nursing

A multifaceted gem

Through poetry, Susan Wilcox Stelton, MSN, APRN-BC, CWOCN, reflects on the many facets of nursing.

A Year of Gifts

Our editor-in-chief reviews important accomplishments in the past year and presents a nursing "wish list".
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Baby boom: More photos from the NICU

Editor’s note: Our May 2008 “American Nurse, American Talent” department featured newborn photographs taken by Cheryl Briggs. They were so popular that we decided to publish another group…

Battlefield nursing at the Boston Marathon

Three yellow balloons danced through the air, hovering over the finish line after being released by the bomb blast that brought the 2013 Boston Marathon to a catastrophic…
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Biosimilars: An alternative to biologics

Biosimilars may help lower drug costs for patients. Takeaways: Biologics and biosimilars are classes of drugs used to treat many complex conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, and…

Building a sense of community on nursing units

Jeff Rawson, a new nurse graduate, works on a behavioral health unit. His manager believes his transition is going well—until Jeff asks to transfer to another unit. When…

Care during crisis

ANA brings nurses, experts together to shape practice policy during disasters

Care without gaps

ANA, nurses nationwide work to improve transitions in care Mary Maryland, PhD, APRN,BC, ANP, has had to rely on good old-fashioned nursing ingenuity to ensure that her 84-year-old…
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Caring for my best friend

Like many of my colleagues, I became a nurse because of my desire to help people. I wanted to relieve suffering, offer comfort, and restore health. I wanted…

Celebrating the art and science of nursing

The day before undergoing lifesaving, high-risk surgery, a young woman sat with her fiancé by her side. The charge nurse, who learned that they wanted to tie the…

Challenging nursing’s sacred cows

Do you routinely instill normal saline solution into endotracheal tubes before suctioning? Use only the Glasgow Coma Scale for neurologic assessment? Evidence on these and other sacred cows…

Characteristics of nursing excellence

What’s behind Magnet®-recognized organizations? By Lillee Gelinas, MSN, RN, CPPS, FAAN I’ve learned a lot through the years about the characteristics of healthcare organizations whose nursing excellence is evident,…

Dangers of the 12-hour shift

Rose Sherman has a thoughtful blog on nursing’s “third rail”—the 12-hour shift. In the blog, she notes that although nurses like 12-hour shifts, they create a patient safety…

Do I still belong?

You matter to the profession. As nurses continue their journey to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, many are asking, “Do I belong here?” Belonging, a human need, is…

During an emergency: Be safe!

Thousands of accidental chemical spills and leaks take place in this country each year. Providing nurses with adequate first-receiver training can help ensure that we can care for…
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Effective peer reviews in 3 easy steps

Most well-respected journals are peer reviewed, although controversy exists as to its true value. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which publishes “ICMJE Recommendations for the…

Ensuring quality and saving time

The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators&#174 tracks the care nurses provide, helping to improve nursing practice, patient outcomes, and the work environment.

Ethics and global health outreach programs

Plan ahead to ensure a successful and respectful experience. Takeaways: Embarking on a global health trip includes both logistical and ethical considerations. Preparation before a global health trip…

Eye of the beholder: Grand rounds at the museum

“What do you see in his eyes?” asks Dr. Rothenberg. After a brief pause, someone replies, “He looks sad.” Another states, “He’s kind of emaciated.” After directing us…
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From our readers…A cycle of caring

It began a long time ago A woman walks through the dark room, with just a candle to light her way The soldiers can sense her presence She…
Fruits and Vegetables are dietary Staples of Caring for patients with metabolic syndrome

From our readers…Hunger advocacy for nurses

Since the mid-1990s, the number of hungry people worldwide has been steadily increasing. Currently about 925 million people worldwide are hungry—about 1 in 7 of the global population.…
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From our readers…Value all your skills

Anyone who’s been a nurse for more than 10 years will agree with me: you can make big leaps from specialty to specialty and sometimes leave a skill…
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From Your ANA President

No matter how long we’ve been in practice, we can all remember our nursing school experience. Giving our first injection, memorizing drugs and their side effects, fine-tuning a…
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Frontiers of nursing education

As student needs and priorities shift, education adapts. By Janet Boivin, BSN, RN In less than half a century, nursing education has advanced from a highly structured model…
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Gifts that keep on giving

December turns our hearts and minds to the holiday season. We juggle work time and family demands to prepare for holiday celebrations. We reflect on the diversity of…

Gig nursing

Has the future of part-time work shifted? The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the healthcare workplace. Stress, burnout, and lack of work–life balance and flexible work hours contributed to…

Good intentions eclipsed

Leah Curtin discusses how negative effects of work on work/life balance and mandatory overtime affect patient care.

Headlines from the Hill

Find out what has been accomplished during the 112th Congress and what healthcare professionals stand to lose if our country goes over the "fiscal cliff."

