ethics Archives - Page 8 of 11

Are You Glad Ariel Castro Is Dead?

Lorry Schoenly is a correctional nurse blogging at CorrectionalNurse.Net. This guest post is a modification of a recent post on her site. Follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

Ariel Castro’s home in Cleveland, OH/Wikimedia Commons

What were your first thoughts when you heard the news of convicted Ohio kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro’s successful suicide while in protective custody in a state prison reception facility? Based on my Twitter and Facebook timelines, there have been a variety of responses in the public, nursing, and correctional health care communities. Many are glad that society is saved from the cost of caring for such a heinous criminal. Some are critical of the mental health and security oversights that led to this opportunity for self-injury. After all, Castro’s suicide potential score must have been off the chart. Fellow blogger and forensic psychiatrist Annette Hanson (@clinkshrink) provides a thoughtful post with her take on the subject: “Your Patient Died. Who Cares?”

This major news item is a reminder of the personal and professional conflict frequently experienced by those of us who care for criminals, many of whom are pretty unlovely, even monstrous, people. The very definition of professional nursing, however, requires us to […]

Guest Author2016-11-21T13:06:32-05:00September 18th, 2013|Ethics, nursing perspective, Patients|3 Comments

Nursing Editors Talking Shop in Ireland

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

Seaside at Lahinch

Last week I was in Cork to attend the annual meeting of the International Academy of Nursing Editors, also known as INANE (yes, I know, and the name was created with full awareness; this is not a group that takes itself seriously—decisions happen by consensus and any work is done by volunteers; if funds are needed for something, we pass the hat).

I met editors from Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and from as far away as Hong Kong and Israel. I’m amazed at the number and variety of nursing journals. Whatever the size of the journal, the issues and editorial priorities are similar. We all struggle with getting “good manuscripts,” that is, papers that are well written, supported by evidence, and speak to the concerns of the readers. Moody Connemara scenery

We heard a whirlwind 10-minute history of Ireland and a wonderful presentation on nursing in Ireland by Kathleen MacLellan, nurse advisor, Department of Health and Children, Dublin. We spent a lot of time discussing ethics as well as how to deal with submissions from students who need better guidance from faculty. (See my previous blog post on this topic.)

I always come away with new insights, helpful information, new contacts, and new ideas. And of course, there were a couple of social events to […]

Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, FAAN, editor-in-chief (emerita)2016-11-21T13:06:48-05:00August 7th, 2013|career, nursing perspective, nursing research|0 Comments

AJN’s July Issue: Caring for Veterans, Managing IBS, Reducing Readmission Rates, More

AJN’s July issue is now available on our Web site. Here’s a selection of what not to miss.

On our cover this month, U.S. Air Force first lieutenant Georganne Hassell is photographed during a presence patrol in Qalat City in southern Afghanistan. According to a 2011 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs report, America’s Women Veterans: Military Service History and VA Benefit Utilization Statistics, by 2035, women will make up 15% of all living U.S. veterans. For more on the health issues of women troops and women veterans, see this month’s editorial.

And for an overview of how to recognize and assess veterans’ unique health care issues, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), military sexual trauma, chronic pain, and traumatic brain injury, see our continuing education (CE) feature “Enhancing Veteran-Centered Care: A Guide for Nurses in Non-VA Settings.” This article, which also lists useful resources offering tools, educational materials, and veteran services, can earn you 3.1 CE credits. If you’re reading AJN on your iPad, you can listen to a podcast interview with the authors by clicking on the podcast icon on the first page of the article. The podcast is also available on our Web site.

The prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is estimated to be around 5% to 10% in North American, and it is diagnosed more often in people under the age of 50. No single drug effectively relieves all IBS symptoms. “Managing […]

Amy M. Collins, managing editor2016-11-21T13:07:07-05:00June 28th, 2013|nursing perspective|0 Comments

Telling Patients About Staffing Levels: Transparency or Self-Interest?

It’s a very busy Monday. Because of chronic difficulty in recruiting staff, the unit has only three-fourths of its RN positions filled. In addition, Mary Evans, an experienced nurse who always helps less experienced staff with their patients while carrying a full caseload herself, has called in sick.

Linda Smith is 68 years old and two days post-op from hip replacement surgery. As you enter her room, 45 minutes after she first requested pain medication, you can sense her irritation—but worse than that, you can see from the grimace on her face and her guarded movements that she’s in pain. After several days of good nursing care, you’ve let her down, and you consider telling her about the staff shortage. But you wonder: Is it right to disclose today’s short staffing to Ms. Smith?

The situation above is an ethical conundrum because values are in conflict. On one hand, transparency is good and patients have a right to know about administrative factors affecting their care. On the other hand, care should stay focused on a patient’s problems, not the nurse’s.

As the article excerpt above suggests, nurse staffing is a contentious issue having to do with both patient safety and job satisfaction for nurses. We’ve covered this issue many times in the past, most recently in a blog post that got quite a few comments back in January.

But should a nurse ever tell a patient about inadequate staffing? This is […]