An Update on e-Cigarettes and Health

By Michael Fergenson, AJN senior editorial coordinator

Photo by Michael Dorausch, via Flickr Photo by Michael Dorausch, via Flickr

Last May, I wrote a post titled “E-Cigarettes: Positive Smoking Substitute or a New Problem Replacing the Old?” It explored the pros and cons of using e-cigarettes, then a relatively new and little-studied product, to aid in smoking cessation. The FDA has warned that little is known about how effective they are as smoking cessation aids and also warned that there is no way for consumers to know exactly how much nicotine and other potentially harmful chemicals are being inhaled during use. Concerns have also been raised that e-cigarettes could lead to children smoking real cigarettes. So, what have we learned since then?

One study says e-cigarettes are as effective as the patch

One study published in The Lancet, September 2013, recruited 584 smokers in Auckland, New Zealand, who wanted to quit. Half were given e-cigarettes and half got coupons for nicotine patches, and another 73 were given e-cigarettes without nicotine. The study found that smokers using the e-cigarette to help them quit were only slightly more successful than those using a nicotine patch: 7.3% of those using […]

2017-01-04T14:39:34-05:00October 18th, 2013|Nursing|3 Comments
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Why Don’t We Pay Attention to Oral Care in the ICU?

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

“Although meticulous oral care has been shown to reduce the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), oral care practices among critical care nurses remain inconsistent, with mouth care often perceived as a comfort measure rather than as a critical component of infection control.”

scanning electron micrograph of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria, one several types that can cause VAP/CDC Scanning electron micrograph of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one of several bacteria types that can cause VAP/ CDC image

So begins one of our CE feature articles in the current issue of AJN. In “Mouth Care to Reduce Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia” (which you can read for free), the authors discuss why mouth care is so important among the interventions to reduce VAP—and why it is often not given a high priority among patient care procedures.

I have to confess that in my clinical days, mouth care was done almost as an afterthought. In our critical care unit, we were always diligent in monitoring vitals signs and IV fluids, suctioning, turning and positioning the patient, but oral care usually was a perfunctory task, completed with a few quick swipes with lemon-glycerine swabs.

Booker and colleagues explain why oral care deserves the careful attention we give to other measures. They also review the research on […]

2016-11-21T13:06:16-05:00October 16th, 2013|nursing perspective, nursing research|2 Comments
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A Patient’s Take on Patient Satisfaction Surveys

PSS

By Amy M. Collins, editor

As an editor at AJN, I come across a lot of information on performance measures and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) surveys. It’s a hot topic that we’ve covered several times, with some health care providers railing against these surveys and questioning whether satisfaction during a hospital stay is the same as quality care (see the September Editorial and the July 2012 Viewpoint for more on this).

Yet as usual, reading about a topic isn’t entirely the same as experiencing it. A few days after undergoing a small, non-emergency, in-office medical procedure, I was surprised to find a patient satisfaction survey in my e-mail inbox. Busy and flooded with many other e-mails, I was tempted to banish the survey to the trash can, especially since I didn’t feel I had much to say. But curiosity got the better of me.

The survey started off easily enough, as I clicked through questions such as “Was your waiting room time under 15 minutes?”; “Were the receptionists polite?”; “Was our facility clean?”

But as the survey crept forward, I began to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of questions. Many questions seemed redundant; for example, I answered about five related to waiting times. Are they trying to catch patients out on inconsistent answers? All the while a green bar at the top showing […]

2016-11-21T13:06:17-05:00October 14th, 2013|patient engagement|1 Comment
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The 10 Most Popular Articles on AJN Right Now

From boliston, via Flickr From boliston, via Flickr

The 10 current “most viewed” AJN articles are below. Sometimes we’re surprised by the ones that go to the top of this list. At other times, the high interest in the article makes perfect sense. Most of these articles are currently free, either because they are CE articles or because they are shorter opinion pieces or the like. We hope you’ll have a look.—Jacob Molyneux, senior editor

“The Care of Pregnant Women in the Criminal Justice System” 

CE article. Overview: Current practices in the treatment and transfer of pregnant inmates in this country may negatively affect maternal and fetal health or well-being. Some violate federal or state laws; others conflict with standards of obstetric care and are widely considered unethical or inhumane. This article discusses these practices; their legal status; and implications for nursing practice, policy, and research.

“Developing a Vital Sign Alert System”

CE. Overview: This article describes the implementation of a nurse-designed, automated system for enhancing patient monitoring on medical–surgical and step-down nursing units. The system . . . was found to substantially reduce out-of-unit codes without increasing nurses’ workload.

“Mouth Care to Reduce Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia”

CE. Overview: Despite the well-established association between good oral hygiene and the prevention of VAP, the importance […]

2016-11-21T13:06:21-05:00October 11th, 2013|nursing perspective, nursing research|0 Comments
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Taking Postpartum Mood Disorders Seriously

By Jacob Molyneux, AJN senior editor

Durer, Melancolia/Wikimedia Commons Durer, Melancolia/Wikimedia Commons

Last week, you probably heard that a 34-year-old mother was shot and killed by police after a car chase that ended with her trying to ram her car through White House barriers, her infant child still strapped in a car seat in the back.

Miriam Carey’s mother told reporters that her daughter was suffering from postpartum depression, though a number of commentators have pointed out that the extremity of her apparent delusions and the violence of her behavior suggest the more severe condition called postpartum psychosis (especially if it turns out that her condition was not chronic but instead began after she’d given birth).

Some estimates of the rate of major or minor depression in new mothers are as high as nearly 20%. AJN published a feature article (free until November 8) on this topic several years ago. The article describes postpartum depression and several related conditions (postpartum psychosis, panic attacks, PTSD, etc.) and discusses prevalence, risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, interventions, and the potential long-term effects on children.

Postpartum depression can be powerful and hard to face, as it comes at a time that often combines social isolation with the expectation that one […]

2016-11-21T13:06:22-05:00October 9th, 2013|nursing perspective|1 Comment
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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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