Talking Nursing in Many Languages: Reporting on the International Council of Nurses

Shawn Kennedy and Amanda Anderson

AJN’s editor in chief Shawn Kennedy and editorial board member and contributing editor Amanda Anderson recently attended the ICN Council of Nurse Representatives and Congress in Barcelona and present the highlights here, along with podcast conversations with two nurse leaders. A full report will be available in the August issue of AJN.

The 300 or so members of the Council of Nurse Representatives (CNR, ICN’s governing body) meets just prior to the ICN Congress, the educational conference and exhibition, which drew 8,000 registrants to Barcelona, a beautiful city on the Mediterranean. It’s a wonderful meeting and collegiality is emphasized—everyone wears a name tag with name and country, no credentials or fancy titles: we’re all just nurses. Chance meetings in elevators and at break times lead to meeting for coffee and lunch, exchanging ideas and business cards. […]

2017-06-09T10:58:35-04:00June 9th, 2017|Conference reports, Nursing|0 Comments
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‘Guided by Why’: Notes from the 2017 AACN Conference

Clareen Wiencek, left, and Christine Schulman

AJN‘s clinical editor Betsy Todd recently had a chance to speak with outgoing AACN president Clareen Wiencek and president-elect Christine Schulman about their plans and accomplishments. This post includes her podcast conversation with the two critical care nurse leaders, as well as a summary of highlights from the annual conference. For other updates from recent nursing and heath care conferences, visit our On the Road page.

As always, this year’s National Training Institute and Critical Care Exposition (“NTI”), the annual meeting of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), offered hundreds of educational sessions along with thought-provoking “supersession” addresses. Five “visionary leaders” were honored on the opening day: […]

2017-06-07T12:21:23-04:00June 7th, 2017|Nursing|0 Comments
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Antipsychotics: Understanding These Increasingly Prescribed Medications

As AJN‘s June issue CE article on antipsychotic medications makes clear, the history of the treatment of mental illness provides many cautionary tales:

Theories about the causes of mental illness have included the belief that a person is possessed by spirits, demons, or the devil; that she or he has a weakness of character; or that the person had a “refrigerator” mother, someone whose coldness led to the child developing insanity. Those with mental health issues were treated with . . . therapies that are now considered to be questionable and inhumane: being chained . . . in institutions . . . and put into insulin-induced comas; having a lobotomy; being subjected to malarial therapy, exorcism, and prayer; being placed into ice water baths . . .

Images courtesy of the estate of Bryan Charnley. Full image caption below.

In the past century, as our understanding of various aspects of mental illness has increased (there’s still a long way to go), so has the range of available treatments, from psychotherapy to a constantly expanding arsenal of first- and later-generation drugs, many with substantial adverse effect […]

2017-07-27T11:30:53-04:00June 5th, 2017|Nursing|0 Comments
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AJN Facebook Readers on Influences, Public Attitudes to Nursing, Practices of Yesterday

We loved readers’ contributions to AJN’s celebration of Nurses Week.  For those who missed our Nurses Week Questions of the Day on Facebook, here are some highlighted responses to some of the questions:

What nurse has most influenced your nursing career?

There were many shout-outs to mentors by name, lauded for their grace, commitment, integrity, vast knowledge, and patience, or described as nurses who “role-modeled intelligence, compassion, and professionalism.”

Moms, grandmothers, and wives were often mentioned, as were instructors in both RN and LPN schools, and charge nurses. One nurse described being mentored by a paramedic, who “showed me how to remain caring in a system that so many times does not have time for the small things.” Another cited “every nurse I’ve ever worked beside” as a mentor, because other nurses model both the best and worst of nursing practice.

What do you think the general public doesn’t understand about nurses and nursing?

The number one frustration expressed in these answers was that we are often thought of as caring but not intelligent—that “we don’t know what to do until a doctor tells us.” But as one nurse succinctly put it, “We know what’s going on with you before you or the doctors know […]

2017-05-31T15:49:58-04:00May 31st, 2017|Nursing, nursing perspective|2 Comments
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June Issue Highlights: Understanding Antipsychotics, Talking to Pregnant Smokers, IBS Basics

The June issue of AJN is now live. Here are some articles we’d like to bring to your attention.

CE Feature: Mental Health Matters: Antipsychotic Medications

In recent years, more adults—and teenagers—are taking at least one type of psychotropic medication, the majority of which are prescribed by primary care and family physicians. This first article in a series on commonly used psychotropic medications for the treatment of mental illness reviews the mechanisms of action, adverse effects, and contraindications of first-generation typical and second-generation atypical antipsychotics.

CE Feature: Original Research: The Experiences of Pregnant Smokers and Their Providers

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10.7% of women nationwide reported smoking during their last trimester. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ initiative Healthy People 2020 targets tobacco use, including smoking during pregnancy, as a continuing major health concern in this country. Yet bringing the U.S. Public Health Service’s 2008 clinical practice guideline, Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, into routine prenatal care remains challenging.  The authors of this study conducted focus groups of pregnant smokers and their providers, most of whom were RNs, to better understand their experiences and to gain insights to help providers best deliver the stop-smoking message.

Clinical Feature: 

2017-05-30T11:44:24-04:00May 30th, 2017|Nursing|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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