Safe and Less Safe Breast Milk Sharing, Plus Some Notable New Blog Posts by Nurses

Figure. The milk room, Mothers' Milk Bureau, Children's Welfare Association, New York City, 1930s, where breast milk donations were collected under careful supervision. Photo from the AJN archives. Figure. The milk room, Mothers’ Milk Bureau, Children’s Welfare Association, New York City, 1930s, where breast milk donations were collected under careful supervision. Photo from the AJN archives.

By Jacob Molyneux, senior editor

Today’s post was going to consist solely of links to a few posts by nurse bloggers that seemed worth your attention. But first, since everyone is tweeting about it this morning:

Breast milk sharing. Breast milk purchased or otherwise obtained via the Web can be tainted, according to a New York Times article today summarizing a new study published in Pediatrics. Money quote:

The report found that breast milk bought from two popular Web sites was often contaminated with high levels of bacteria, including, in a few instances, salmonella. The amounts detected in some samples were sufficient to sicken a child.

It so happens that AJN covered breast milk sharing just last year in an AJN Reports article called “Breast Milk Sharing is Making a Comeback, But Should It?” We looked at the lack of regulation […]

2016-11-21T13:06:14-05:00October 21st, 2013|nursing perspective|1 Comment
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When Loved Ones and Patients Don’t Choose Life

By Karen Roush, AJN clinical managing editor

Photo by the author Photo by the author

This isn’t the blog post I started out to write. That was a more personal story about someone close to me, let’s call this person Jess, who died after years of chronic illness worsened by self-neglect—after years of being that person Olsen talks about in this month’s article (free until August 15) on helping patients who don’t help themselves (and in his related blog post from last week).

But as I wrote, I realized that it wasn’t fair, that I was leaving out the complex story behind their persistent unhealthy behaviors, behaviors that eventually led to a lingering, awful death.

And without that background knowledge, it was too easy to be judgmental—as it is sometimes too easy for us as nurses to be judgmental of patients who don’t help themselves, who even seem to be willfully destroying their own health: the obese person who keeps drinking those giant sodas, the smoker who lights up another cigarette. As a nurse it can be very frustrating to care for a patient who ignores health recommendations, to their own detriment. As a family member or friend, it can be heartbreaking and infuriating.

There are limits to what we can do. We cannot force patients to eat well, take necessary medications, quit smoking, modify their alcohol intake, wear their seatbelts . . . the list goes on and on. Yes, we […]

2016-11-21T13:07:02-05:00July 15th, 2013|nursing perspective|4 Comments
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Post-Sandy Emotional Self-Care for Nurses and Others

Hurricane Sandy, from International Space Station at 16:55:32 GMT on Oct. 29, 2012 / NASA

By Donna Sabella, MEd, MSN, PhD, RN, mental health nurse, AJN contributing editor, and coordinator of the monthly Mental Health Matters column

With the recent devastation caused by Sandy in the mid-Atlantic and New England areas we need to be mindful that the harm done in such events goes beyond property and the physical domains. Many exposed to Sandy’s wrath may be suffering from varying degrees of stress and psychological trauma. It is important to remember that, along with taking care of our physical needs, in the process of getting back to normal we also need to be mindful of our emotional needs and reach out for help as necessary.

As health care providers we nurses pride ourselves on being able to handle anything that comes our way as we strive to give patients the best care possible, but it is important for us to be aware of our own emotional needs during times of crisis and disaster. Sandy is considered a disaster—for those affected by the storm, either directly or indirectly, the experience can lead to thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are outside our usual range, and which may indicate it’s time to seek help. Below, I offer some information that provides tips on how to take psychological care of ourselves after Sandy :

2016-11-21T13:08:52-05:00November 19th, 2012|nursing perspective|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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