‘I Didn’t Think It Would Happen to Me’

A daughter notices cognitive changes in her mother, a former geriatrics nurse.

Illustration by Janet Hamlin for AJN.

This month’s Reflections essay, “In Full Bloom,” is a gentle, humane exploration of what it’s like when an aging parent shows signs of cognitive decline. Author Diane Fraser deftly weaves memory, incident, and reflection together in this bittersweet one-page essay.

She describes her mother’s dawning realization of the hard reality of her own aging. “I’m old,” she said. “I’m really old.”

And then later, perhaps also alluding to her worsening dementia:

“I didn’t think it would happen to me. . . Those were my patients. This is me.”

There’s a family birthday party. An annual visit to a lilac festival where the author begins to find certain aspects of her mother’s behavior puzzling.

This is all described with lightness and respect. It’s just how it is, the author seems to suggest. We might as well make the best of it.

She remembers the sometimes bawdy stories […]

2021-11-01T10:19:57-04:00November 1st, 2021|Nursing|0 Comments
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In All Nature’s Glory: One Patient’s Presurgical Ritual

‘Join me.’

I walked into the preoperative waiting area one morning, ready to begin my day. Standing outside my first patient’s bed bay, I asked through the drawn curtain if I could enter. Silence. I waited and then called out the patient’s name again. Again, nothing. I peeked behind the curtain. There was the patient standing in all of nature’s glory, arms extended in front of the window—eyes closed.

I stepped back and then heard her say, “Come in, join me.” I felt caught off guard, unsure of what to do. But I was also curious, so I went in.

The patient turned her head towards me and said, “Just stand next to me—the collective mind brings more energy.”

So I did. The view from this patient’s room showed a river running alongside the facility. Like her, I looked out onto the river. The sun was beginning to rise and the sky was a beautiful blend of pink and blue. I closed my eyes and a sense of serenity gently settled over me.

We stood together in silence for just a minute or two. Then the patient turned to me, grabbed her gown, and said, “Now, how can I help you?”

I found that I was smiling as I heard myself […]

2021-10-27T09:46:54-04:00October 27th, 2021|Nursing, nursing stories, patient engagement|1 Comment
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November Issue: Pediatric Antibiotic Stewardship, New Family Caregivers Series, More

“Kindness goes a long way. Patience. Remember that everybody’s going through something.”—school nurse Tonja Frank in the November Conversations article

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

Original Research: Suicidal Ideation and Attitudes Toward Help Seeking in U.S. Nurses Relative to the General Working Population

This study investigated the prevalence of suicidal ideation and attitudes toward seeking mental health care among U.S. nurses relative to other workers; and, among nurses, the extent to which personal and professional factors, including burnout, were related to suicidal ideation.

CE: Pediatric Antibiotic Stewardship

The authors review the evidence on shorter versus longer duration of antibiotic therapy for pediatric patients and discuss the nurse’s role in antibiotic stewardship.

Supporting Family Caregivers: No Longer Home Alone: The 4Ms of an Age-Friendly Health System

This article—the first in a new series published in collaboration with the AARP Public Policy Institute—outlines the 4Ms of an Age-Friendly Health System framework and how it can be implemented by the health care team, including nurses and family caregivers, in the inpatient hospital setting.
[…]

2021-10-25T08:58:45-04:00October 25th, 2021|Nursing|0 Comments
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The Essentials for Nurses About Recognition and Treatment of MIS-C

‘A massive systemic inflammatory response.’

While on the whole the United States is seeing a decline in COVID cases, this most recent wave of the Delta variant has seen an unprecedented number of children infected and hospitalized for COVID-19.

While children generally fare better than adults from the virus, infection may make them susceptible to a rare condition known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).

This rare but serious condition was described by Shields and colleagues in our May issue as “a massive systemic inflammatory response that has physiologic correlations to Kawasaki disease, Kawasaki disease shock syndrome, toxic shock syndrome, macrophage activation syndrome, and cytokine release syndrome.”

The CDC reports that, as of October 4, the number of patients meeting the case definition for MIS-C was 5,217 (up from 4,000 reported in June) and the total number of deaths meeting the case definition was 46.

The CDC case definition includes the following:

2021-10-28T10:36:09-04:00October 20th, 2021|COVID-19, infectious diseases, Nursing|0 Comments
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FDA Revokes Authorizations for Certain Respirators, Decontamination Systems

Changes reflect replenished stockpiles of approved equipment.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revoked its emergency use authorization for disposable respirators that haven’t been approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Emergency use authorizations for decontamination and bioburden reduction systems were also revoked as of June 30.

The actions were taken to align with updated recommendations from the CDC and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that reflect an increased domestic supply of approved respirators. This means facilities no longer need to rely on crisis strategies to cope with supply shortages, such as the reuse of disposable respirators.

The FDA ruling, which took effect July 6, allows for a transition period. The agency suggests that health care facilities consider redistributing unapproved respirators to countries in need as well as to nonmedical industries, such as construction.

Every employer must have plan to protect workers.

Also in June, OSHA issued an Emergency Temporary Standard to protect health care workers from exposure to COVID-19. The standard requires that every employer have a plan in place that identifies COVID-19 hazards in the workplace and lists additional requirements for reducing transmission of COVID-19, including the use of respirators and PPE. OSHA will continue to monitor […]

2021-10-18T09:52:28-04:00October 18th, 2021|Nursing|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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