Off the Charts

PrEP, HIV, and Continuing Barriers to Access

As a gay man navigating the complex landscape of health care, I never expected to encounter judgment, stigma, and discrimination in my pursuit of preventative measures against HIV. In a world that’s constantly evolving, it’s disheartening to see how outdated attitudes still hinder access to essential services like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). My personal experience may shed light on the urgent need for an update on PrEP for HIV prevention.

The human cost of judgment and stigma.

Like many in the LGBTQIA+ community, I faced the harsh reality of being told not to have sex, to pursue monogamy and marriage as the only path to a healthy life. These societal expectations, fueled by ignorance and prejudice, led me to suppress my desires, inadvertently putting my health at risk. Denial of access to prevention services like PrEP left me feeling isolated, vulnerable, and frustrated.

My wake-up call came through a close friend who, unfortunately, lived out the consequences of societal judgment. Despite being vulnerable and at risk, he was denied access to PrEP because of the same archaic beliefs that I had encountered. The result was a diagnosis of HIV that forever altered his life and left me grappling with the reality that I […]

Guest Author2023-12-18T09:33:20-05:00December 18th, 2023|equity, infectious diseases, Nursing|0 Comments

A Nurse-Led QI Project to Reduce ED to ICU Transition Time

Countless studies conclude that the longer an admitted patient boards in an emergency department (ED) the greater the risk for negative outcomes such as falls and hospital-acquired conditions. ED patients waiting for admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) may be at the greatest risk, as they are categorized as critical.

Transporting critical patients from the ED to the ICU requires coordination of multiple clinicians from both units, which can lead to delays. Leading and managing these coordination efforts is a challenge. However we are optimistic as small tests of change have led us to advancements in the timeliness of ICU admissions and improvements in quality and safety.

-Jonathan Nover, MBA RN, senior director of nursing, Mount Sinai Queens

The Project

Geneline Barayuga, MSN RN

The ED and ICU teams at Mount Sinai Queens, a 165-bed hospital with 70,000 annual ED visits in Queens, New York, performed a quality improvement (QI) project by developing a collaborative approach between the ICU and ED charge nurses to reduce the median […]

Guest Author2023-12-11T10:17:23-05:00December 11th, 2023|Nursing, Quality improvement|0 Comments

HIV Update, Nurses’ Insights on Medication Safety: Recommended Reading in AJN’s December Issue

The December issue of AJN is now live.

World AIDS Day is commemorated on December 1 (see On the Cover). In this issue, you’ll find several articles related to HIV/AIDS:

In his editorial, “Ending the HIV Epidemic,” editor-in-chief Carl A. Kirton discusses his work in HIV/AIDS nursing, beginning early in his career—and early in the pandemic—in New York City.
Similarly, in his Specialty Spotlight column, “HIV Nursing,” Jonah Pierce provides an overview of the specialty, including progress in the field and current challenges in HIV prevention.
Infectious disease NP Amit “Mickey” Dhir outlines the latest on HIV pre‑exposure prophylaxis in “Preexposure Prophylaxis for HIV Prevention in the United States: An Overview and Update.”

Despite more than two decades of efforts to reduce medication errors, such errors remain prevalent. This month’s Original Research article, “Exploring Medication Safety Practices from the Nurse’s Perspective,” explores direct care nurses’ experiences with and perspectives on medication safety practices and errors.

Our December CE article, “Suicide Prevention: Protecting the Future of Nurses,” examines the state of nurse suicide, the latest statistics on nurse suicide rates, contributing factors, and current suicide prevention programs.

What […]

Diane Szulecki, editor2023-11-27T10:36:41-05:00November 27th, 2023|Nursing|0 Comments

Can Nursing Students Benefit from Using Artificial Intelligence?

A series of surprising developments including the release of generative chatbots like ChatGPT has rapidly increased awareness of the growing capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI), sending shock waves through the research, academic, and nursing education community. As a nurse educator, I initially became interested in the power of AI (in all its forms) to speed the research process and improve investigator workflows. Over time, it became evident that nursing students might benefit from AI in their study methods and when acquiring nursing knowledge to support their academic success.

Photo by John Schnobrich/Unsplash

To better understand this, it is helpful to consider the three fundamental stages in which nursing students acquire knowledge and explore how AI can play a pivotal role in each stage. This blog post will include an overview of AI-powered tools with example prompts to guide students’ academic efforts.

Preparation–Cognitive Stage

In this stage, nursing students are mastering knowledge foundational to nursing practice, including remembering and retaining facts and essential concepts. Students find themselves in this stage when they are learning new content. Open-access large language models (LLMs) in the form of chatbots can support students in this stage by providing concise summaries of pathophysiology, pharmacology, and disease management. AI can also serve […]

Guest Author2024-01-25T10:18:12-05:00November 15th, 2023|artificial intelligence (AI), Nursing, Technology|1 Comment

Trust Your Gut: The Profound Implications of the Microbiome for Our Health

The transformative potential of the microbiome.

I’ve always considered the saying “trust your gut” to be a directive to respond to one’s innate instincts. However, as a gastroenterology clinical nurse specialist, I now recognize there can be a literal meaning to that phrase with the recent discovery of the microbiome and its implications for our health. The microbiome has yielded significant recent research discoveries for health promotion and has the potential to radically transform our diagnosis and management of disease and health disorders.

Microbiologists have actually suggested the microbiome be considered a human organ. Our CE article in AJN’s November issue, Current and Emerging Applications of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation, highlights how a disrupted microbiome, manifesting as Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection that is nonresponsive to first-line antibiotic treatment, can be effectively and quickly treated with transplantation of a diverse, microbiota-rich stool from a healthy donor.

But what is the microbiome?

The microbiome consists of the trillions of microorganisms that […]

Guest Author2023-10-30T10:43:42-04:00October 30th, 2023|Nursing|0 Comments

PrEP, HIV, and Continuing Barriers to Access

The human cost of judgment and stigma.

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A Nurse-Led QI Project to Reduce ED to ICU Transition Time

The Project

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HIV Update, Nurses’ Insights on Medication Safety: Recommended Reading in AJN’s December Issue

The December issue of AJN is now live.

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Can Nursing Students Benefit from Using Artificial Intelligence?

Preparation–Cognitive Stage

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Trust Your Gut: The Profound Implications of the Microbiome for Our Health

The transformative potential of the microbiome.

But what is the microbiome?

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