‘Suppose a Client Went Out of His Room’: Study Explores RNs’ Use of Surveillance Technology in Residential Facilities

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

“If people are for instance walking around in the units, well, then they could do all sorts of things . . . ”—study participant

Table 2. Surveillance Devices and Their Use in the Selected Care Facilities Table 2. Surveillance Devices and Their Use in the Selected Care Facilities

Surveillance technology in residential care facilities for people with dementia or intellectual disabilities has been touted both as a solution to understaffing and as a means to increasing clients’ autonomy. But it’s unclear whether surveillance technology delivers on its promises—and there are fears that its use could attenuate the care relationship. To explore how nurses and support staff actually use this technology, Alexander Niemeijer and colleagues decided to conduct a field study. They report on their findings in this month’s CE–Original Research feature, “The Use of Surveillance Technology in Residential Facilities for People with Dementia or Intellectual Disabilities.” Here’s a brief summary.

Methods: An ethnographic field study was carried out in two residential care facilities: a nursing home for people with dementia and a facility for people with intellectual disabilities. Data were collected through field observations and informal conversations as well as through formal interviews.
Results: Five overarching themes on the use of surveillance technology emerged from the data: continuing to do rounds, alarm fatigue, keeping […]

2017-07-27T14:43:52-04:00December 15th, 2014|nursing research|0 Comments
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Nurses at Center Stage: AJN’s Top 10 Blog Posts of 2014

By Jacob Molyneux, AJN senior editor/blog editor

Scanning electron micrograph of filamentous Ebola virus particles budding from an infected VERO E6 cell (35,000x magnification). Credit: NIAID Filamentous Ebola virus particles budding from an infected VERO E6 cell (35,000x magnification). Credit: NIAID

It’s unsurprising that some of our top blog posts this past year were about Ebola virus disease. But it’s worth noting that our clinical editor Betsy Todd, who is also an epidemiologist, cut through the misinformation and noise about Ebola very early on—at a time when many thoughtful people still seemed ill informed about the illness and its likely spread in the U.S.

Ebola is scary in itself, but fear was also spread by media coverage, some politicians, and, for a while, a tone-deaf CDC too reliant on absolutes in its attempts to reassure the public.

While the most dire predictions have not come true here in the U.S., it’s also true that a lot of work has gone into keeping Ebola from getting a foothold. A lot of people in health care have put themselves at risk to make this happen, doing so at first in an atmosphere of radical uncertainty about possible modes of transmission (uncertainty stoked in part by successive explanations offered as to how the nurses treating Thomas […]

2016-11-21T13:03:21-05:00December 12th, 2014|career, healthcare social media, infectious diseases, Nursing, nursing perspective|1 Comment
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New CE for Nurses: Understanding the Origins of the Obesity Epidemic

By Gaulsstin/via Wikimedia Commons By Gaulsstin/via Wikimedia Commons

One of our two December feature CE articles, “The Obesity Epidemic, Part 1: Understanding the Origins,” is about a pervasive and complex issue that nurses see the health consequences of in every practice setting:

. . . more than 35% of adults and 16% of children ages two to 18 are obese. Obesity disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities as well as people at lower income and educational levels, though it is prevalent among men and women in every segment of society. Obese children and adults are at risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal dysfunction, and certain types of cancer. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates the annual national health care expenditure on obesity to be about $147 billion, with per capita spending on obese people averaging $1,429 more than spending on individuals of normal weight.

Knowledge about this epidemic continues to evolve. This article is part 1 of a two-part series and provides readers a concise overview of current theories about the pathophysiologic, psychological, and social factors that influence weight control. As the overview points out, ” [t]o contribute to obesity’s treatment and prevention, nurses must be conversant in a wide range of theoretical and clinical perspectives on the problem.” […]

2016-11-21T13:03:22-05:00December 10th, 2014|nursing perspective, patient engagement, Patients|0 Comments
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Too Tired to Nurse

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

by patchy patch, via flickr by patchy patch, via flickr

Just about every nurse I know has been “asked” (or “guilted” or “mandated”) to work an additional shift on top of a grueling one. The worst such experience I ever had was having to work from midnight to 8 am after working a straight week of 4 pm to midnight shifts. I was exhausted, but someone had called in sick, leaving only two RNs and one aide for the 11-bed ED trauma unit.

I was so tired that at one point I found myself falling asleep while I was standing by a patient’s bed charting vital signs. I couldn’t remember the blood pressure reading I had obtained just moments before. It was good luck that I didn’t make an error—and had the good sense to have a colleague double-check medications I was readying (these were the old days, before unit dosing). […]

2018-03-28T10:19:26-04:00December 8th, 2014|Nursing, nursing perspective|7 Comments
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Storytelling as a Vital Source of Knowledge and Connection in Nursing

I’m not saying that nurses should abandon the quantitative and evidence-based practices that we know have saved many lives. But we should also seek to balance and contextualize this approach through humbly listening to the stories of those we care for. Some of my greatest learning has come from individual client stories and from the rich meaning of their experiences. Stories from clients about their lives can have both a tangible and an intangible effect on the care we provide. A story may create an atmosphere of openness, closeness, and warmth that is both soothing and healing during the most trying times.

Lascaux cave painting/via Wikipedia Lascaux cave painting/via Wikipedia

That’s an excerpt from “He Told Me a Dream of Animals Leaving His Heart,” this month’s Viewpoint essay by Mary Smith, a nurse practitioner and PhD student who writes of caring for a traditional healer as a community health nurse working in a First Nation community in an isolated northern area in Canada.

Smith discusses the many roles storytelling can play: it’s a way to inspire nursing students and explore ethical issues, a source of knowledge about patients and communities, a way to bridge cultural differences, and much more. The piece is direct, short, and written with clarity and insight. Give it a read and see if it gets you thinking or speaks to your own experience.—Jacob Molyneux, senior editor

 

2017-05-27T10:30:57-04:00December 5th, 2014|Nursing, patient experience|2 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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