Off the Charts

Resources for Mitigating Violence in the Health Care Workplace

Photo by Sandy Torchon/Pexels

Violence in health care facilities is on the rise and is yet another factor contributing to current levels of nurse burnout and stress.

The Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) and the American Association for Nursing Leadership (AONL) have jointly provided guiding principles and a toolkit for mitigating violence in the workplace.

In addition, AJN has some important resources on addressing violence against nurses in the workplace at both institutional and situation-specific levels. Click on the following links:

Workplace Violence Training Using Simulation

How an interdisciplinary team at an Ohio health system developed and piloted a training program to address workplace violence, which included classroom learning, simulation training, and hands-on self-defense techniques.

Violence Against Nurses in the Workplace

Consolidated approaches are needed from employers, victims, and the political system.

Workplace Violence

How violence affects health care, which providers are most affected, and what management and staff can do about it.

Carl Kirton2022-10-26T11:14:30-04:00October 26th, 2022|Nursing|0 Comments

November Issue: Nurse Vaccine Hesitancy, the Staffing Crisis, Palliative Care, More

“As nurses, we must push back on public health misinformation where and when we can, so that we don’t return to the days when viruses such as polio thrived and spread, and human health needlessly suffered.”—AJN editor-in-chief Carl Kirton in this month’s editorial

The November issue of AJN is now live. Here’s what’s new. Some articles may be free only to subscribers.

Original Research: COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Southern California Nurses

This study aimed to elucidate the characteristics of vaccine-hesitant nurses at two large medical centers where rates of COVID-19 vaccination were lower than expected, and to understand the reasons for such hesitancy.

Viewpoint: Reframing Hospital Nursing as a Specialty to Address the Staffing Crisis

In light of the current shortage of hospital nurses, the authors propose recasting the role as a specialty—instead of as an entry-level position—and call for an overhaul of nursing education, particularly clinical experiences.

CE: What COVID-19 Can Teach Nurses About Liability Risks

This article explores key nursing liability issues associated with the pandemic, including immunity, documentation, crisis standards of care, delegation and assignment, scope of practice, floating, travel nursing, telehealth, and misinformation and social media.

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Diane Szulecki, editor2022-10-21T08:14:54-04:00October 21st, 2022|Nursing|0 Comments

Getting Nurses with Substance Use Disorders the Help They Need

“Nurses have distinctive risk factors associated with the work environment that may increase the probability of developing an SUD.”

In my previous roles as the director of the emergency department and pediatric intensive care unit, I worked with nurses who were enrolled in the Intervention Project for Nurses (IPN), which is a substance use disorder (SUD) assistance program.

My colleagues would often ask me why I’d hire anyone who was enrolled in this program. My response was that these are the ones who are getting help and trying to recover. I feel safe with these nurses because I know they are being monitored and receiving treatment—it’s the other nurses that I worry about. […]

Guest Author2022-10-12T09:33:38-04:00October 12th, 2022|career, Ethics, Nursing, patient safety|0 Comments

Vot-ER: A Nonpartisan Voter Registration Resource for Health Care Settings

The news hits close to home for a mother-to-be.

Eight months into my first pregnancy, an 18-year-old Black man named Michael Brown was killed by police officers in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael Brown was not the first young Black man I’d learn about only in death, nor will he be the last. But as I stood on the cusp of motherhood, weeks away from giving birth to a baby boy, Michael Brown’s death hit close to home. I remember sitting on the kitchen floor, weeping at the thought of raising my son in a country where Black boys were subject to death for acting like normal teenagers.

Our baby was coming, and crying would not change the unjust world he was being born into. I knew I had to do something, and that even small drops could make big ripples. So I threw myself into local civic causes. I had always voted, but now I wanted to make sure people who looked like me and experienced the injustices I did had a voice at the polls. I called voters, wrote letters to elected officials, and worked at polling places. In between my shifts as a nurse practitioner, I organized blood pressure check events with voter registration opportunities. I brought voter registration […]

Guest Author2022-10-04T10:04:03-04:00October 4th, 2022|health care policy, Public health|1 Comment

Sickle Cell Disease in Children and Adolescents: Aligning Practice with Guidelines

CDC report points to areas for improvement.

The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on September 20, 2022, highlights an important opportunity for nurses to provide evidence-based care to children with sickle cell disease (SCD). The report highlights poor compliance with guidelines recommending that children ages 2 to 16 with sickle cell anemia (SCA)—the most common and often most clinically severe form of the disease—should receive transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound screening and that hydroxyurea (HU) should be offered for all children with SCA ages 9 months and older.

In the past, children with SCD usually did not survive past age 20 because of infections/sepsis and stroke. Children with SCD now can live much longer, into their 40s, 50s, and 60s, as a result of the use of penicillin to prevent sepsis and screening for children at high risk for stroke. According to current guidelines for children and adolescents with SCA, when children are screened for stroke by TCD, those at high risk can be identified and referred for monthly transfusions, a practice that has been found to prevent stroke. In addition, there is much evidence supporting the use of HU, including prevention of severe pain episodes, acute chest syndrome, and hospitalization.

Guest Author2022-09-29T10:59:11-04:00September 29th, 2022|Nursing|0 Comments

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The news hits close to home for a mother-to-be.

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CDC report points to areas for improvement.

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