Infections in Acute Care: Still More to Do

A sharply increased focus on hospital-acquired infections (HAIs).

This month marks the 14th anniversary of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), the CDC’s data repository for health care–associated infections. Since 2005, when a limited number of hospitals began reporting infections data, the health care community has sharply increased its focus on the prevention, early recognition, and treatment of infections in the hospital. Research on risk factors, closer attention to limiting device use (urinary catheters, central lines), and support for meticulous hand hygiene and environmental cleaning protocols have decreased rates of CAUTIs, CLABSIs, and surgical site infections.

The risk is always there.

Still, as nurses well know, hospitalized patients remain at increased risk for developing infections, especially if they are immunosuppressed or have diabetes, need invasive devices, have many comorbidities, or stay in a critical care unit.

The current evidence reviewed.

In “Infection in Acute Care: Evidence for Practice” in this month’s AJN, Douglas Houghton reviews the latest evidence on common infections in acute care settings, including community- and hospital-acquired pneumonia, surgical site infections, and C. difficile. […]

2019-10-09T10:09:54-04:00October 9th, 2019|infection control, Nursing|1 Comment
Read More

Multistate Outbreak of Life-Threatening Pulmonary Disease Amid E-Cigarette Use

Health officials are investigating an outbreak of severe pulmonary disease this summer that appears to be linked to the use of e-cigarettes, or vaping. One person has died, and many others have been hospitalized with a variety of symptoms in the days and weeks after they reported vaping. As of late August, 215 possible cases of e-cigarette–associated pulmonary disease have been reported in 25 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Unknown Cause

On Friday, the agency released a Health Advisory that provides information about e-cigarette products, updated details about the outbreak, and recommendations for clinicians, public health officials, and the public.

Health officials noted that respiratory (cough, shortness of breath, chest pain), gastrointestinal (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), or nonspecific constitutional (fatigue, fever, or weight loss) symptoms have been occurring in otherwise healthy people, many in their teens or 20s, since June.

The exact cause of the outbreak is unknown, but reports point to a common factor: e-cigarette products were reportedly used by those affected. Many, but not all, patients reported that they’d used tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other cannabinoid products. The CDC, along with the Food and Drug Administration and local and state health departments, continues to investigate the cause of the outbreak.

[…]

2019-09-06T10:38:59-04:00September 5th, 2019|Nursing, Public health|0 Comments
Read More

‘An Epidemic Transformed’: Where Are We With HIV Today?

“I wasn’t supposed to be here,” [the patient said] to the nurse as he watched the last few drops of his chemotherapy drug infuse into the port implanted in his chest… The nurse caring for him smiled while preparing to disconnect his IV tubing and flush the port….   What distinguished [this patient] from the nurse’s other patients was that he had been living with HIV for 32 years.”

At the very beginning of the HIV epidemic, a friend of mine worked on one of the first HIV units in New York City. The nursing staff followed Standard Precautions in their work with these patients, as we do today. They weren’t particularly concerned about risk to themselves, because it was already clear that this disease—as little as we knew about it then—was not easily transmitted to caregivers.

Remembering fear.

Yet many who worked in other parts of the hospital were not convinced of this. One of my friend’s stories always stayed with me: She relayed how dietary staff would take the elevator to the HIV unit, shove the meal cart out of the elevators into the elevator lobby, and quickly step back into the elevator and close the doors. Many times the nursing staff […]

2019-09-03T10:06:59-04:00September 3rd, 2019|infectious diseases, Nursing, Public health|0 Comments
Read More

A Roundup of Women’s Health Issues

Is it Women’s Health Month? Not according to the calendar. But as you browse through this month’s issue of AJN, you may indeed get the impression that we decided to focus on women’s health for the month of August.

This month’s Viewpoint, by Julie Michelle Haracz, “Making OTC Oral Contraceptives Available for All Women,” reminds us that “No woman should have to wait months for an appointment to see a physician, travel long distances, or pay more than she can afford to prevent an unintended pregnancy.” Haracz notes that oral contraceptives already are available over the counter in more than 100 other countries.

In the news: quick takes and closer looks.

Our August news section is filled with stories of particular importance to women. Our reporters cover the flurry of recent state laws that would significantly limit a women’s ability to obtain an abortion (all facing court challenges), an interesting UK study showing that a single dose of antibiotic after forceps-assisted or vacuum-assisted births reduced the incidence of infection, and sobering new CDC statistics suggesting that 60% of U.S. pregnancy-related deaths are preventable.

Did you know that suicide is the second-leading cause of death among young people in the U.S.? Sadly, the rate of suicide among girls ages 10 to 14 is rising, narrowing the gap between rates rates for boys and girls.

Some positives.

2019-08-12T10:32:32-04:00August 12th, 2019|Nursing, Public health, women's health|0 Comments
Read More

Bringing the Faces of Addiction—and Recovery—to Schools

Nancy Labov, RN, CADC. Photos courtesy of Nancy Labov.

A nurse speaks from experience.

In nursing school, Nancy Labov felt a kinship with the patients she encountered during a rotation on a rehabilitation unit. She realized that she wanted to spend her career caring for patients like them. Their struggles with addiction struck a chord: alcoholism ran in her family, and she, too, had a substance abuse problem, though she was in denial about it at the time.

In her mid-20s, Labov got sober; she has maintained her sobriety ever since. She’s also persisted in her mission to help people recover from addiction. As an RN and a certified alcohol and drug counselor, she has spent the past three decades working on rehab and detox units across the country.

Labov is also the founder of Alumni in Recovery (AIR)—a nonprofit through which young adults in recovery give talks at schools in the communities they grew up in. As she discusses in the July Profile in AJN, “Helping Students See the Realities of Addiction and Recovery,” the New Jersey-based volunteer organization fights stigma by opening a dialogue about addiction and showing teens a young, local, and relatable face of recovery.

A peer-to-peer approach is key.

“How do we […]

2019-07-11T08:55:16-04:00July 11th, 2019|Nursing, nursing stories, Public health|2 Comments
Read More

Comment ground rules

1. Please be respectful.
2. We moderate all comments.

Content disclaimer

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.
Go to Top