Health, safety, & wellness

By promoting and consuming nutritious foods, nurses can improve their own and their patients’ health.
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Health, safety, & wellness

Nursing is a rewarding profession based on caring, giving, helping, and educating. It involves caring for others, from beautiful newborns to pain-wracked hospice patients. It involves giving of…

Hospice nursing: A slower pace of care

It had never occurred to me before, but it makes perfect sense—hospice care moves at a slower pace than typical nursing. Nurses (and patients) have all experienced the…
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How do you look?

Recently, I rushed to the emergency department (ED) at my local hospital to meet a relative who’d been taken there by ambulance. When I arrived, in my desperation…
design-thinking

How innovation and design thinking can improve care

Empathy and collaboration create opportunities to help vulnerable populations.  Takeaways: Design thinking is a problem-solving tool driven by the needs of the targeted population. The authors used designing…

How to comment on government regulations

You can get directly involved in developing public health policy by submitting your comments on proposed government regulations to federal departments and agencies.

Interprofessional collaboration made easy

Interprofessional collaborative teams that include nurses, physicians, social workers, pharmacists, and physical and occupational therapists can help healthcare organizations improve patient and family experiences, ensure good outcomes, and…
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Introducing the new voice of nurses

Welcome to the premier issue of American Nurse Today—the official journal of the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the new voice for today’s nurses in all specialties and…

Is hospice care a two-way street?

As a non-nurse, my perception of why nurses decide to work in hospice care centers around patients and families—relieving pain, assuaging fears, answering questions, being a comfort. But…

Issues up close

What’s your health risk? Find out with ANA’s new online assessment tools.
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Issues up close

Genomic science has crossed the horizon of health care into our everyday lives, transforming our understanding of health and illness. The era of personalized genomic health care has…

It was called medicine: Now it’s called nursing

In the beginning, there was a single entity called “medicine” and everything health care–related was medicine. Then there were wars; those practicing medicine became too busy and nurses…
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Leadership insights

The American Nurses Association (ANA) Leadership Institute is designed to enhance leadership knowledge and professional skills to prepare nurses for career advancement. At ANA, we believe enhancing leadership…

Leading at the bedside and beyond

A typical definition for a leader is one who has the ability to influence. Florence Nightingale, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King readily come to mind for their…
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Mentorship programs and novice nursing faculty

Caring, supportive mentors can help ease faculty shortage. Takeaways: Mentoring is one strategy to help solve nursing faculty shortages. Good mentors lie at the heart of every good…

New film spotlights nurses

“NURSES: If Florence Could See Us Now” is a new documentary that showcases the challenging and diverse world of nursing. The film highlights the compassion of real nurses,…
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Nurising’s contribution to patient care

Editor’s note: This month’s column is cowritten by Rebecca Patton and Margarete L. Zalon, President of the American Nurses Foundation. We have stories to tell about nurses and…

Nurses caring and sharing

From the U.S. to Uganda, in sleek American hospitals and makeshift Afghan clinics, nurses give of themselves to transform lives. Compelled by a deep passion to aid people…

Nurses on the front lines during pandemics

An annotated bibliography. Editor’s note: This article has undergone peer review. Key Points Infectious disease outbreaks are an emerging global threat. Nurses are one of the most invaluable…

Nurses speak up about climate change

By Julie Cullen, Managing Editor, American Nurse Today The past few days have seen a lot of news coverage of the climate strike by young people around the…
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Nursing – today and beyond

Nursing is in the midst of revolutionary changes. How are these changes affecting the profession today—and how are they likely to affect it in the future? For the…
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Nursing ethics for the 21st century

In August 2014, ANA participated as a strategic partner with 50 nursing leaders who came together in Baltimore for a summit meeting on Nursing Ethics for the 21st…

Nursing quality: Strength in numbers

"In God we trust. All others must bring data." The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators® (NDNQI®) collects data that can improve the quality of care.

Nursing’s quality crosswalk

To promote optimal patient outcomes, ANA’s National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators identifies crucial nursing and patient care efforts that affect patient outcomes and safety.
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Our journey along the Pathway to Excellence®

A rural community hospital shares its story of designation and re-designation.  Takeaways: Pathway to Excellence® is an evolving process that roadmaps opportunities to enhance nursing recruitment and retention,…
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Passion – the ultimate motivator

I didn’t grow up wanting to be a nurse. No one in my family had any occupational connection with healthcare. After starting college en route to becoming a…

Perioperative nurses: Keeping surgical patients safe

Perioperative nurses work on the front line caring for patients undergoing operative and other invasive procedures. They collaborate with patients, families, and members of the surgical team in…

PhD vs DNP

Takeaways: The doctor of nursing practice (DNP) is a terminal degree designed to prepare experts in nursing practice. The doctor of philosophy (PhD) is a terminal degree designed…

