Nursing Archives - Page 176 of 407

Sent Back: Imagining the Real Costs of a Family’s End-of-Life Decisions

Evelyn Simak/ via Wikimedia Commons

Editor’s note: This is a work of fiction. The characters are invented; the situation explored may be all too common.*

Beep. Beep. Beep. There’s a slow, rhythmic sound next to my head. I’ve never heard a sound like it before. I hear a whoosh on the other side of me, and at the same time I feel pressure in my chest, like a balloon that on the verge of popping.

It only lasts a few seconds and the pressure is gone. My chest returns to normal and I immediately feel better. Something squeezes my left arm tight—so tight that I want to yell. But I can’t make any words come out.

Then, just as quick as the pressure in my chest came and left, so does the pinch around my arm. I don’t know where I am, but I feel like I’m being tortured.

“I know that it’s cold in here, but I’ll use this warm blanket to keep you warm,” says the strange voice, belonging to a person I can’t see.

Who are you, I try to ask. But just as the darkness around me persists, so does my inability to speak. I have no idea where I am, and I’m scared.

The voice comes back, “Ok, it’s time to roll […]

Guest Author2017-07-28T10:06:11-04:00July 12th, 2016|Nursing|4 Comments

Daniel

Jennifer L. Promes is a gerontological clinical nurse specialist and Magnet Program director in Omaha, Nebraska. In this post, she describes an experience she had early in her career while working as a certified nursing assistant in a nursing home’s memory support unit.

Daniel had a kind, mild-mannered disposition, but because of his advanced dementia he would sometimes become agitated and belligerent, especially at night. Most of the staff didn’t want to help him prepare for bed. I knew Daniel was much more cooperative if you distracted him by talking about his past, so one night I volunteered to help him with his personal care.

All of the residents had just finished their evening meal and were waiting patiently at their tables to be assisted back to their rooms for the night. As I approached Daniel–a short, stocky bald man in his late 80’s with thick-rimmed glasses, always dressed in a button-up flannel shirt, polyester slacks, and square-toed, diabetic shoes—I could tell he was “working on something.” He had a table knife in his hand and was prying at the seam between the two leaves of the table. He was quietly muttering something under his breath as he worked, his head nodding as he grew more tired.

Daniel would “fix” anything he could get his hands […]

Guest Author2016-11-21T13:01:06-05:00July 12th, 2016|narratives, Nursing, nursing perspective, patient engagement|1 Comment

Summertime: Time to Write

karindalziel/ via Flickr Creative Commons

July 4th has come and gone and summer still stretches out before us. For many, summer is a time to relax and take things a bit slower. Working moms and dads don’t have to deal with school projects; faculty have no or at least fewer classes to teach. It’s the perfect time to write—or at least start—that article you’ve had on your “To Do” list for the last year (or two or three).

Many budding authors tell me that the hardest part about writing is getting started, so here are suggestions from a pair of editors and writers who teach writing workshops (included, along with several other writing tips, in my 2014 editorial on the topic):

Set a consistent time to write, even if it’s only 15 minutes a day. Make an appointment with yourself and honor it as you would an appointment with someone else. Make yourself sit down and write—and write anything to begin; you don’t need to start at the beginning or do an outline. Once you get rolling, you can always write for a longer time.
“Start anywhere, but start. And keep your hand moving, whether you’re using a pen or a keyboard. Whether it’s because of muscle memory or the […]
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Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, FAAN, editor-in-chief (emerita)2016-11-21T13:01:06-05:00July 11th, 2016|career, narratives, Nursing|1 Comment

AJN News: A Role for Nonmedical Workers, Adult Vaccinations Revisited, Teen Pregnancy Drop, 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):

A community health worker meets with a patient in Baltimore, Maryland. Photo by Francis Ying / KHN.

Nonmedical Workers: A Growing Asset to Communities

Outcomes improve, costs drop, and nurses’ workloads benefit when nonmedical community health workers are available to serve as liaisons between health systems and patients. Programs to train more of these workers are gaining attention in states across the country.

Revisiting the Adult Vaccination Schedule for Tetanus and Diphtheria

Results of a new study reveal that most adults remain protected from the two diseases for 30 years without booster vaccination—and call into question the potential benefits of a modified adult booster vaccination schedule.

Teen Pregnancies, Births, and Abortions Slow

Two new reports show that the birth rate among U.S. teens has dropped to its lowest point in three decades; the percentage of teen pregnancies ending in abortion also reached a historic low. Researchers attribute the downward trend to teens using birth control more often and waiting longer […]

Diane Szulecki, editor2016-11-21T13:01:06-05:00July 7th, 2016|Nursing, nursing perspective, nursing stories|0 Comments

Is It Time to Retire the Term ‘Midlevel Practitioner’?

What are the implications of calling advanced practice nurses “midlevel practitioners”? According to Rachel Scherzer, a nurse educator and critical care nurse, such a term pigeonholes APNs in an implied (and disproven) hierarchy of value and quality of care rather than in relation to specific competencies and expertise.

In the Viewpoint essay in the July issue of AJN, Scherzer describes some of the reasons why such terms aren’t just inaccurate, they damage the standing of the profession:

Policymakers use the term while developing health care policy, health care economists use it when reporting data and performing cost analyses, and other health care providers use it in the clinical setting. . . . This term is both diminutive and inaccurate, implying that these professionals cannot provide the same level of care as other members of the interprofessional care team. Referring to APNs as “midlevel” practitioners contributes to a general misunderstanding of their role and of the services they provide.

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