Decreasing the Trauma of IV Sticks – for Patients and Nurses

In my clinical days, I was adept at IV sticks. I had a lot of experience from my days in the ER, but especially from working as a chemotherapy nurse, where I had patients with fragile and damaged veins. I learned every trick to coax a vein to appear and which gauge needle would work the best to avoid puncturing through the vein. I was so “into” IVs at one point, I’d note the veins on people’s arms, judging whether they’d be an easy or hard stick.

Venous access may be difficult to achieve in older adults. Photo © Alto / Alamy Stock Photo.

Little instruction in starting an IV.

But it wasn’t always so. I recall approaching the first time I had to draw blood with much trepidation. There was virtually no training—a more experienced colleague had me watch her and then walked me through it in a few minutes:

“It’s not that hard: see which hand or arm has the better veins; tie the tourniquet around the arm; swab the skin with alcohol; insert the needle, bevel down; pull back and […]

2018-07-19T12:02:08-04:00July 19th, 2018|Nursing|0 Comments
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A Nurse’s Open Letter to Parents Who Have Lost a Child

“You are never alone as you miss these children, as you laugh recalling moments with them. Don’t worry that the memory of them is fading—their presence is strong and lives even beyond you and your love for them. We remember them, too.”

Illustration by Barbara Hranilovich for AJN. All rights reserved.

In this month’s Reflections column, author Jessica L. Spruit has written an open letter to parents who have lost a child. Spruit, a pediatric NP in a hematology/oncology department, makes it clear that the children in her care are not forgotten and that their deaths are never routine, even on a hem/onc unit. Here, she shares memories of her patients from over the years, recalling the things that made them unique—as children, and not just as “patients.”

In her letter, Spruit describes something that is often hard to convey about our work. In spite of all of the stress and frustrations of nursing today, we still are able to engage deeply with other people. The courage and grace (and fun and joy, too) that we have the privilege to witness become part of who we are. When our patients are children, their gifts to us are particularly memorable.

“Please don’t ever think that we ‘do this all the time’ or that it is ‘just part of our job.’ Please don’t fear that you are the only ones who remember and miss your children.”

Read “We Remember Them, Too” in […]

2018-07-17T14:28:09-04:00July 17th, 2018|Nursing, pediatrics|0 Comments
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AJN Wants You! A Call for Peer Reviewers and Authors

nurse typing on keyboardTake your career to the next step—become a peer reviewer or author.

For over 118 years, AJN has presented its readers with timely and informative content to support best nursing practice and to examine issues of the day that are relevant to nurses and the profession. While that’s still our aim today, content development is more complex—it now includes peer review; fact-checking to ensure accuracy; citing evidence from the literature; ethical guidelines that govern editor, reviewer, and author behavior; careful editing to meet standards for quality writing; transparency to avoid bias and conflicts of interest. We’re proud of our commitment to high standards, and our success is borne out by the many awards we’ve received—more than any other nursing journal.

All of this wouldn’t be possible without the help of peer reviewers and authors, who commit to making the content we publish the best that it can be: timely, accurate, readable, and useful.

Peer reviewers are essential to any scholarly journal.

Peer-reviewing is also an excellent way for fledgling writers to better understand what editors look for in manuscripts. We welcome new reviewers who have expertise in nursing, are current with the literature and practice in their area of expertise, have a master’s degree or higher (or a BSN and certification in a specialty area), and are willing to review three to six manuscripts […]

2018-07-12T11:15:23-04:00July 12th, 2018|Nursing, nursing career, writing|0 Comments
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Making Sense of the Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines Controversy

“In a time of uncertainty about breast cancer screening, the role of the nurse in communicating information to patients about screening’s health risks and benefits is more important than ever.”

Few diagnostic rituals loom as large—or generate as much anxiety—as an upcoming mammogram appointment. Until relatively recently, most of the concern surrounding the procedure was about what it might reveal. What most women older than age 40 haven’t generally questioned since routine screening began in the 1980s was whether they should have a mammogram each year.

Confusion for patients and providers.

Sandra Brennan, director of radiology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Westchester, West Harrison, New York, reads mammogram results with a technician. Photo courtesy Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Graphics Team.

Yet many women, particularly those in their 40s, are now struggling with this very issue. Recent changes in the breast cancer screening guidelines of major organizations have moved away from a population-based approach to screening, which has historically begun at age 40 and been repeated annually for most women.

Based on data from clinical research and cancer registries, the current recommendations reflect an effort […]

2018-07-09T07:57:28-04:00July 9th, 2018|Nursing|0 Comments
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NPs ‘Move Mountains’

Rear Admiral Susan Orsega, chief nurse officer of U.S. Public Health Service

Last week I attended the annual conference of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) in Denver. Yes, I was there for the record attendance (over 5,000) and the record heat wave (104 degrees). As with most large nursing conferences, there were numerous concurrent sessions—but here, many of them were like skills labs, including things not part of most RNs’ skill set, like performing a thoracentesis.

What was also different from other meetings was that the legislative and policy sessions, which were of high interest to me in order to find out how NPs are doing with scope of practice authority, were closed to media. No one could say exactly why.

Audio interview with U.S Public Health Service CNO Susan Orsega.

I did get a chance to speak with the keynote speaker, Rear Admiral (RADM) Susan Orsega, MSN, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, chief nurse officer and assistant surgeon general of the U.S. Public Health Service. She focused on the critical role of NPs in addressing health inequities. She urged NPs to become active advocates to improve health, and, mindful of our Colorado setting, she charged them to “Go, move mountains.” You can […]

2018-07-06T08:27:26-04:00July 6th, 2018|Conference reports, Nursing, nursing perspective, Public health|0 Comments
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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.
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