Ultrasound-Guided IV Cannulation: And Other Recommended Reading from AJN’s February Issue

In recognition of American Heart Month, our February cover features Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy (Broken Heart Syndrome), a painting by Amy Doerwang. See On the Cover to learn more.

The February issue of AJN is now live.

This month’s CE article, “Using Ultrasound-Guided Cannulation for Difficult IV Access in Medical–Surgical Patients: A Quality Improvement Project,” examines the impact of ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous (PIV) cannulation on the rate of first-attempt PIV access among patients with difficult IV access.

“Professional nursing organizations can play a significant role in educating and preparing nurses to work more effectively toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” write Janice Hawkins and colleagues in their Original Research article, “Nurses’ Perceptions of the Role of Nursing Organizations in Promoting Engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals: A Global Study.” Learn about their study findings here.

“Professional Licensure: Protecting Your Nursing Livelihood, Part 2,” the newest installment in a series on protecting one’s nursing license, outlines common causes of licensure discipline, the disciplinary process, and potential penalties.

“A Military–Civilian […]

2025-01-23T06:41:11-05:00January 23rd, 2025|Nursing|0 Comments
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Celebrating 125 Years of AJN: And Other Recommended Reading from the January Issue

This month’s cover features a collage of AJN covers spanning the journal’s 125 years in print. See our “On the Cover” column for more on AJN‘s visual evolution through the decades.

The January issue of AJN is now live.

We’re kicking off the new year by celebrating AJN‘s 125th anniversary! Read editor-in-chief Carl A. Kirton’s editorial to learn about the journal’s history and see archival photos.

Also worth celebrating: our annual Book of the Year Award contest winners.

This month’s CE article, “Is Your Outpatient Office Prepared to Manage an Opioid Overdose?” identifies emergency response initiatives that could be adapted to address opioid-related medical emergencies in the outpatient adult treatment setting.

With commonly used traditional passive safety pen  needle (SPN) devices, it can be difficult to observe that the insulin dose has been accurately or fully administered. The authors of “Exploring the Use of Passive vs. Active Insulin Safety Pen Needle Devices in a Pediatric Population: A Feasibility Study” examined nurses’ perceptions about the feasibility of using […]

2024-12-31T14:07:36-05:00January 2nd, 2025|Nursing|0 Comments
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Wound Debridement: And Other Recommended Reading from AJN’s December Issue

This month’s cover photo shows a surgeon performing a total knee arthroplasty. See our “On the Cover” column for more.

The December issue of AJN is now live.

This month’s CE, “Evidence-Informed Nursing Clinical Practices for Wound Debridement,” provides nurses with a wound management framework, an overview of wound debridement options based on the potential for wound healing, and scope of practice considerations for developing a plan of care.

Two Original Research articles in this issue explore aspects of care following orthopedic surgery:

Various types of water can be used to flush enteral feeding tubes, but which type of water is best supported by evidence? Read

2024-11-21T10:01:50-05:00November 21st, 2024|Nursing|0 Comments
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Nursing Roles in ECMO: And Other Recommended Reading from AJN’s November Issue

This month’s cover photo shows a pediatric patient, Levi Drager, on ECMO at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. The photo was taken shortly after he became the hospital’s first pediatric patient to take steps while on ECMO. See our “On the Cover” column for more.

The November issue of AJN is now live.

This month’s CE, “Nursing Roles in Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation,” discusses the multiple roles of ECMO nurses, the various ECMO delivery care models, and the potential cost savings of an RN ECMO specialist staffing model—and introduces the novel role of the ECMO lead. (Open Access)

“Given that healthy work environments both foster high-quality patient care and allow nurses to thrive, increased efforts to understand the work experiences of ethnic minority nurses are vital,” write Nia M. Martin and colleagues in their Original Research article, “Exploring Black Nurses’ Perceptions of Workplace Safety and Personal Health.” Learn about their study findings here. (Open Access)

“Implementing a Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injury Prevention Bundle in Critical Care,” the third article in our Applying Implementation Science (IS) series, describes how a nurse-led IS team at a multisite health system used IS concepts, methods, and tools to implement a HAPI prevention bundle […]

2024-10-24T12:42:34-04:00October 24th, 2024|Nursing|0 Comments
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Blood Culture Bottle Shortage: Reducing ED Utilization in One Health System

Jonathan Nover, MBA, RN
Vice President of Nursing | Emergency Services
Mount Sinai Health System, New York City

The problem.

In early July 2024, a nationwide blood culture bottle shortage was announced. At the Mount Sinai Health System, specifically for our eight emergency departments (ED), naturally high utilizers, it was critical to devise contingency plans to reduce utilization and preserve supplies. Since it was evident early on that ED nursing would play a critical role in reducing utilization and waste, it was crucial to understand our current burn rates, utilization rates, contamination rates, and fill volume rates. We would need to recalibrate our blood culture stewardship and check in with our teams to understand workflows and their knowledge baseline about the nationwide shortage.

Discovering a gap in knowledge.

Through varying methods including huddles; “walking the GEMBA” with nursing leaders, epidemiologists, and infection preventionists; and eliciting transparent feedback we learned very quickly that our ED teams were not all aware of the top reasons for blood culture waste.

A nursing practice alert.

We created a nursing practice alert to highlight several key elements we’d learned . The areas of focus,

2024-09-12T10:31:16-04:00September 3rd, 2024|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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