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July Issue: Ketamine Analgesia During Burn Care, Breast Cancer Screening Update, Difficult IV Access, More

“How powerful would it be if every nurse took one action today to improve her or his community’s health?” —Barry Ross, MPH, MBA, BSN, RN, author of this month’s Viewpoint

The July issue of AJN is now live. Here are some of the articles we’re pleased to have a chance to publish this month.

CE: Original Research: The Efficacy and Safety of an RN-Driven Ketamine Protocol for Adjunctive Analgesia During Burn Wound Care

Because of its unique mechanism of action and lack of association with respiratory depression, ketamine may be an ideal agent for adjunctive analgesia in burn patients. The authors of this study evaluated the efficacy and safety of a practice protocol allowing critical care RNs to independently administer IV ketamine for burn wound care.

CE: Breast Cancer Screening: A Review of Current Guidelines

In light of recent changes to national breast cancer screening guidelines, this article reviews the guidelines of the American Cancer Society, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and provides guidance to nurses as they support and educate patients.

Special Feature: Ethics Champion Programs

The authors, all of whom lead ethics champion programs at their […]

Diane Szulecki, editor2018-06-29T08:14:55-04:00June 29th, 2018|Nursing|0 Comments

AJN November Issue News: Maternal Mortality, Nurses’ Salaries, Double Mastectomy, More

AJN’s monthly news section covers timely and important research and policy stories that are relevant to the nursing world. Here are some of the stories you’ll find in our current issue (news articles in AJN are free access):

Photo by Dennis MacDonald / Alamy Stock Photo.

Maternal Mortality in U.S. on the Rise

In 48 states and the District of Columbia, the maternal mortality rate increased by 26.6% between 2000 and 2014. (Texas was analyzed separately; its rate doubled between 2010 and 2012.) California–which saw a decline in maternal deaths–was the exception. While there’s no clear cause for the increase, researchers have several ideas about factors that may have prompted it.

Salaries for Nurses Decrease, While NP Salaries Rise

According to a survey of 20,000 health care workers, compensation for nurses decreased 3.1% between 2015 and 2016; NPs reported a 5.3% […]

Diane Szulecki, editor2016-11-21T13:00:49-05:00November 9th, 2016|Nursing|0 Comments

AJN in June: IPV, Late Effects of Breast Cancer Treatment, Nurse Activists, More

AJN0616 Cover Online

This month’s cover photo evokes the isolation faced by victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). According to Karen Roush, PhD, RN, lead author of the study in this issue that reports on the perceptions of rural health care providers who care for these victims, “ [i]solation is one of an abuser’s biggest weapons,” especially for those who live in rural areas.

Health care providers are positioned to provide support for victims of IPV, but knowledge and practice gaps get in the way. For more on this topic, read this month’s original research CE, “Intimate Partner Violence: The Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors of Rural Health Care Providers.”

Some other articles of note in the June issue:

CE Feature: “Late and Long-Term Sequelae of Breast Cancer Treatment.” More than 12% of women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives; 78% of them can be expected to survive for at least 15 years. There are more than 2.8 million breast cancer survivors in the United States and as many as 90% of them report physical problems that can reduce functional ability, produce or exacerbate emotional problems, negatively affect body image, and diminish quality of life.

This third article in a series on cancer survivorship care from the […]

Diane Szulecki, editor2016-11-21T13:01:12-05:00May 27th, 2016|Nursing, nursing perspective|0 Comments

Alerting Nurses to Late Effects of Pediatric Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatment

“As of January 2010, there were an estimated 379,112 survivors of childhood and adolescent cancers, of whom 35,253 (9.3%) had been treated for Hodgkin lymphoma,” according the American Cancer Society—as summarized in “Cardiotoxicity and Breast Cancer as Late Effects of Pediatric Hodgkin Lympoma (HL) Treatment,” a CE feature in the April issue of AJN.

Author Joanne Lee Candela, an adult NP in the survivorship program at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, hopes to raise awareness among all nurses of “residual risks associated with the various HL treatments, thereby promoting appropriate screening and, as needed, referral for specialty care.” The below table, from the article, depicts selected potential late effects of Hodgkin lymphoma treatment. Click to enlarge.

The article points out that “two of the most prevalent and life-threatening late effects are female breast cancer, secondary to chest radiation as well as to any underlying genetic tendencies, and cardiotoxicity and its sequelae, which are related to chest radiation that encompasses the heart and to the anthracycline component of chemotherapy.” […]

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:01:18-05:00April 12th, 2016|Nursing, Patients|0 Comments

AJN in April: Nurses and Self-Care, Late HL Treatment Effects, POC Blood Glucose Meters in ICUs, More

AJN0416.Cover.Online

On this month’s cover is a 1924 portrait of the Grace Hospital School of Nursing basketball team in Detroit. Most nursing schools had basketball teams in their early days—as far back as the 1920s. This photo of the Grace Hospital team was featured in the September 1924 issue of AJN in an article on basketball in Detroit nursing schools.

Understanding the importance of maintaining physical well-being is a fundamental aspect of nursing. For a variety of reasons, including competing priorities and the demands of caring for others, nurses may not practice sufficient self-care. To read a study that analyzed how today’s RNs fare in terms of health-promoting behaviors like physical activity, stress management, and more, see “Original Research: An Investigation into the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Practices of RNs.” While “physical activity and stress management scores were low for the entire group of RNs,” there were some notable differences between age groups of nurses.

Some other articles of note in the April issue:

CE Feature: “Cardiotoxicity and Breast Cancer as Late Effects of Pediatric and Adolescent Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatment.” This second article in a series on cancer survivorship care from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center reviews the late adverse effects associated with the management of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). Nurses’ familiarity with and attention to the late effects of the chemotherapy and radiation therapy used to treat HL, which include breast cancer as well […]