2020 ANA Innovation Award winners update
Making strides forward during a challenging year The American Nurses Association (ANA) Innovation Awards, powered by BD, highlight, recognize, and…
practice matters
5 reasons why pandemics will be more frequent
We must prepare now for future outbreaks. In 1918, nurses played a pivotal role in the Spanish flu pandemic that…
Advance care planning across the care continuum
Nurses can play an active role in engaging patients and families in helpful conversations. Takeaways Nurses are in a unique…
Advocacy agenda
Collective action reaps rewards in public policy. Ernest J. Grant Advocacy—the process of influencing public policy—occurs at all levels of…
Agendas for change
Nursing’s path for growth, diversity, and health equity. Even as nurses worldwide confront one of the gravest crises in modern…
An ounce of prevention
Engage in practical training through Project Firstline. A lifetime of working with patients with serious burn injuries truly ingrained in…
Avoiding flu complacency
Vaccination coverage is key to managing outbreaks. As of June 17, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated…
Battling burnout and languishing
Brief evidence-based tactics that work Even before COVID-19, rates of burnout, depression, stress, and anxiety in nurses, and other healthcare…
Building a herd: Nurses’ role in championing COVID-19 vaccination
A video series dispels misinformation and increases vaccine confidence. Editor’s note: This is an early release of a web exclusive…
Chaplains as connectors
Promoting spiritual care in the wellness continuum. Takeaways: Many assume that the chaplain’s work is limited to religion. However, their…
Climate courage
Act now to protect the global population. I’ve always accepted the science of global warming, but I stayed on the…
COVID-19 and palliative care
Primary care symptom management can enhance quality of life and prevent hospitalization. Takeaways: Early identification and reporting of symptomatic COVID-19…
COVID-19 exposed our deficiencies
The U.S. healthcare system needs adequate reserve capacity to address future pandemics. The current U.S. healthcare delivery system doesn’t have…
COVID-19 vaccines: What you need to know
A critical intervention to help end the pandemic. Scientists began work to develop a safe and effective vaccine soon after…
Data science for nurses
Learn how to apply this skill to nursing projects. Takeaways: Using data science methods and techniques has the potential to…
Driving staffing solutions
Stakeholders join forces to address the nursing shortage. The COVID-19 pandemic response has magnified long-standing nurse staffing deficits burdening the…
Enhancing nursing curriculum with an injection of technology
Use online tools to engage and motivate students. Evidence-based research has changed teaching from a traditional teacher-centered approach to a…
Fostering nurse-physician collaboration through shared experience
An innovative program fosters appreciation for nurses. Takeaways: Medical residents participating in a Nurse-for-a-Day program reported that the top lessons…
Foundation for the future
A bold initiative to reshape nursing and healthcare. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses nationwide have been providing exemplary service under…
From idea to impact
Innovation Awards recognize nursing initiatives. The 2022 American Nurses Association (ANA) Innovation Awards, sponsored by Stryker, recognized an individual nurse’s…
Gandhi and the practice of nursing
Professional ethics and daily practice. One man, Mohandas Gandhi, led us back into morality as a practical thing. In my…
Generational learning preferences
Target patient teaching to match generational and individual needs. Takeaways: Generational cohorts frequently have similar characteristics that influence learning preferences.…
Give the gift of life
Make a personal commitment to support blood donation in your community. Nurses first learn about the value of blood and…
Good-bye and God bless…
Practical hope will create new realities. It is with some trepidation and a great deal of nostalgia that I say…
Hospital at home
Expand capacity, increase patient satisfaction, improve outcomes Takeaways: Outside of the United States, countries such as England, Canada, and Australia…
How shall we mourn our dead?
