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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Rise in Anencephaly (Like Microcephaly, a Neural Tube Defect) Cases Noted in One U.S. State

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

Maria Rosario Perez was one of the babies in the Washington State anencephaly clus- ter. Born May 25, 2012, she lived only 55 minutes. Photo by Erika Schultz / The Seattle Times. Maria Rosario Perez was one of the babies in the Washington State anencephaly clus-
ter. Born May 25, 2012, she lived only 55 minutes. Photo by Erika Schultz / The Seattle Times.

Microcephaly has been in the news in recent months because of its possible link to Zika virus infection. Here in the U.S., an unusually high incidence of babies with anencephaly in the state of Washington has concerned health authorities for the past four years.

In the spring of 2012, several babies were born with anencephaly in three counties in south central Washington. This unusual cluster of cases, occurring at more than twice the national rate for anencephaly, was first recognized by nurse Sara Barron. She explores the state’s investigation in “Anencephaly: An Ongoing Investigation in Washington State” in the March issue of AJN.

Like microcephaly, anencephaly is a “neural tube defect” that leads to tragic pregnancy outcomes. In microcephaly, the […]

2016-11-21T13:01:22-05:00March 21st, 2016|Nursing, nursing perspective|2 Comments
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‘Join Now!’: Jane Delano, Early 20th Century Red Cross Nurse Pioneer

Jane Delano Jane Delano

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

In 1909, Jane Delano was chair of the national committee of the Red Cross nursing services, superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps, and president of the young American Nurses Association. The Red Cross was to serve as the reserve for nurses for relief services and for the army and navy nursing services. Flickr/ via James Vaughan Flickr/ via James Vaughan

At the outbreak of World War I, Delano mounted an aggressive national campaign to recruit thousands of nurses to attend to the troops in Europe and to provide services here at home during disasters and the 1918 influenza epidemic. AJN published a short biography of this remarkable woman in August 1930.

Delano also wrote a monthly column for the fledgling American Journal of Nursing. Her first column, a summary of the national meeting of the Red Cross in New York City, appeared in May 1909. Delano also founded the Red Cross Town and Country Nursing Service, which provided visiting nurses in rural areas. She died in France in 1919 while on Red Cross business.

Editor’s note: this is the second short post in a series we are publishing during Women’s History Month to draw attention to important figures or trends in the history of women and nursing. The first was “Parallel Developments: Women’s History and the Professional […]

2016-11-21T13:01:23-05:00March 18th, 2016|nursing history|0 Comments
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CDC Opioid-Prescribing Guideline for Chronic Pain: Concerns and Contexts

by frankieleon/ via flickr by frankieleon/ via flickr

By Jacob Molyneux, senior editor

The CDC’s new Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain was released this week. The context for this comprehensive new guideline is widespread concern about opioid-related overdose deaths and substance abuse in the U.S.

The guidelines make 12 main recommendations, among them the following:

  • nonpharmacologic or nonopioid pharmacologic treatments should be considered “preferable” first-line therapy for those with chronic pain.
  • a daily opioid dosage limit of morphine milligram equivalents should be imposed.
  • immediate-release opioids should be prescribed before moving to extended-release formulations.
  • urine testing should precede new opioid prescriptions for chronic pain and treatment goals should be set.
  • clinicians should prescribe the lowest possible number of days’ worth of medication for acute pain (often three days or less).
  • prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) databases should be consulted to determine patients’ past histories of opioid prescriptions.

Some of the recommendations would seem to be no-brainers, such as consulting PDMPs when writing new prescriptions. Others, such as a “one-size-fits-all” daily dosage limit and restrictions on the use of extended release formulations, have raised alarms among pain management experts. See, for example, “I’m Worried About People in Pain,” a recent AJN Viewpoint essay by Carol Curtiss, a nurse and pain management expert, who notes the increased stigmatization experienced by pain patients and the chilling effects of new […]

2016-11-21T13:01:23-05:00March 17th, 2016|Ethics, Nursing, nursing perspective, pain management, patient engagement|4 Comments
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The Challenge of Caring for a Graying Prison Population

Photo by Ackerman + Gruber An elderly prisoner in hospice care. Photo by Ackerman + Gruber

Inmates 54 or older are the fastest growing age demographic in U.S. prisons. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the percentage of inmates who are 54 or older jumped from 3% to 8% in two decades (1991–2011). Criminal justice experts say the increase is probably an effect of the longer sentences of 1980s antidrug laws.

A 2014 report by the Vera Institute of Justice asserts that “prisons and jails are generally ill-equipped to meet the needs of elderly patients who may require intensive services” for their medical conditions. Correctional staff often lack training for treating age-related illnesses and prisons typically don’t have the ability to monitor chronic health issues or employ preventative measures. Inmates are often sent off-site for medical treatment beyond what prisons can provide.

Older adults with physical disabilities or cognitive impairments are also more vulnerable to injury, abuse, and psychological decompensation in the prison setting. “ [T]he prison environment is, by design, an extremely poor place to house and care for people as they age or become increasingly ill or disabled,” said a 2013 American Civil Liberties Union report. Even reliance on devices like wheelchairs, walkers, or breathing aids can present logistical hardships for inmates in facilities that were designed to […]

2016-11-21T13:01:23-05:00March 15th, 2016|Nursing, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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