Each day, every minute, nurses make countless decisions. Rigorous training, education and experience are supposed to prepare the nurse to respond appropriately when faced with decisions regarding patient care. Although safety nets are put in place and procedures are developed, they often do not cover every situation nurses face in their shifts caring for patients. Often these decisions are made with the best intentions, but may not follow established protocols, policies or just good practice. Herein lies the question: If the patient is not harmed, is there a foul?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working with other U.S. government agencies, the World Health Organization, and other domestic and international partners in an international response to the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa. This document summarizes key messages about the outbreak and the response. It will be updated as new information becomes available and distributed regularly. Please share the document with others as appropriate.
Massachusetts is one of nine states awarded a $300,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to create a more highly educated, diverse nursing workforce. This is the second RWJF grant, part of its national Academic Progression in Nursing (APIN) initiative, to support Massachusetts' efforts to make it easier for current and future nurses to advance their education to the BSN or higher degree.
As referenced on the website, a program of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, the Breakthrough Leaders in Nursing awards will recognize and advance 10 nurse leaders. Each awardee will receive a Leadership Development Program scholarship package from the Center for Creative Leadership, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This inter-professional experience is designed to maximize each awardee's leadership potential for the future.
Recognize and elevate the next generation of breakthrough nurse leaders.
Recognize awardees' engagement in the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action's state Action Coalitions.
Provide awardees with a world-class inter-professional leadership development experience.
Identify and train Campaign for Action ambassadors.
The American Association of Managed Care Nurses (AAMCN) is committed to be an interrelated member of the managed care delivery team and systems for positive patient outcomes. As part of this partnership, we are pleased to announce the launch of the first annual Managed Care Nursing Innovation Award which will reward a company or organization that is improving patient outcomes using an innovative method.
This AAMCN Innovation Award has been established to highlight innovative solutions that bring increased value to the healthcare delivery system, improve patient outcomes and demonstrate the important role of the managed care nurse in the healthcare delivery system.
If you believe your company or organization is eligible for the AAMCN Innovation Award, please fill out the application at the link below. Entries will be accepted until Oct. 1, 2014. The winner will be announced at the Fall Managed Care Forum on Nov. 13-14, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Completed entry forms can be scanned and sent by email to: lskrobacz@aamcn.org or faxed to (804) 747-5316.
For questions, please contact Lauren Skrobacz at (804) 747-9698.
Nonphysicians with appropriate training and sufficient experience may safely conduct and oversee cardiac stress tests without a physician being present in the room, but a physician must be there when a high-risk patient is being tested. This recommendation is spelled out in a new AHA scientific statement on the supervision of clinical exercise testing by nonphysicians — which includes clinical exercise physiologists, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and physical therapists.
Do antacids pose infection risk in kids?
Pediatric patients treated with histamine-2 receptor antagonists had more than double the rate of bacterial growth in the stomach compared with untreated children, a prospective cohort study showed. Almost half of acid suppression-treated children had gastric bacterial growth versus 18 percent of patients who did not receive acid-suppression therapy. Bacterial growth in the lungs did not differ significantly by antacid use, but concentrations of specific bacteria correlated with proximal non-acid reflux, which is increased in patients treated with acid suppressors.
Researchers are working on a way to use laser technology to measure blood glucose noninvasively. While there is still a way to go before they have a laser device that is portable and suitable for home use, they believe one day it will replace the need for diabetics to draw blood to test their glucose levels. In the journal Biomedical Optics Express, the team of electrical engineers, from Princeton University, New Jersey, describes how they used their prototype device to measure blood sugar by directing the laser at a person's palm.
Each day, every minute, nurses make countless decisions. Rigorous training, education and experience are supposed to prepare the nurse to respond appropriately when faced with decisions regarding patient care. Although safety nets are put in place and procedures are developed, they often do not cover every situation nurses face in their shifts caring for patients.
Nurse bullying and so-called "horizontal violence" are rampant in our profession. Nurses bully and harass one another, using intimidation and other tactics as they jockey for power in a healthcare system that does not proactively attempt to prevent such disruptive behavior.
Where's the best place to be a nurse?
For many years, a nurse was looked upon as little more than a handmaiden. "Most people think nurses give shots or is someone who wears a cap," said Dana Samson, facilitator for the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. "I know mine's somewhere around here, but we don't wear them anymore." Today, nurses work collaboratively with others in the medical profession to achieve the best outcomes possible for their patients.
In most neurologic conditions, injury to neural cells is followed by an immune response to the damage and consequential neurodegeneration. However, due to different genetic backgrounds, the disease manifestation could be different in each individual. Therefore, it would be ideal to design individualized therapy for each patient suffering the relevant signs and symptoms. Repairing the central nervous system (CNS) and the reconstruction of the damaged neural network require the removal of etiological factors in the first place, followed by inflammatory response modulation, protection of neural cells from degeneration, and rebuilding the network connections.
Emergency department nurses aren't like the rest of us – they are more extroverted, agreeable and open – attributes that make them successful in the demanding, fast-paced and often stressful environment of an emergency department, according to a new study by University of Sydney. "Emergency nurses are a special breed," says Belinda Kennedy from Sydney Nursing School, a 15 year critical care veteran who led the study.
Brazilian ticks that carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever passed the disease to animal hosts in as little as 10 minutes if they had recently fed on another animal, a new study found. "The current literature, including medical textbooks and guidelines for the general public, has repeatedly advised that an infected tick requires a minimum feeding period varying from 2 to 10 hours to transmit Rickettsia rickettsii — the bacterium that causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever — to humans," Marcelo Labruna told Reuters Health in an email.
Clinicians currently use systemic immunosuppression in vascularized composite allotransplantation, or VCA. While VCA can be a superior method of restoring the function and aesthetics of transplants, it can also cause significant side effects and negatively affect the quality of life for transplant patients. Scientists have now developed a means to administer immunosuppressant drugs locally. Furthermore, the researchers found a way to package the immunosuppressant drugs to release medication only when prompted by inflammation.
Electronic health record alerts can help to reduce the number of urinary tract infections among hospitalized patients, according to a University of Pennsylvania study. According to the study, about 75 percent of hospital-acquired UTIs are associated with urinary catheterization. Up to 70 percent of the UTIs might be preventable if hospitals instituted certain measures to control infections, such as removing catheters that are no longer needed.