“It’s a challenge—for both nurses and family caregivers—to prepare caregivers for their new duties, often in a very short time span. I often wonder if it’s really possible to do this—and even if it is, should that be our goal?”—AJN editor-in-chief Shawn Kennedy in her March editorial

The March issue of AJN is now live. Here are some highlights.

CE: Original Research: New Acute Symptoms in Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment: What Should Family Caregivers Do?

The authors assessed the frequency with which family caregivers of older veterans with cognitive impairment sought guidance for new physical or behavioral symptoms and described the characteristics of such events, including the diagnoses and advice given.

CE: Type 2 Diabetes: A Pharmacologic Update

A review of established and newer type 2 diabetes medications, plus nursing implications for patient education and monitoring for adverse effects.

Cultivating Quality: Using a Fall Prevention Checklist to Reduce Hospital Falls: Results of a Quality Improvement Project

Nurses at a Midwestern teaching hospital implemented a fall prevention checklist to improve adherence to an existing protocol and evaluated its impact on fall incidence.

Clarifying the Confusion of Arterial Blood Gas Analysis: Is it Compensation or Combination?

This article reviews basic arterial blood gas interpretation and discusses the combinations of imbalances and compensatory mechanisms that may occur.

An Evidence-Based Approach to Precepting New Nurses

The authors discuss lessons learned during implementation of a structured preceptor development program, and highlight the challenges and obstacles they encountered.

There’s much more in our March issue, including:

  • An Art of Nursing article on the work of Judith Scott, an artist with Down syndrome.
  • An AJN Reports on how technology is transforming work for nurses.
  • An Profile of Linda Burnes Bolton, chief nursing officer, vice president for nursing, and director of nursing research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Click here to browse the table of contents and explore the issue on our website.

A note on the cover:

This month’s cover photo is part of a series, Caregiver / Campañera, in which photographer Rich Beckermeyer documented his mother, Cindy, caring for her parents as they struggled with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Beckermeyer took the cover photo in 2017 during a family gathering at a campsite. The resulting image, he says, was “the perfect combination of camp smoke, afternoon light, and the relationship of a daughter to her mother.”