Take your time and follow the path that’s right for you. Since May 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid…
Infection prevention and control is for every nurse
Refresh your knowledge through ANA Project Firstline. Nurses have always played an important role in infection prevention and control (IPC).…
Influenza prevention
Immunization options offer coverage across the population. Last year, the incidence of influenza worldwide was unprecedentedly low. For example, less…
Innovating during a pandemic
An on-site makerspace leads to quick solution experimentation and implementation. Takeaways: Nurses have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in inventive…
Innovation central
Resources and recognition for advancing nurses’ ideas and ingenuity. Ernest J. Grant Innovation—creating something new or improving on an existing…
Investing in ourselves
Self-care boosts nurses personally and professionally. Nurses nationwide have performed arduous and impeccable work during the COVID-19 pandemic, now in…
Listening with compassion
Nurses’ experiences of racism in nursing. “Many Black girls don’t make it through this nursing education program.” Have you ever…
Making prone positioning a priority
Perfecting protocols to support patients with COVID-19 Research on the benefits of prone positioning for acute respiratory distress syndrome—and now…
Medication titration
Meeting The Joint Commission standard. Takeaways: The Joint Commission Medication Management Standard states that hospitals are responsible for reducing medication…
Motivate Gen Z nursing students
Facilitate—don’t direct—education. Takeaways: Intrinsic motivators—learning facilitation, passionate presentation, content value revelation, concise information delivery, student and educator engagement, experiential learning,…
Nurse fatigue: The silent epidemic
Mitigating this serious threat to health and safety Are you getting the recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep in…
Nurse innovators shine
NursePitch ™ reveals products for better care. The third annual NursePitch ™—held in collaboration with the American Nurses Association (ANA)…
Nursing needs a mental health makeover
Easy access to resources and erasing stigma are key. For too long, nurses have struggled quietly with mental health issues,…
One country, one people, one government
Let’s expect more from our country, our politicians—and each other. By the time this article is published, the holidays will…
Outreach score identifies care coordination needs
Save time, increase intervention efficiency and effectiveness, and enhance patient safety. Takeaways: Care managers spend hours cross referencing multiple sources…
Pathological individualism
Our rights come with responsibilities. They call it a “pandemic,” meaning the disease has spread all around the globe. Horrible.…
Professional prioritization
Remember all the good we do. Marla J. Weston Nurses repeatedly confront overwhelming workloads and the need to make extraordinarily…
Program transformation through evaluation
Assess program effectiveness using the CDC framework. Takeaways: Nurses can drive change through program evaluation to improve patient outcomes. The…
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
Education and surveillance are key for patients at risk for this rare but fatal complication. Takeaways: Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML)…
Promoting patient portal engagement
Nurses can increase the use of a valuable healthcare tool. Editor’s note: This is an early release of a web…
Quality improvement
Nursing’s integral role Staci S. Reynolds Quality improvement (QI) seeks to standardize structures and processes in the healthcare setting to…
Rapid health technology assessments
Introduction to a process that aids value chain decisions. Takeaways: Rapid health technology assessments (R-HTA) are focused systematic reviews of…
Reflection and change
History informs how we approach the future. Black History Month—celebrated each February—recognizes the contributions Black people have made across time…
Reimagining flu vaccine clinics
A primary care network innovates during a global pandemic. Takeaways: Within a large regional network of primary care offices, an…
Reimagining flu vaccine clinics
A primary care network innovates during a global pandemic. Takeaways: Within a large regional network of primary care offices, an…
Strategies for time-sensitive medications
An evidence-based project improved medication administration timeliness. Takeaways: Timely administration of time-sensitive medications (within 30 minutes before or after the…
Student nurse intern programs
A beacon of hope. Healthcare organizations throughout the nation are struggling with the prolonged pandemic and the worsening nursing shortage.…
Support for the BSN
The degree benefits nurses, hospitals, and patients. The battle over nurses’ education isn’t so much over as that it’s entered…
Sustain and retain
An urgent action agenda for a sustainable global nursing workforce beyond the pandemic. Franklin A. Shaffer The COVID-19 pandemic has…
Sustaining innovation
An update from the 2021 ANA Innovation Award winners. The American Nurses Association (ANA) Innovation Awards—bestowed annually—highlight, recognize, and celebrate…
Take time to appreciate the importance of what you do
Lessons learned from 1918 d In 1918, the “Spanish flu” killed most people who were infected. Thanks to the efforts…
The Joint Commission: COVID-19 response and accreditation
Resources and advocacy to support healthcare organizations. Takeaways: The Joint Commission has taken actions to support health care organizations with…
The value of interoperability to nursing
Get involved to improve care delivery. Tiffany Kelley Interoperability is the term used to describe the ability of two or…
Tide of change
Report calls on nursing to confront and eradicate racism. Racism: “Assaults on the human spirit in the form of biases,…
Unemployment imperils health coverage
A fix is long overdue and needed now. So many bad things are happening, it’s hard to keep up with…
Updated nursing scope and standards
Foundational document reflects changes in healthcare. As the professional nursing association that represents all RNs in the United States, the…
Violence prevention measures move in Congress
Assaults on the job are a hazard for nurses. The COVID-19 pandemic opened a window for elected leaders to see…
We are how we sleep
What nurses need to know about social determinants of health and sleep. Takeaways: Sleep is a necessary and complex physiological…
We must #EndNurseAbuse
RNs are vulnerable during COVID-19. The stress of a pandemic can put nurses at higher risk of becoming targets of…
What a unique nurse identifier means for the future
This fingerprint of nursing enhances the visibility of nurses’ contributions. Takeaways: A unique nurse identifier (UNI), a defined code or…
When blood transfusion isn’t an option
Provide safe, culturally sensitive care. Takeaways: Jehovah’s Witnesses and their scriptural beliefs frequently are challenged within our current healthcare system.…
Words matter: Scripting to enhance patient engagement
Learn how to foster patient empowerment, engagement, and activation. All clinical nurses strive to provide person-centered care (PCC) that meets…
Workplace violence: What can nurses do?
Be aware, report incidents, and get involved. Workplace violence remains all too common in healthcare, as most every nurse can…
