The care team works quickly to identify the patient’s meningitis type.
Our editor-in-chief reviews important accomplishments in the past year and presents a nursing "wish list".
Anaphylaxis can kill within minutes unless the victim receives immediate treatment. Calling a rapid response team to the scene can avert disaster.
Stop life-threatening pneumothorax with quick thinking and action.
With quick thinking and immediate action, you can save this patient.
Many clinicians are using this mechanical ventilation mode to help reduce lung damage, pneumonia, and other complications of ventilation. Find out how it works, when it’s indicated, how it preserves spontaneous breathing, and why it reduces sedation requirements.
ANA’s National Center for Nursing Quality promotes nursing quality and patient safety while helping nurses advocate for themselves.
On February 23, more than 350 educators from top U.S. nursing schools tuned in to view Nursesbooks.org’s one-hour webinar featuring ANA’s popular quality title, Teaching IOM: Implications of the Institute of Medicine Reports for Nursing Education.
Can you interpret arterial blood gas (ABG) values with confidence? To find out, test yourself with the case studies in this article.
Global traveling brings about 1,000 cases of malaria to this country each year. Don’t be caught off guard if you encounter it in your practice.
Pain affects many aspects of your patient’s reality. Learn about the seven dimensions of pain and how to evaluate them.
A nurse responds quickly to the patient’s distress.
More than 1 million Americans a year suffer a myocardial infarction (MI). This article tells you how – and how quickly – you need to respond to the most dangerous MI.
The transition from the educational setting to the practice setting can be intimidating. Make it easier by guiding novice nurses.
Fibromyalgia produces many symptoms but no signs, so some clinicians dismiss it as a wastebasket diagnosis. But the pain is very real, and patients with fibromyalgia need you to understand their pain – and try to relieve it.
The author clears up misconceptions and discusses treatment.
Nurse authors call on educators to incorporate IOM findings into education, practice.
In an emergency, this blood test can detect heart failure rapidly and reliably.
The third in a series of articles on clinical trials from nurses at the National Cancer Institute.
Because of improvements in safety, stents are now the treatment of choice for many patients. Learn about the improvements and your role in patient care.
The cartoons of Theresa Garnero, APRN, BC-ADM, MSN, CED, help patients cope with diabetes.
A leadership development program helps staff nurses with high leadership potential become the hospital’s next nurse leaders.
Working with local hospitals, a Texas consortium of nursing schools developed learning modules to improve new nurse graduates’ preparation for practice.
The shapes of red blood cells can tell you plenty about your patient’s condition – if you know how to interpret them.
Nurses are taking on a range of unique and challenging roles
in the clinical research field.
Complete, objective, and accurate documentation of the care you provide can help you avert or defend against lawsuits.
Early recognition and action can save a limb.
A patient who collapsed at home arrives at the hospital with a blood glucose level off the charts, plus extreme thirst and polyuria. Think his diagnosis is cut and dried? Think again.
Fast, focused assessment and action can stop this dangerous imbalance.
An increasing number of students are choosing distance
education, over traditional courses.
ANA’s toxic reform work aids people with multiple chemical sensitivity.
A nurse-turned-massage therapist found that hands-on interaction with massage clients reconnected her to one of the most fulfilling aspects of nursing – contact through caring, noninvasive touch.
This humorous approach will help you take a serious step toward remembering the cranial nerves.
Without effective treatment, more than 40% of frostbite
victims require digital amputation. Can Jonathan’s toes
be saved?
To move your career up a notch, should you go back to school or pursue nonacademic options? The authors’ advice can help you decide on the best professional development route.
A staff nurse gives his perspective on this important report.
Syncope is a common occurrence and is commonly benign. But sometimes a swoon signals a serious underlying condition. Learn what causes syncope and how to assess and intervene for a patient who has just experienced it.
Most patients manage the heartburn, nausea, and belching of gastroesophegeal reflux disease with lifestyle changes and medications. But some may experience a dangerous symptom cluster that warns of more serious problems.
