Are You a Nurse Thinking About Retirement?

There are many ways to retire.

According to figures from the ANA, over 500,000 nurses are expected to retire by 2022. That’s a lot of experience exiting the workforce. But, if many of them are like my friends and colleagues, they may “fail retirement,” as one friend put it—she went back to work part-time. Another colleague seems busier than ever and continues to contribute to nursing through writing, teaching, and mentoring. And another said she wanted to do something entirely different, so she works part-time as a realtor and renovates houses. I know many who support their children’s careers by babysitting almost full time. But many don’t think about or prepare for this major change.

A potentially abrupt transition.

The fact is, nursing is an intense profession—whether working in a hospital or community setting or teaching. Most of us are fervent multitaskers, involved in several projects at once. To abruptly move from a fast-paced role to having nothing to do is not an easy transition for many of us.

With our April issue, we debuted a new column called Transitions, aimed at nurses who may be thinking about the next step in their careers and when to leave their present position, either retiring completely or “slowing down.” The new column provides a nice balance to […]

2018-05-02T06:53:14-04:00May 2nd, 2018|Nursing, nursing career|0 Comments
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When Clinical Nursing Students Are Bullied by Staff Nurses

A disillusioning experience.

In this month’s Viewpoint column, clinical nurse instructor John Burkley describes a disturbing incident in which his clinical nursing students were treated with dismissiveness and rudeness by a nurse on a unit to which they’d been assigned. The students ultimately left this early encounter with hospital nursing—which took place at a teaching hospital—with varying degrees of disillusionment.

Nurses may need to develop a certain inner resilience to handle the physical, emotional, moral, intellectual, and organizational challenges of their profession. But bullying won’t help them develop it.

Alienating future nurses does lasting harm. What can be done?

As Burkley notes, negative clinical experiences can have a formative influence on aspiring nurses—they “are alienating, contribute negatively to learning, and should not be tolerated.”

Unfortunately, while many nurses are welcoming and supportive of clinical students, such incidents of subtle or overt bullying appear to be common. Drawing on his own experience as well as current literature, Burkley offers a few possible ways nursing schools and teaching hospitals can address this issue. […]

2018-04-30T08:23:05-04:00April 30th, 2018|Ethics, Nursing, nursing career, nursing students|4 Comments
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May Issue: Transfusion Therapy, Sustaining Fall Prevention Programs, Nurses’ Role in Assisted Suicide, More

“Nursing students are the future of nursing. Treating them with anything less than respect, support, and nurturing is unacceptable and unprofessional.” —John Burkley, MSN, RN, author of this month’s Viewpoint

The May issue of AJN is now live. Here are some of the articles we’re pleased to have a chance to publish this month.

CE: Original Research: Exploring Clinicians’ Perceptions About Sustaining an Evidence-Based Fall Prevention Program

Although hospitals have made extensive efforts to reduce patient falls through evidence-based fall prevention programs, sustaining such programs has proven challenging. This qualitative study addresses the knowledge gap between implementing and sustaining evidence-based fall prevention practices for hospitalized patients.

CE: A Review of Current Practice in Transfusion Therapy

The authors review the blood products that are commonly transfused, discuss the potential complications of transfusion—including TACO, TRALI, and TRIM—and outline current recommendations for transfusion therapy.

Special Feature: Assisted Suicide/Aid in Dying: What Is the Nurse’s Role?

This article presents the panel discussion that occurred during a policy dialogue on aid in dying (AID) at the American Academy of Nursing’s annual conference in 2016. The discussion explored the arguments for and against the growing state expansion of AID legislation, and the role of nurses in assisting patients who request AID.

2018-04-27T09:18:27-04:00April 27th, 2018|Nursing|0 Comments
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Recognizing Delirium in Hospitalized Children

A hospital can be a scary place for any of us, but the experience is likely to be especially upsetting for children. An unfamiliar environment, possibly painful procedures, immobility, food that’s not from home (or no food), and disturbed sleep are hard on most people. A child’s particularly vivid imagination may exacerbate an already-frightening experience. It’s not surprising that delirium can occur in hospitalized children.

Characteristics of pediatric delirium.

Delirium in children has not been explored to the extent that it has been in adults, but research suggests its manifestations in either group can include five characteristics: agitation, disorientation, hallucinations, inattention, and sleep–wake cycle disturbances. Some evidence also suggests that children with delirium may have a more labile affect than adults, and more severe perceptual disturbances. […]

2018-04-25T10:05:56-04:00April 25th, 2018|Nursing, pediatrics|0 Comments
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The Nurse’s Temptation to Fill in the Patient Handoff Narrative

The limitations of handoff report

In bedside nursing, the nurse enters the story of the patient’s life at the point where the handoff report ends.

“Pt is an 8 mo old female, history of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), baseline 2L oxygen at home. Admitted to the unit for respiratory distress.”

Handoff report then goes through a systemic description of the patient’s current state: neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory, GI/GU, skin, and finally, psychosocial. The report is thorough but brief, never truly complete.

The oncoming nurse takes report and seeks to develop an accurate picture of her patient’s physiological state in order to anticipate emergencies and prioritize nursing interventions. But as any experienced nurse knows, no report can replace thorough and ongoing assessments—patients can change, and even the most expert nurses who have previously cared for this patient can miss details.

This holds true both in terms of a physiological assessment and a psychosocial assessment. What the nurse receives during handoff in terms of the patient and family’s psychosocial status is typically brief. “The patient’s parents are involved. Dad is a little more anxious and doesn’t stay at the bedside for long. Mom has a lot of questions, and she likes to help a lot with the hands-on care.”

Assumptions rush in to fill empty spaces

At […]

2018-04-23T10:26:19-04:00April 23rd, 2018|Nursing|2 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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