AJN’s October Issue: Reducing VAP, Decreasing Patient Agitation, Bedbugs, Helping Transgender Kids, More

AJN1013.Cover.OnlineAJN‘s October issue is now available on our Web site. Here’s a selection of what not to miss.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is one of the most common hospital-acquired infections and a leading cause of death in ICUs. The authors of “Mouth Care to Reduce Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia” discuss the importance of oral care in infection control and offer an evidence-based, step-by-step guide to providing optimal mouth care for intubated patients. You can earn 2.3 CE credits with this article. If you’re reading AJN on your iPad, you can listen to a podcast interview with the author by clicking on the podcast icon on the first page of the article. The podcast is also available on our Web site.

The stress of hospitalization can lead to anxiety or agitation, especially in patients with psychiatric or cognitive disorders, putting them at increased risk for falls and self-harm. “Decreasing Patient Agitation Using Individualized Therapeutic Activities” describes a nurse-led quality improvement project that reduced agitation in patients suffering from cognitive impairment, delirium, and other behavior-altering conditions who were receiving continuous observation on a nonpsychiatric unit. Earn 2.4 CE credits by reading this article and taking the test that follows. Don’t miss the podcast interview with the author (click on the podcast icon on the first page of the article if you’re using your iPad, or visit our podcasts page).

Increasing […]

2016-11-21T13:06:27-05:00September 30th, 2013|Nursing|0 Comments
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Come Into My Parlor

Amy Getter, MS, RN, lives in Eugene, Oregon, where, in her own words, she “works with people with life-limiting illness who are enrolled in a hospice wherever they consider ‘home.’”

by Ramon Peco/via Flickr by Ramon Peco/via Flickr

I fondly remember becoming acquainted with my first “parlor,” in a 100-year-old home that my family moved into during my teen years. The walls were dressed in faded, peeling, paisley-patterned wallpaper and a tarnished brass chandelier hung from the ceiling. French doors closed it away from the rest of the living area, giving it a slightly mysterious aura. Far-off city lights blinked at me from elongated paned windows. I immediately claimed it as my bedroom.

The word parlor (derived from the verb “to speak”) may have first been used in medieval monasteries. An “outer parlor” was designated for receiving outsiders and attending to business needs and the “inner parlor” was for the monks’ private use. During the mid-19th century, formal parlors evolved and could be found in homes like the one my family lived in.

Weddings, funerals (being “laid out”), and other social events occurred in the parlor. Home businesses emerged (such as “funeral parlors”—offering an option for laying out the deceased in someone else’s home!). In recent years, care of the infirm and preparation of the […]

2016-11-21T13:06:28-05:00September 27th, 2013|narratives, nursing perspective, nursing stories, patient experience|3 Comments
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It’s Starting Again

Some Notes on Pink Ribbons and the Primacy of Breast Cancer Advocacy

By Karen Roush, MS, RN, FNP-C, AJN clinical managing editor

Breast cancer awareness giveaways/Wikipedia Commons Breast cancer awareness cornucopia/Wikipedia Commons

It’s starting again. October is less than a week away and already they’re everywhere. But then again, they never really go away. Those darn pink ribbons.

Breast cancer is a terrible disease. My family has experienced its share and I know the anxious—it’s going to be fine, oh my god what will happen to my kids if I die—feeling of waiting for a path report after a lumpectomy.

But there are other terrible things that happen to women—and happen more frequently. And we don’t pay anywhere near the same attention to them. Take heart disease, for example. Heart disease is the number one killer of women. In 1999, according to the CDC, 24% of deaths in women were from heart disease, while 22% were from ALL types of cancer combined. Or consider domestic violence, experienced by one in four women during their lifetime while one in eight women will experience breast cancer.

So why is it that breast cancer garners so much of the public’s attention, and along with that, a disproportionate amount of its resources? It collects more funding than any other type of cancer. For example, lung […]

2017-04-21T22:20:27-04:00September 25th, 2013|nursing perspective|6 Comments
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Do EHRs Rob Nurses of Voice and Oversimplify Description of Patient Care?

Julianna Paradisi, RN, OCN, writes a monthly post for this blog and works as an infusion nurse in outpatient oncology. Editor’s note: this post has been slightly revised for clarity since its initial publication a day ago.

Heroines of Nursing, mixed media collage by julianna paradisi, 2013. Text by Florence Nightingale
Heroines of Nursing, mixed media collage by julianna paradisi, 2013. Text by Florence Nightingale

Previously I’ve written that I have a new employer. Part of this transition is relearning how to use the electronic health record (EHR). Fortunately, this new employer uses the same program as my last. However, that version was EHR-lite compared to the one we use now.

For instance, the new system contains an abundance of “smart phrases” that are used to lessen time spent writing nursing notes. If you are unfamiliar with smart phrases, an uncomplicated explanation is that they are preconstructed phrases chosen from those commonly found in charting, such as “The patient arrived ambulatory for IV infusion.” Instead of typing in this phrase, nurses can click on it from a computer screen menu, and voilà! The entire phrase is electronically inserted into the notes.

Smart phrases, like charting by exception […]

2016-11-21T13:06:30-05:00September 23rd, 2013|digital health, nursing perspective|7 Comments
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A Breath of Fresh Air, Relatively Speaking

By Tara Duffy, RN. Tara is an RN at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY, where she works in the Wilmont Cancer Center. 

I hear it, taste it, smell the construction to my left as I walk into the hospital. It is a sight for sore eyes—as in causing them, not soothing them—so I try to pay it little attention.

Her smile catches my attention. I have not seen it in weeks.

“I hear you got outside today?” I ask.

by utahwildflowers/via Flickr by utahwildflowers/via Flickr

The smile widens as I write my name on the whiteboard. She is a vibrant woman, full of life yet dying to be home.

“I did . . . it was greeeeaat,” she sighs.

I instantly envision the hospital surroundings—smokers circle at one exit, construction on the opposite.

“Where did you get to go?” I ask, hoping to learn of some hidden gems beyond these doors.

“Right out front,” she responds, matter-of-factly.

The construction site, I think to myself, instantly dismayed.

“It was sooo great.” Her smile surfaces again.

I suddenly realize she is speaking in relative terms.

“Just that fresh air,” she pauses as I envision the filth and ruckus, “was soooo nice.” She exhales deeply.

My smile widens with hers. I am instantly humbled. I manage an “I bet.” […]

2016-11-21T13:06:31-05:00September 20th, 2013|nursing perspective, Patients|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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