We Call You ‘Wheat Head’ – An Unexpected Crosscultural Encounter

I entered the wall-less, thatch-roofed waiting area of the clinic with my right hand in a ball of bandages, taped to my chest. The airy space was almost empty, without nurses or even a receptionist. The only other person in the little space, sitting very elegantly on one of the narrow wooden benches, was a woman in traditional West African dress who was quite pregnant.

NovemberReflectionsThe November Reflections essay in AJN is called “Surprise!” Its opening paragraph is above. This is one of our occasional Reflections essays by a writer who is not a nurse. In this case, the author Thomas Turman’s easy, self-deprecating tone, and the matter-of-fact manner in which his unexpected patient faces a situation that might induce a certain panic in many people from wealthier countries, feels just right. […]

2016-11-21T13:06:07-05:00November 8th, 2013|career, Nursing, Public health|0 Comments
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‘Spread the Word, Not the Germs’ – Infection Control During Religious Gatherings

By Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN editor-in-chief

Last week there was a disconcerting report from the Associated Press about a Catholic clergyman in North Dakota who may have inadvertently exposed many members of his church to hepatitis A. According to the report, the ill bishop had probably contracted the illness from contaminated food while attending a conference in Italy and, because he didn’t immediately feel ill (incubation period usually ranges from two to four weeks, though can be as long as eight weeks), continued to dispense communion at several area churches.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web page for hepatitis A, infection “is primarily transmitted by the fecal–oral route, by either person-to-person contact or consumption of contaminated food or water.” A person is infectious from two weeks before to one week after the onset of symptoms. The FAQ page on the site does say, in regards to infected food handlers (which would seem to fit this case, in that the bishop handled communion hosts), that “transmission to patrons is unlikely”—and also offers some guidance for postexposure prophylaxis (PEP). In this case, too much time had elapsed: PEP needs to be given within two weeks of exposure.

SpreadTheWordNottheGermsOpeningSpreadScreenshotThis situation made me wonder, though, as we’re about to enter peak flu season, if there are any infection control guidelines appropriate for religious services. Some […]

2016-11-21T13:06:07-05:00November 6th, 2013|nursing perspective|0 Comments
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Measuring Dyspnea Upon Unit Admission: Is It Feasible?

Do You Ask Your Patients about Dyspnea?

Photo by Thomas Northcut. Photo by Thomas Northcut.

As a CE article this month, we feature a report of a pilot study on routine assessment of dyspnea on admission to a patient unit. It’s routine to take vital signs on all patients on admission, but really, how many nurses actually stand there and count respirations for all patients? And even if you are the exceptional nurse who does, that doesn’t necessarily tell you if the patient actually feels any shortness of breath. And then, of course, there’s the issue of whether it’s a good idea to add to the burden of documentation that many nurses are already concerned about.

This article reports on one group’s experience piloting a short dyspnea assessment tool for all admissions on several units. Here’s the abstract:

The assessment of dyspnea, like that of pain, depends on patient self-report. Expert consensus panels have called for dyspnea to be measured quantitatively and documented on a routine basis, as is the practice with pain. But little information is available on how to measure and record dyspnea ratings systematically. Consequently, the prevalence of dyspnea in hospital settings may be greater than is generally recognized, and dyspnea may be insufficiently managed. This article describes a pilot study that sought to test the feasibility of measuring dyspnea as part of the initial patient assessment performed by […]

2016-11-21T13:06:08-05:00November 4th, 2013|nursing perspective, nursing research, Patients|0 Comments
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Tightly Scripted: One NP’s Experience with Retail Clinics

By Karen Roush, MS, RN, FNP-C, AJN clinical managing editor

Retail health clinics (walk-in clinics that are in a retail setting such as a drugstore or discount department store)KarenRoush have become an effective mode of providing increased access to care for many people and a growing source of employment for nurse practitioners (NPs). Their place in the health care arena may take on even more significance as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) increases access to care for previously uninsured people.

I worked as an NP in a retail clinic for about six months while working on my PhD. I left because of concerns I had about the model of practice. It didn’t have to do with the fact that I had to mop the floor at closing time or collect the fees and cash out the “drawer” every night. Nor because I spent eight hours alone in a small windowless room tucked away in the back of a drugstore. Those aspects were not great, but they weren’t deal breakers.

What was a deal breaker was the rigid programming of my practice. The computer was in control. From the moment the patient checked in at the kiosk outside my door, every action was determined by the computer.

The organization I worked for prided itself on following evidence-based […]

2016-11-21T13:06:09-05:00November 1st, 2013|career, nursing perspective|2 Comments
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Drilling into Bone: A Nurse’s Guide to Intraosseous Vascular Access

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

An example of a pediatric manual intraosseous needle insertion. Used by permission. An example of a manual pediatric intraosseous needle insertion. Reprinted with permission from King C, et al. Textbook of Pediatric Emergency Procedures. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2007.

In this month’s CE Emergency feature, “Intraosseous Vascular Access for Alert Patients,” authors Stacy Hunsaker and Darren Hillis  describe this scenario: a three-year-old girl arrives in the ED after three days of fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. She needs fluids urgently, but efforts to establish IV access have been unsuccessful. Now she’s on the verge of decompensated shock. The team is about to try an alternative route—intraosseous (IO) vascular access—but there are concerns: “Could such access be attempted on a patient who wasn’t unconscious? Would the parents understand why a hole was going to be drilled into the bone of their child’s leg?” The team must decide whether and how to proceed.

If this child were your patient, would you know what to do? If you aren’t sure, you are not alone. In this article, Hunsaker and Hillis provide some answers. Here’s a short summary. […]

2017-07-27T14:49:36-04:00October 31st, 2013|Nursing|4 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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