Of Interest on the Web – June 2, 2009

By DeclanTM, via Flickr.

The most recent “Change of Shift,” a regular nursing blogosphere roundup (“the carnival dedicated to nurses and nursing”), is up over at Code Blog. We appreciate the mention of our recent post about virtual nurses in a virtual ICU.

How can we have health care reform without first controlling costs? In this week’s New Yorker, Atul Gawande undertakes a fascinating and in-depth comparison of the very different health care approaches of two American towns. Leave your preconceptions at the door.

Speaking of quality control, here’s Health News Review’s analysis of a recent story in the Washington Post about screening and treatment of major depressive disorder in teens (the story gets a 4 out of a possible 10).

And, for those of you in the mood, here’s one nurse’s blunt message to new interns. A brief excerpt:

I worked as a neurosurgical nurse many years ago at a teaching hospital in the Midwest, and twice a year a new crop of interns descended upon our unit. It was the best show in town. The spectacle began with the chief of neurosurgery, Dr. Holier Than Thou, strutting on to the unit with his entourage marching behind him.

2016-11-21T13:27:27-05:00June 2nd, 2009|health care policy, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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Infant Bed Deaths Rising: Is ‘Cosleeping’ an Issue?

Pinrels, by Daquella manera / Daniel Lobo, via Flickr

In the May issue of AJN Bunny Wong writes about the recently reported rise in infant bed deaths over a 20-year period. From 1984 to 2004, the rate of deaths resulting from accidental strangulation and suffocation of infants quadrupled.

The most important question, of course, is: why? Wong writes: […]

2016-11-21T13:27:31-05:00May 29th, 2009|Nursing|2 Comments
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Diana Mason, AJN’s Editor-in-Chief, Leaving the Journal

Diana Mason. Photo courtesy of Shawn Kennedy.

Today is my last day as editor-in-chief of AJN. When I arrived in 1999 I had a vision for repositioning the journal and along with a superb editorial team have worked hard to realize that vision. In April AJN was selected by the BioMedical and Life Sciences Division of the Special Libraries Association as one of the 100 most influential journals of the century in biology and medicine (the only nursing journal to make the list). That single accomplishment speaks volumes about the commitment to excellence that we’ve embraced, as had my predecessors at the journal. Look for my Editorial in the July issue, where I’ll say more about this.

The challenges facing publishing demand new visions and renewed energies. I’ll continue as editor-in-chief emeritus during a transitional […]

2016-11-21T13:27:33-05:00May 28th, 2009|Nursing|46 Comments
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Fighting Head Lice with Lindane: Does Using a Banned Pesticide on Kids Make Sense?

Head louse by Eran Finkle, via Flickr.

I’m a public health nurse and I have a weekly public radio program, Healthstyles, in New York City. Fifteen years ago, when my kids were preschoolers, there was a local outbreak of head lice, and parents kept asking me to do a show about it. I thought it was a boring topic. They persisted and I did the show.

During that radio show I invited listeners to call in; in radio-speak, “the board lit up.” A mom called and said she’d applied an OTC shampoo for head lice, in three separate applications, to her six-year-old son’s head, but he still had nits and live lice—what should she do? A father reported that he’d applied another OTC  shampoo for head lice to his nine-year-old daughter’s head, wrapped her head in plastic wrap, and let her sleep through the night that way; he asked, “Was that dangerous to do?” Producing this segment opened my eyes to how little we knew about the health effects of such treatments on children. It was a nursing “Aha!” moment: head lice weren’t just a big nuisance, they were a serious public health issue. […]

2016-11-21T13:27:46-05:00May 27th, 2009|nursing perspective|5 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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