What Would It Have Helped to Know as a New Nurse?

An incomplete record of starting out as a nurse. 

When I think back on my first year as a nurse, I always say two things to myself: “I wish I had written more,” and “I wish someone had given me a more realistic how-to manual.” I try to remember patients from back then. What would I have shared, had I written about each one?

I was never not writing about something (sometimes what I wrote was published on this blog), but over time, as I moved away from bedside care and into administration, I wrote differently: policies and program plans, research protocols and systematic reviews. Although I rarely worked directly with patients anymore, their positive outcomes continued to motivate my every word.

I like to think my writing has grown with me. I’ve learned the power of the active voice; the structure required for the APA Writing Manual. 7th edition; and the deepening of understanding that comes from reading and reflection. But I will always wish for more writing—of any kind—from that first year. Even a scribble to jog my memory. This nursing birth of mine, like any birth, began my nursing life in a very specific way. I was challenged and tested, understood and got lost, and, […]

2023-01-30T10:34:04-05:00October 22nd, 2020|new nurses, Nursing, nursing career|0 Comments

May Issue Highlights: Pain Management in Critical Care, ECG Interpretation Basics, More

“The reality of an insufficient health care workforce and underfunded health care system is all too evident. . . . Perhaps things will change after this, and we will be ready the next time. I hope so.”editor-in-chief Shawn Kennedy in her May Editor’s Note, “Life, Interrupted

In case you’d like a break from COVID-19 headlines and want to keep up with some other nursing and health care topics, the May issue of AJN is now live. Here are the highlights:

Original Research: Exploring the Effects of a Nurse-Initiated Diary Intervention on Post–Critical Care Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

The authors examine how collaborative diary writing—by patients, visitors, and interdisciplinary team members—can affect the development of posttraumatic stress disorder and symptom severity in critical illness survivors.

CE: Managing Pain in Critically Ill Adults: A Holistic Approach

A review of the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s PADIS guidelines—and how they go beyond the earlier PAD guidelines—in providing specific guidance related to assessment and management of pain, use of opioids in critical illness, and use of adjunctive analgesia.

New Series: Strip Savvy: A Case of Bradycardia and Extreme Fatigue

This is the first article in a new series on the basics of electrocardiography (ECG) […]

2020-04-27T09:02:16-04:00April 27th, 2020|Nursing|0 Comments

April Issue: Career Choice Regret Among Nurses, Acute Care for Dementia Patients, More

“Nursing goes beyond measurable outcomes; it extends to the relationships between nursing staff and patients and their families that help them to adjust to their new normal.”Andrew Dwight Reed, author of the April Reflections column, “A New Normal

In case you’d like a break from 24/7 news of COVID-19 and want to keep up with some other nursing and health care topics, the April issue of AJN is now live. Here are the highlights:

Original Research: An Investigation of Career Choice Regret Among American Nurses

The authors surveyed a random sample of American Nurses Association members to find out the extent of career choice regret among U.S. nurses and whether burnout is an independent predictor.

CE: Acute Care for Patients with Dementia

This article describes the unique care needs of hospitalized patients
with dementia, highlighting evidence-based strategies and person-centered care principles nurses can incorporate into practice.
[…]

2020-04-01T08:36:54-04:00April 1st, 2020|Nursing|0 Comments

COVID-19: On and On

A note from AJN’s editor-in-chief Shawn Kennedy.

Published: March 30. As I write this, the United States has over 140,000 COVID-19 cases and over 2,400 deaths, and we’re told those numbers have yet to peak. The US Navy hospital ship Comfort is on it’s way to New York City, bringing its 1,000 beds to be used as a supplemental hospital. Its sister ship Mercy is on its way to Los Angeles. Bedside nurses and CNOs alike talk about the “war zone” that their hospitals have become. And they’re exhausted: many ICU nurses are working five days of 12-hour shifts as they await help from nurses who are getting crash courses in ventilator management.

Perspectives for and by nurses, from many angles.

Our goals during this pandemic are to serve as a reliable and up-to-date source of information and advocacy for those on the front line, to bear witness and give nurses and other health workers a voice during these uncertain times.

We’ve been using this blog to bring you evidence-based information about the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly via posts by our clinical editor Betsy Todd, whose expertise is in public health and infectious disease. She has done a yeoman’s job, researching the latest information and ensuring what we publish on PPE and COVID-19 is in in accord with the most current state of knowledge at the time—even contacting study researchers to verify facts […]

Need Motivation to Write? Submit to the AJN/Nurse Faculty Scholars Mentored Writing Award

You know you should write, and you have several topics running through your mind, but you just can’t quite get it together—how to start, how to choose the topic, where to start . . . .

Well, you don’t have to go it alone.

Mentored writing.

The 2020 AJN/Nurse Faculty Scholars Mentored Writing Awards program is open for submissions. This is an annual program to promote mentorship and develop scholarly writing skills among nurses. It was conceived by the 2012–2015 cohort of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Nurse Faculty Scholars Program, in honor of the mentorship they received.

This award was created to continue the legacy of mentorship and to support scholarship development for all nurses, and AJN is continuing this program as part of our mission to support excellence in nursing publishing.

The 2019 winner.

The winner of the 2019 award is Sara Wohlford, MPH, RN, from Roanoke, Virginia. She worked with her mentor, Kimberly Ferren Carter, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, to coauthor their winning article, “Nursing Engagement Improves Sustainability Outcomes for Healthcare,” which will be published later this year. […]

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