When excessive blood loss during delivery threatens a mother’s life, quick assessment, effective interventions, and expert aid from the rapid response team maneuver her postpartum course back onto a normal track.
After several weeks of classes and partnered orientation to patient care, novice nurses in our large acute-care health system have learned a great deal. Still, most admit their priority-setting skills could be better.
In its early stages, sepsis can be difficult to detect.
Learn about the sometimes-subtle signs and symptoms.
Many people assume herbs can’t cause harm, and neglect to tell healthcare providers they’re using them. This article will boost your herbal awareness and help you eradicate herbal ignorance among patients, colleagues, family, and friends.
More nursing schools are using computerized manikins to help
students gain skills and develop clinical judgment.
Higher education bill created new opportunities for nurses and schools; House joins Senate in supporting advanced practice registered nurses in home health.
An innovative funding program is helping to create a highly educated nursing workforce.
How to use auscultation to distiguish sinus bradycardia from complete heart block in geriatric patients.
The author explains how a residency can take the nurse beyond
doing nursing to being a nurse in the fullest sense.
A program for health profession students nurtures teamwork in a hospital setting.
Sudden unresponsiveness, pallor, and low blood pressure raise red flags.
ANA’s “Bringing Immunity to Every Community” campaign aims to boost RNs’ knowledge of immunization, encourage them to get vaccinated, and position them as leading immunization advocates.
Read about a valuable health-education resource for foreign-language patients.
Use these tips and techniques to identify heart sounds and murmurs in children.
Summer sizzles on, sun-worshipers soak up the rays. Years later, your ability to detect melanoma in its early stages could spell the difference between a patient’s prompt treatment and a grim prognosis.
The earlier renal disease is detected, the better. That’s why the microalbumin test is so important for patients with certain chronic conditions.
After decades of dormancy, mumps is back and could be making an appearacne soon at a clinic or hospital near you.
Think you know all about rheumatoid arthritis? Think again. Misunderstandings about the disease abound, even among healthcare professionals.
A patient complains of bloating, abdominal tenderness, and constipation. Nothing unusual? Maybe. But if you’re too quick to dismiss these symptoms, you could be overlooking a serious condition called Ogilvie’s syndrome.
Terry Ratnre, RN, MFA, asks American Nurse Today Editor-in-Chief Pamela Cipriano to weigh in on some of the most pressing issues in nursing.
A thoroughly rational approach to the most frightening of seizures.
Pain, arthritis, fractures, and skeletal deformities are calling cards of Paget’s disease. A new one-dose drug therapy can produce extended remission.
Despite recent gains in treating pulmonary arterial hypertension, a cure is a long way off. Diagnosis and therapy can be tricky, and prognosis remains poor. Still, there are ways nurses can help slow disease progression and improve quality of life for a child with this condition.
Suspect polymyalgia in patients who continue to decline after treatment for pericardial effusion.
Home health nurses play a vital role in helping patients recover from stroke
The risks associated with preeclampsia don’t end when the newborn is delivered.
Today’s nursing curriculum uses such approaches as situated cognition, flipping the classroom, and concept-based learning.
Complications of an anterior cervical fusion did not lead to an airway obstruction because of one nurse’s assessment skills and critical thinking.
I.V. fluids should help a dehydrated patient, but for one with a history of atrial fibrillation and coronary artery disease, they could contribute to pulmonary edema. For Grace Johnson, quick assessment and action staved off a poor outcome.
Every year, 2 million Americans experience atrial fibrillation (AF)—a chaotic electrical storm that ripples across both atria. The more you know about AF, the better off your patients will be.
During American Heart Month, let’s heed our own health promotion advice.
This affective teaching strategy improves students’ understanding of mental illness on a deeper personal level.
Women may have different angina symptoms than men.
Enhance your understanding of these two conditions.
