICU patients.

By Betsy Todd, MPH, RN, CIC, AJN clinical editor

julie kertesz/ via flickr creative common julie kertesz/ via flickr creative common

It’s long been known that immobility leads to deconditioning. Various studies indicate that muscle strength drops by 3% to 11% with each day of bed rest. As most of us have witnessed firsthand in both patients and family members, it can take months to regain pre–bed rest levels of functioning. For some people, the strength and mobility needed for independence never return.

In this month’s issue, a community hospital critical care nurse led a multidisciplinary team to explore the effects of a dedicated “mobility team” on functional and other outcomes in ICU patients. In “Implementation of an Early Mobility Program in an ICU,” Danielle Fraser and colleagues share what they learned.

The mobility team consisted of a physical therapist, a critical care RN, and an ICU rehab aide. Respiratory therapists worked closely with the team. Patients assigned to the early mobility intervention could progress through four successive levels of movement, from passive range-of-motion exercises to full ambulation.

Compared with ICU patients who received routine care, the patients in the intervention group were more functionally independent at discharge. In addition, this […]

2016-11-21T13:01:41-05:00December 7th, 2015|Nursing, nursing perspective, nursing research, patient engagement|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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