Final Connection: An ICU Nurse Revises Her Feelings About Cell Phones

Illustration by Denny Bond. All rights reserved. Illustration by Denny Bond. All rights reserved.

Many of us have a love-hate relationship to smartphones, and each person (and generation) draws the line in the sand between invasiveness and usefulness in a different place. Cynthia Stock, the critical care nurse who wrote the Reflections essay in the November issue of AJN, “Final Connection,” starts her brief and moving story with honesty about such matters:

On Monday, if you had asked me how I feel about cell phones, I would have come up with this: I hate to listen to the drone of conversation coming from the person next to me on the treadmill at the gym. I don’t care about trouble with the HOA. I don’t care about a son who can’t decide on a career as a director or an actor. I work out to smooth the kinks in my soul from a job that requires me to navigate a relationship with life and death.

Today, ask me how I feel about cell phones. . . .

A good essay or story often centers around a reversal of some sort. What the protagonist believed may not be so true after all, or may be more complicated than first thought. As you can probably guess, in the […]

2016-11-21T13:01:49-05:00November 2nd, 2015|narratives, Nursing, nursing perspective, patient engagement, Patients|1 Comment
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Practical Steps for Nurses to Reduce Prescription Opioid Diversion

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

“Opioids diverted from friends and family members who have legitimate prescriptions are a major source of abused prescription opioids.”

More than 800 lbs. of drugs have been collected in Lycoming County, PA, since drug collection boxes were placed in law enforcement agencies over a year ago, allowing residents to safely dispose of unwanted drugs. Here the drugs are separated from their containers before incineration. Photo courtesy of Karen Vibert-Kennedy / Williamsport Sun-Gazette. More than 800 lbs. of drugs have been collected in Lycoming County, PA, since collection boxes were placed in law enforcement agencies over a year ago, allowing residents to safely dispose of unwanted drugs. Here the drugs are separated from their containers before incineration. Photo courtesy of Karen Vibert-Kennedy / Williamsport Sun-Gazette.

Amid recent reports from the CDC drawing attention to a prescription painkiller and heroin overdose epidemic, last week President Obama announced an initiative to address both prescription drug and heroin abuse in the United States. In addition to a […]

2016-11-21T13:01:50-05:00October 28th, 2015|Nursing, pain management, Patients|0 Comments
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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 as […]

2016-11-21T13:01:50-05:00October 27th, 2015|nursing perspective, Patients|0 Comments
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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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Case Studies in Effective Care Coordination by Nurses in Rural Kansas

“I did not have a clue how to proceed.”

Care coordinator Burlay Parks meets with a patient at Greeley County Health Services in Tribune, Kansas. Photo by Chrysanne Grund. Care coordinator Burlay Parks meets with a patient at Greeley County Health Services in Tribune, Kansas. Photo by Chrysanne Grund.

The opening sentence of “Pathfinding on the Frontier,” the In the Community column in the October issue of AJN, alludes to the confusion even the most organized and savvy person sometimes feels when navigating our health care system.

In rural settings, referrals to specialists from primary care providers can be difficult for patients and families to follow up on, sometimes requiring that patients travel great distances.

Patient care coordination has been shown to decrease the number of ED visits and hospitalizations. The authors of this article explore care coordination in two Kansas counties, presenting three case studies showing how a nurse care coordinator—as part of a program at a rural primary care practice funded by a two-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation—resolved complex issues for seriously or chronically ill patients involving medications, specialists, and diagnoses. […]

2016-11-21T13:01:56-05:00October 12th, 2015|Nursing, nursing perspective, Patients|1 Comment
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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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