Physician supports APRNs in Atlantic article

John Rowe, a physician who is professor in the department of health policy and management at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, has written “Why Nurses…
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Powering policy with nurse expertise

Jeri Milstead is inducted into the ANA Hall of Fame. Jeri Milstead, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, has built her legacy on advocating for nurses’ involvement in local, state,…
Pyelonephritis

Pyelonephritis

Early identification results in a positive outcome.     Candance Walker* is a 28-year-old woman who arrives in a wheelchair in the emergency department accompanied by her husband. She’s crying…
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Q&A with the Executive Director of AWHONN

In May, we celebrate Nurses’ Week, Women’s Health Week, and Mother’s Day. In the spirit of these celebrations, we asked Joseph C. Isaacs, CAE, Executive Director of the…
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Reflections on the heart of nursing

In 1995, I toured the Florence Nightingale Museum in London. On the walls were letters that chronicled a lifetime of dedication, spent caring for others—letters that were preserved…

Sacred cow round-up

Evidence-based nursing practice obliges us to embrace innovation and let go of our sacred cows.

Safe staffing saves lives

ANA’s “Safe Staffing Saves Lives” campaign fights for safe nurse staffing legislation.

Shaving as a metaphor for nursing

Over the course of history, people have used metaphors to explain, contrive, reflect, and refute human phenomena. Health care (and all its challenges) has stimulated prolific metaphors to…

Staffing though Web-based open-shift bidding

If you’re a nurse-manager who continually struggles to fill open shifts, find out how online shift-bidding technology can boost staffing efficiency, decrease costs, and enhance nurses’ satisfaction and…
Structural empowerment and the Magnet® Model: A perfect fit

Structural empowerment and the Magnet® Model: A perfect fit

Nursing literature abounds with descriptive and predictive studies of structural empowerment and its relationship to nurses’ trust, commitment, control over practice, intent to stay, productivity, job satisfaction, engagement,…

Study: Supplemental nurses compared to permanent nurses

Supplemental nurses and permanent nurses share similar education levels, but supplemental nurses are slightly less experienced, more racially and ethnically diverse, and more likely to be male, according…
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SWAT nursing: A unique specialty

What does SWAT stand for? So Where Are They? Smart, Witty, and Talented? Smiling, Willing, Able, Technical? (more…)

Synchronicity: Meeting Mother Teresa

In 1981, I attended the International Conference of Nurses meeting in Los Angeles. I took this opportunity to visit a colleague who’d just been diagnosed with malignant melanoma.…

Taking the first steps to serving on a board

Nurses have a singular perspective on patient care and community health. With our training and experience, we can inform and improve healthcare decisions in ways that complement those…

Tap your way to fast relief

Want to reduce physical and psychological stress? Emotional Freedom Techniques may be able to help.

Television show highlights 1950s nurse midwives

“Call the Midwife,” a television show on PBS, shows nurse midwives as positive influences in 1950s London. The show is sponsored by the American College of Nurse Midwives.…

The caring-quilting connection

Even if you’re not a quilt connoisseur, you’re sure to appreciate the beauty and handiwork of this nurse’s quilt. Its creator sees profound parallels between quilting and nursing.
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The essence of nursing

In health care today, technological advances grab headlines while clinicians’ documentation duties mount almost daily. Is basic nursing care receding into the background? Recently, American Nurse Today’s Editorial…
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The importance of being unreasonable

Nurses, on the whole, are a darn nice group of people. After all, nurses have a reputation for being caring, self-sacrificing, nurturing, hardworking, and honest. So why don’t…
The Maslow effect: A humanist legacy for nursing

The Maslow effect: A humanist legacy for nursing

In the late 1960s, psychologist Abraham Maslow was moved by the kindness of the nurses and nursing students he encountered when hospitalized for heart disease. Curious about why…

The Nurse Executive’s Coaching Manual

With the incredibly changing and challenging environment of health care, today’s nurse leaders are required more than ever to consistently think about developing others and sustaining a committed…

Trust me. I’m a nurse

Reconciling trust, ethics, and caring. Takeaways: For 17 consecutive years, nurses have received the highest rating in the Gallup honesty and ethics survey. Individual nurse behavior can influence…

What new nurses like

According to a Nursing Research and Practice study of 1,152 newly registered nurses, what they like best about nursing can be summed up in five themes: “providing holistic…
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What to expect from correctional nursing

Takeaways: Correctional nursing is a growing specialty that’s evolving to meet the needs of incarcerated populations in a variety of settings. People who are incarcerated need compassionate nurses…

Why making the rounds makes sense

Nursing rounds are making a comeback – but this time, they’re based on research and structured for maximum efficiency.
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Why must I make a service commitment?

During my senior year of nursing school, I tried to do everything right to prepare for my first nursing job. I thought I understood the system. I was…

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