AJN November Issue News: Maternal Mortality, Nurses’ Salaries, Double Mastectomy, More

AJN’s monthly news section covers timely and important research and policy stories that are relevant to the nursing world. Here are some of the stories you’ll find in our current issue (news articles in AJN are free access):

Photo by Dennis MacDonald / Alamy Stock Photo. Photo by Dennis MacDonald / Alamy Stock Photo.

Maternal Mortality in U.S. on the Rise

In 48 states and the District of Columbia, the maternal mortality rate increased by 26.6% between 2000 and 2014. (Texas was analyzed separately; its rate doubled between 2010 and 2012.) California–which saw a decline in maternal deaths–was the exception. While there’s no clear cause for the increase, researchers have several ideas about factors that may have prompted it.

Salaries for Nurses Decrease, While NP Salaries Rise

According to a survey of 20,000 health care workers, compensation for nurses decreased 3.1% between 2015 and 2016; NPs reported a […]

2016-11-21T13:00:49-05:00November 9th, 2016|Nursing|0 Comments
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Hitting the Nursing Conference Trail: Many Miles, But Much to Inspire

“Nurses are doing such interesting and important work.”

A big part of what we do at AJN is seek out the latest information and compelling stories to bring to readers each month. That often means a lot of traveling. While sometimes it does get a bit much (conferences are mostly clustered in the spring and the fall), I’ve come to enjoy traveling—nurses are doing such interesting and important work!

Here’s a recap of some recent travels:

Nursing Research

2016-11-21T13:00:52-05:00November 2nd, 2016|Nursing|0 Comments
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AJN in November: Skin Tears, Veteran Women’s Mental Health, Supporting Family Caregivers, More

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

ajn1116-cover-onlineCE Feature: “Preventing, Assessing, and Managing Skin Tears: A Clinical Review”

Although skin tears are common, particularly among older adults and neonates, they are often inadequately documented and poorly managed, resulting in complications, extended hospital stays, and negative patient outcomes. In this article, the first in a series on wound care in collaboration with the World Council of Enterostomal Therapists, the authors describe the complications that developed in an elderly patient whose skin tear was improperly dressed and discuss best practices for preventing, assessing, documenting, and managing skin tears.

CE Feature: “Veteran Women: Mental Health–Related Consequences of Military Service”

The last two decades have seen increasing numbers of women entering all branches of the U.S. armed forces. Many are exposed to traumatic events that place them at higher risk for mental health conditions. It’s essential for all nurses to be knowledgeable about the mental health issues commonly seen in this population. The author of this article reviews research confirming that both active-duty and veteran women are at increased risk for postdeployment mental health problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder, military sexual trauma, and suicide—and also addresses the nursing practice implications, […]

2016-11-21T13:00:52-05:00October 28th, 2016|Nursing|0 Comments
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The Speed of Patience: Notes On Navigating Hospital Hallways

The Speed of Nurses

'She Observes,' ink on paper, 2005 by Julianna Paradisi ‘She Observes,’ ink on paper, 2005 by Julianna Paradisi

A while ago, my stepfather had surgery at the hospital where I work. After spending a long day in the waiting room, my husband and I left the post-surgery unit. As we walked down the narrow hallway towards the main lobby, a young man, his girlfriend trailing behind by the hand, came around a corner from the opposite direction too quickly. They headed towards the elevator. We narrowly avoided collision. Had either my husband or I been disabled, someone might have been injured.

As he pulled the young woman into the elevator, he sniped at us sarcastically, “I’m not rude!” Rude or not, he was obviously unfamiliar with the traffic flow of hospital hallways.

Hospital hallways accommodate two types of travelers: staff and patients/visitors. These groups travel at speeds established by urgency and limited by ability.

For nurses, getting to a patient’s room fast may mean saving a life, or simply providing an emesis basin to preserve a patient’s dignity. Among nurses, a lack of urgency (the inability to act fast) is viewed as a character flaw.

Although I am no […]

2016-11-21T13:00:53-05:00October 27th, 2016|Nursing|0 Comments
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Information for Nurses on Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED)

The New York Times recently published an article by Paula Span called “The VSED Exit: A Way to Speed Up Dying, Without Asking Permission.” VSED stands for voluntarily stopping eating and drinking, an end-of-life option that is, on the surface, as simple as its name suggests. Span, who recently attended the first conference devoted to VSED, gives an overview of one mother’s choice to end her life using this method. She also does an excellent job enumerating the ethical, practical, and legal implications of choosing to stop eating and drinking.

screen-shot-2014-11-05-at-4-39-13-pmWhich types of patients is such a choice appropriate for? How much suffering does it involve? Are there legal pitfalls of involvement in the VSED process by nurses and physicians? We can expect that all of these questions and more will be receiving growing attention in the coming years.

Late in the article, Span quotes Judith Schwarz, PhD, RN, now clinical coordinator of End of Life Choices New York. In 2009, AJN published a CE article, “Stopping Eating and Drinking,” by Schwarz. This substantive article centers around a detailed case study. “Gertrude,” we learn, has lived a very full life. All the things that give her pleasure and a modicum of freedom are gradually being removed […]

2016-11-21T13:00:53-05:00October 24th, 2016|Ethics, Nursing, patient experience|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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