July 2015 Vol. 10 No. 7

ACA improves care

The first two enrollment periods under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were associated with significantly improved trends in self-reported coverage, access to primary care and medications, affordability, and…
Risk factors

Assessing your patients’ risk for falling

An estimated 25,500 Americans died from falls in healthcare and community settings in 2013. Countless more suffered life-changing injuries, such as fractures, internal injuries, and traumatic brain injury.…
Performance

Beyond the tip of the iceberg

For decades, nurses have been attempting to demonstrate their value in promoting high-quality, patient-centered care in terms everyone understands. Florence Nightingale even tried to document the value of…

Control your practice and health care’s future

When starting our first job as a newly licensed registered nurse, we generally concentrate on internalizing our professional role, mastering required skills, and navigating workplace policies and relationships.…

Creating an environment of falls prevention

Falls are a major concern for older adults in all settings, causing significant morbidity and mortality and affecting quality of life. In the hospital, falls occur at an…

FDA approves new cholesterol-lowing drug

On July 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Praluent (alirocumab) injection, the first cholesterol-lowering treatment approved in a new class of drugs known as proprotein…

FDA approves new drug for cystic fibrosis

On July 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Orkambi (lumacaftor 200 mg/ivacaftor 125 mg) for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) in patients 12 years…
Big Data

How big data can improve health care

Heather seems agitated as she describes the upcoming conference session to colleagues. “It’s about big data. You know—so much data that a regular computer can’t analyze it all.”…
path success board grifols healthcare salmon

Leadership insights

As part of its initiative to recognize nurses in board leadership roles, the American Nurses Foundation interviewed Marla Salmon, ScD, RN. Currently, Salmon is a professor of nursing…

Nursing practice and work environment

Almost everyone wants to enjoy the outdoors, particularly on sunny summer days. Outside activity is a pleasurable way to get a daily dose of vitamin D. However, if…
Preventing injuries

Preventing injuries from patient falls

While falls prevention has become standard in inpatient care, injury prevention has gotten less attention, both in research and everyday practice. Injuries from falls can have serious consequences…
hyponatremia

Recognizing acute hyponatremia

Sam Johansen, age 42, is admitted to the medical-surgical unit after 3 days of acute nausea, vomiting, and watery diarrhea associated with acute abdominal pain. His nurse, Megan,…
primary care

Succeeding as a primary care nurse

Isabelle didn’t say much, but you could easily see the kindness in her eyes. With her husband Jacob by her side, she let me thread the I.V. catheter…
Precautions

Taking appropriate precautions against falls

Falls pose a major public health problem around the world. In the United States, unintentional falls occur in all age groups. Such falls are the leading cause of…
Positive

The power of the positive

Being positive in a negative situation is not naïve. It’s leadership. — Ralph S. Marston, Jr., author and publisher of The Daily Motivator website Nurses may encounter many challenges and stressors…
qualitative research

Understanding qualitative research

Research can be conducted using either quantitative or qualitative methods. The distinction is crucial. Perhaps because of today’s emphasis on numerical data in health care, most nursing research…

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