Saving a patient from sudden death starts with recognizing the dangerous ventricular arrythmia that precedes it.
Colin, age 65, can’t stop moving his legs in bed. He feels pin pricks in them and sometimes even a sensation of worms crawling inside them.
This nightly vexation afflicts nearly 10% of the elderly.
Manay dangerous ischemic events are clinically silent. Continuous ST-segment monitoring gives early warning of the silent ischemia that many other diagnostic methods fail to detect.
Sepsis can show up in any setting. So even if you don’t work in a critical care unit, you need to know how to detect it. This article describes warning signs that should arouse your suspicion.
How to recognize sepsis in time and use the therapies recommended by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign.
For someone with sickle cell trait, exercise can trigger dangerous complications. But most people who have the trait, don’t know it.
The swift response of the healthcare team helps a patient avoid the most devastating effects of a stroke.
Some basic strategies will help you thrive in academia.
Each year, emergency departments see about 1.5 million patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Update your knowledge of the disease and its treatment.
Air enters a patient’s central venous catheter site. It’s all down hill from there.
The Doctor of Nursing Practice degree has aroused confusion and controversy. Learn why.
Preventing readmissions is an important quality focus. Here is how you can work with other team members to help reduce readmissions for patients who have diabetes.
WEB EXCLUSIVE – More information on teaching patients ostomy care. Please download PDF for best viewing.
Applying the ANA’s Code of Ethics to everyday nursing practice
Protect your ARDS patients from danger with perfusion, positioning, protective lung ventilation, protocol weaning, and prevention of complications.
Six direct-care nurses came together to teach hospital staff about the Magnet Recognition Program.®
Blood transfusions can sustain and save lives. But sometimes they sicken and even kill. Learn how to prevent, detect, and manage blood transfusion reactions.
Blood transfusions can sustain and save lives. But sometimes they sicken and even kill. Learn how to prevent, detect, and manage blood transfusion reactions.
Learn how slathering a chemical solution over the face or abrading it with a stream of crystals rejuvenates the skin. This article takes you under the skin surface and walks you through the steps of a superficial skin peel.
The nurse’s high index of suspicion helps halt a life-threatening emergency.
The author describes the newest approaches to detecting, treating, and controlling this very old infectious disease.
To survive acute lung injury, patients need all the help they can get. High-frequency oscillatory ventillation protects their lungs by maintaining a constant mean airway pressure.
In the ever-escalating war between bacteria and human beings, some of the bugs are outsmarting us. Here’s what you need to know about antibiotic therapy to help reduce bacterial resistance and optimize therapy for patients with acute infections.
Your knowledge and your patient teaching can be the difference between a quick recovery and a serious complication.
Learn the basics about the most common inherited bleeding disorder.
Child-abuse cases can be the mot difficult ones for nurses to cope with. But with the right knowledge and tools, you can care for abused children more effectively.
Learn about the causes of this disorder, current treatments, and important nursing considerations.
Editor’s note: At American Nurse Today, we believe every nurse can be a leader. Rose Sherman, founder of the Emerging RN Leader blog (www.emergingrnleader.com), contributes articles on a regular basis to help nurses achieve their leadership potential. Rachel is an experienced critical care nurse who prides herself on her
Our expert, Mable H. Smith, PhD, JD, RN explains the subtleties of informed consent when your patient is a minor.
Neurogenic shock must be diagnosed and treated early to limit the effects of hypotension and bradycardia and restore adequate tissue oxygenation.
How to recognize and reverse transfuion-related acute lung injury.
A new lab technique called segmented gradient gel electrophoresis identifies subclasses of cholesterol and more precisely predicts your patient’s cardiac risk.
A patient’s brief loss of consciousness leads to discovery of long QT syndrome. By thinking fast and making all the right moves, you can stave off the threat of torsades de pointes.
The author highlights differing viewpoints of the precepting experience.
Find out if a return to school makes sense for you.
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