Medical Marijuana: A Nurse’s Primer

Julianna Paradisi, RN, OCN, is an oncology nurse navigator and writes a monthly post for this blog.

Illustration by J Paradisi. Illustration by J Paradisi.

Since I wrote “Marijuana Legalization and Potential Workplace Pitfalls for Nurses Who Partake” in July 2014, a few things have changed. For one, Measure 91 passed in Oregon, making it the third state to legalize recreational marijuana. Medical marijuana, however, has been legal since 1998 in Oregon, currently one of 23 states nationwide.

Also, when I wrote the earlier post, I was an infusion nurse—now, as an oncology nurse navigator, I’m asked about medical marijuana often, and I need to know the answers, as do all nurses practicing in states with legalized medical marijuana. Nurses working in oncology, emergency departments, pain management, infusion clinics, and pediatrics have high exposure to patients with medical marijuana cards.

By ‘knowledge,’ I don’t mean knowing everything, but knowing where to find what you need to know. In Oregon, for example, information about medical marijuana is found at the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP). The Web site includes qualifying diagnoses, a downloadable handbook, an application packet with instructions, and a list of approved dispensaries. While retail issues surrounding recreational marijuana are still being sorted out, medical dispensaries in Oregon sell recreational marijuana to clients aged 21 and older.

Patients using medical marijuana are […]

2016-11-21T13:01:50-05:00October 27th, 2015|nursing perspective, Patients|0 Comments
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Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation: Essentials for Nurses

By Amanda Anderson, a critical care nurse and graduate student in New York City currently doing a graduate placement at AJN.

A postablation case was a rarity for me, even as an experienced ICU nurse. While floating to the cardiac ICU one day, I received a patient from the cath lab who had just undergone the procedure for recurrent atrial fibrillation.

My colleagues, experienced in electrophysiology care, gave me a heads up—“Just watch her rhythm. That’s the most important thing.” But no one could provide a standard protocol for me to follow in her care. While I had the usual critical care protocol for monitoring patients, and the orders given to me for this patient, before she arrived I did a little online searching to determine how to tailor my care for her needs.

The catheter ablation procedure involves electrical ablation of tissue around the circumference of the pulmonary veins, the most common site for atrial fibrillation triggers (A). Lesions are created through the use of an irrigated radiofrequency ablation catheter (B). Illustration by Anne Rains. The catheter ablation procedure involves electrical ablation of tissue around the circumference of […]

2016-11-21T13:01:50-05:00October 23rd, 2015|Nursing, nursing perspective|1 Comment
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Violence Against Women: Old Stories Repeat, But Some Progress

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

Emergency lights #5, by DrStarbuck via Flickr Emergency lights #5, by DrStarbuck via Flickr

It seemed ironic that, during this month of domestic violence awareness, a Florida judge showed little awareness of the fear that intimate partner violence can instill. Judge Jerri Collins came under attack from victim advocacy groups after she jailed a young mother who was a victim of domestic violence for failing to show up in court to press charges against her husband. According to various news reports, the distraught woman was afraid to face her husband in court for his sentencing to 16 days for choking and threatening her with a knife. Advocates say the judge’s action sends a message that may result in many women not bringing charges against abusers.

According to the CDC report Intimate Partner Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions And Recommended Data Elements (version 2.0; 2015), “over 1 in 5 women (22.3%) and nearly 1 in 7 men (14.0%) have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime.” The real numbers are almost certainly higher, as many victims are afraid to report their partners for fear of retaliation once the abuser is released from jail. There are too many […]

2016-11-21T13:01:51-05:00October 19th, 2015|Nursing, nursing perspective, Patients|0 Comments
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Do Schools Still Have Nurses?

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

by woodley wonderworks, via Flickr. by woodley wonderworks, via Flickr.

In the December 1903 issue of AJN (reprinted, with an editor’s commentary, in September 2014), Henry Street Settlement nurse Lina L. Rogers described the impact of the first school nurse program in the United States. Ms. Rogers, who worked with Henry Street founder Lillian Wald to establish the program in New York City schools, emphasized that their purpose was not only to improve children’s health but to decrease missed school days.

Wise community leaders have long acknowledged the importance of school nursing in accomplishing these goals. But in recent years, this hasn’t prevented cutbacks that eliminate or severely limit the care that nurses can provide to their school communities.

An  October 10 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer describes an acute shortage of nurses in Philadelphia schools. Detailed here are multi-school coverage by individual RNs, wildly unrealistic caseloads for many of the nurses, and the significant responsibilities for “medical care” now borne by non-nurse teachers and administrators. In the article, Terry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, underscores the complexities of school nurse work, noting, “We have so many families living in deep poverty, and for some of these families, the only […]

2016-11-21T13:01:51-05:00October 16th, 2015|Nursing|4 Comments
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The First 50 Years of NPs: An Illustrated Timeline Shows Triumphs, Continuing Practice Barriers

By Amanda Anderson, a critical care nurse and graduate student in New York City currently doing a graduate placement at AJN.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the nurse practitioner (NP) role. Themes of innovation and sustainability emerge as one examines an illustrated timeline of the history of NPs in AJN‘s October issue and reads the accompanying text. (The first section of the timeline is below. Click to enlarge.)

Screen Shot 2015-10-14 at 1.48.08 PM

How did this advanced practice nursing role come into being? As the timeline explains, ” [d]uring the 1960s, health care was becoming increasingly specialized. Physicians were moving out of general practice and into more complex and lucrative specialties, creating a void in primary care and prevention services, and in care of the chronically ill.”

To fill this void, public health nurse Loretta Ford, working with Dr. Henry Silver at the University of Colorado in 1965, launched the first NP certificate program, a seminal moment in the history of this prevention-driven, primary-care-focused nursing role.

Ford wrote about the compelling need for NPs. Calling health care a capital investment, Ford said:

“We have failed to realize the full potential of professional nurses to improve the quality of life. This group has great unused potential for bringing about health care reforms. Properly prepared and effectively utilized, nurses could advance the nation’s health in […]

2016-11-21T13:01:52-05:00October 15th, 2015|career, Nursing, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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