Accepting a patient care assignment reaffirms nurses’ contract with societyDecember 8, 2015At the moment a patient handoff is nearly completed, when the exchange of relevant information has occurred and when the opportunity for final clarification of the patient condition…
America needs a culture changeDecember 1, 2015My name is Chad Allen and I am a psychiatric nurse who works with the geriatric population. As a psychiatric nurse, I have seen the geriatric population suffer…
Aphasia: When speaking is hardDecember 8, 2015Imagine you are talking, and then suddenly you can’t. Your ability to communicate has paused. Over time, or in an instant, your ability to communicate and life as…
Boosting your influenceDecember 8, 2015Jessie was excited to be appointed as chair of the professional practice council in her hospital. She envisioned being able to quickly engage staff in the work of…
Combating change fatigue in today’s healthcare environmentNovember 20, 2015Those who work in the healthcare industry are well aware of its constantly changing landscape. Healthcare institutions are challenged to balance the provision of safe care with the…
Dress codes matter!November 18, 2015October’s article “What works: Implementing an evidence-based nursing dress code to enhance professional image” (http://goo.gl/z0frxu) got me thinking about dress codes and how important this topic is to…
Drug therapy effective in hepatitis CDecember 2, 2015A once daily drug combination of sofosbuvir-velpatasvir for 12 weeks resulted in sustained eradication of several genotypes of the hepatitis C virus in 99% of patients in a…
False-positive mammograms may indicate increased risk for breast cancer later in lifeDecember 3, 2015Women with a history of a false-positive mammogram result may be at increased risk of developing breast cancer for up to 10 years after the false-positive result, according…
FDA approves new drug for goutDecember 29, 2015On Dec. 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Zurampic (lesinurad) to treat high levels of uric acid in the blood (hyperuricemia) associated with gout, when…
FDA approves new drug for PAHDecember 22, 2015On Dec. 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Uptravi (selexipag) tablets to treat adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Read more.
FDA approves new drugsDecember 10, 2015· On Dec. 8, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved: · Vonvendi, von Willebrand factor (Recombinant), for use in adults 18 years of age and older…
FDA approves new drugsDecember 17, 2015·On Dec. 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Basaglar (insulin glargine injection), a long-acting human insulin analog to improve glycemic control in adult and pediatric…
FDA approves new treatment for multiple myelomaDecember 3, 2015On Nov. 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Empliciti (elotuzumab) in combination with two other therapies to treat people with multiple myeloma who have received…
FDA changes blood donation policyDecember 22, 2015On Dec. 21, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) changed its recommendation that men who have sex with men be indefinitely deferred from donating blood; the new time…
Keeping watch: Enhancing fall prevention through targeted video surveillanceNovember 23, 2015Nurses who work in hospitals are challenged to identify patients at risk for falling and implement initiatives to keep them safe. Activities such as performing a fall risk…
Measuring the health risks of 9,000 nurses and countingNovember 24, 2015American Nurses Association’s (ANA) HealthyNurseTM Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) has been up and running for more than 2 years and is already a useful resource for promoting and…
Metformin may have role in pre-eclampsiaDecember 22, 2015A study in American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports that metformin may have the potential to prevent and treat pre-eclampsia. Read more and read the study abstract.
Moderate coffee intake may be beneficialDecember 2, 2015Drinking coffee daily is associated with a lower risk of deaths from Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and neurological diseases in nonsmokers, according to a study in Circulation.…
Nearly half of patients with hepatitis C on Medicaid denied drug coverageDecember 2, 2015Nearly 50% of Medicaid patients infected with chronic hepatitis C whose doctors had prescribed newer, life-saving antiviral drugs were denied coverage to the therapies because they weren’t considered…
New arrangement of peptides boosts their potential as drugsDecember 2, 2015Arranging peptides as a densely packaged brush protects them from digestion and improves the potential for use as drugs, according to a study in Chemical Science. Read more…
New guidelines for managing care of breast cancer survivorsDecember 10, 2015The American Cancer Society and the American Society of Clinical Oncology have released a new Breast Cancer Survivorship Care Guideline to help breast cancer survivors and their primary…
Night shift workers may be more at risk for car crashesDecember 29, 2015A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found an increased risk of drowsy driving related motor vehicle crashes, as well as an increase…
Protecting communities from the syphilis epidemic from birth through adulthoodDecember 8, 2015There are many colloquialisms for syphilis, the sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by Treponema pallidum. Whether it’s called “syfy,” “siff,” “pox,” “VD,” “the bug,” or “the sore,” syphilis…
Quiz time – December 2015November 23, 2015Which of the following patients is likely to be the most sensitive to insulin? a. A 65-year-old man with sepsis b. A 26-year-old woman with multiple injuries from…
Secondary prevention of strokeDecember 8, 2015Every 40 seconds, a stroke occurs in the United States. This translates to approximately 795,000 strokes annually; of these, about 25% are recurrent strokes. Although stroke has declined…
Stepping up professional practice: Implementing nursing peer reviewNovember 23, 2015In a healthcare climate that insists on transparency and high-quality nursing care, the timing is right for nurses to take ownership of their profession and use a nursing…
The cause of deathDecember 8, 2015The other day I was watching The Murdoch Mysteries, a television show. Set at the turn of the 20th Century, this particular episode focused on the death of…
What Works: Applying TeamSTEPPS® to improve patient safetyNovember 18, 2015Getting important information out to all staff within a hospital can be challenging. That’s what we faced at Overton Brooks Veterans Administration Medical Center (OBVAMC) in Shreveport, Louisiana,…
