“I experienced the inestimable value of a healing garden . . . Regardless of diagnosis, age, circumstances, or ability to pay, nature willingly extends her gifts and does not forsake us.”—Elaine C. Meyer, author of the February Reflections column
The February issue of AJN is now live. Here are some highlights.
CE: Original Research: Midlife Hypertension and Hypercholesterolemia in Relation to Cognitive Function Later in Life in Black Women
In light of a lack of research on the associations between vascular risk factors and cognitive function in black older adults, the authors explored the relationship between two such risk factors in midlife—hypertension and hypercholesterolemia—and cognitive function later in life among black women.
CE: Caring for Survivors of Hodgkin Lymphoma
This article—winner of the 2018 Nurse Faculty Scholars/AJN Mentored Writing Award—provides an overview of Hodgkin lymphoma, the most common late effects of treatment, and current recommendations for survivor surveillance and screening.
Cultivating Quality: A Nurse-Driven Oral Care Protocol to Reduce Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia
The authors describe a quality improvement initiative to implement an oral care protocol in the adult in-patient care areas of a level 1 trauma hospital and evaluate its impact on the incidence of hospital-acquired pneumonia.
Professional Development: Integrating Peer Review into Nursing Practice
How clinical nurses developed and successfully incorporated a peer review program within a busy nursing unit, strengthening professional relationships and practice.
Emerging Infections: Acute Flaccid Myelitis: An Ongoing Investigation
An update on this polio-like illness that typically affects children, including its clinical course and possible causes.
There’s much more in our February issue, including:
- An Ethical Issues column on dismissing patients for noncompliance.
- A What I’m Reading book review of The Language of Kindness: A Nurse’s Story by Christie Watson.
- An AJN Reports on labor induction at 39 weeks.
Click here to browse the table of contents and explore the issue on our website.
A note on the cover:
On this month’s cover, a nursing student performs a blood pressure screening at the seventh annual Los Angeles First Ladies Health Day in Pasadena, California. The event was organized by the First Ladies Health Initiative—an association of more than 200 black and Hispanic pastors’ wives (“First Ladies”) representing cross-denominational congregations across the country.
In the AJN Reports article, low-risk pregnant women who were induced at 39 weeks had lower rates of infant mortality and cesarean section, however the nursing care level was one-to-one for the study, eliciting speculation that outcomes may not be reproducible with less staffing. If this is true, is it not reasonable to conclude that the nursing care level of one patient to one nurse during the entire induction and delivery was the factor responsible for the better outcomes, not the induction? Either way, recommending induction as a safer alternative seems risky without the accompanied conditions of the study, which is the one-to-one nurse staffing for the mother and baby.