This painting by emergency physician Lindsey Ball is one of 40 in a series in which Ball painted on deidentified photocopies of electrocardiograms (ECGs). See our “On the Cover” column to learn more.

The August issue of AJN is now live.

“An ED visit and ensuing hospitalization are frightening experiences for anyone, and potentially more so for nurses, who have a deeper understanding of what is happening to them than a lay person might, and thus perhaps a greater level of fear about the consequences,” write Judith Kimchi-Woods and colleagues in this month’s Original Research article, “The Lived Experiences of Nurses as Patients: A Qualitative Study.” Based on their study findings, they offer recommendations for meeting the needs of hospitalized nurses.

To address premedication overuse in blood transfusions at their institution, the authors of “Decreasing Premedication for Blood Transfusions: A Quality Improvement Project” developed and implemented an evidence-based algorithm to guide clinicians in when to administer premedication and an electronic order to be integrated with a premedication plan for each patient on an adult hematology–oncology unit. Learn more—and earn CE credit—here.

Also in this issue, you’ll find the latest installment of AJN‘s Strip Savvy column, “A Case of Symptomatic Bradycardia After Valve Replacement,” which presents a case scenario and an ECG strip and guides readers in analyzing the heart rhythm. (Check out the ECG-based painting on our cover by emergency physician Lindsey Ball.)

Curious about the growing field of aesthetic nursing? See AJN Reports for an overview of the specialty, including certification and training, plus regulatory, legal, and safety concerns.

See also the extensive health care news sections, the Journal Watch and Drug Watch sections, a Perspectives on Palliative Nursing article on palliative care in rural communities, a Nursing Resources column on addressing compassion fatigue, and more.

Browse and subscribe.

Some articles in this issue like the original research studies, news, and the editorial will be free to access; others will require log-in or subscription. You can subscribe to AJN, America’s most respected and oldest general interest nursing journal, for just $37.95 for a year (12 issues), so why not give it a try or give a subscription as a gift? We pay attention to appearance as well as content, and hope the cover of every issue will look good on a coffee table!