MedSurg Nursing back issues from October 2008:
Health literacy: the newest vital sign.(from Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses)
Oct 01, 2008; ... A woman recently came into an urgent care clinic because the antibiotics did not seem to be helping her child's ear infection. After some questioning, it was discovered that the oral antibiotic had been instilled in the painful ear. In another instance, the patient did not know to remove ...
Stories that shape our practice.(Editorial)
Oct 01, 2008; ... I was a graduate nurse working nights when I encountered my first patient with a catastrophic diagnosis. In his early 50s, my patient had come into the hospital with abdominal pain and learned he had advanced pancreatic cancer. We had all shaken our heads sadly during shift report, feeling ...
Challenges and opportunities: communication near the end of life.(CNE SERIES)(Report)
Oct 01, 2008; ... John Gunther's 1949 memoir Death Be Not Proud describes his and his wife's efforts to keep hope alive for their son who was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Not talking about the seriousness of their son's illness was thought to be a good thing. Upon reflection, however, Frances ...
Anemia in older adults.(CNE SERIES)(Clinical report)
Oct 01, 2008; ... Research shows that anemia in the older adult is a common problem as the prevalence of the disease increases with each decade of life once individuals reach age 70 (Beghe, Wilson, & Ershler, 2004; Bhat, Kirmani, & Raw, 2008; Guralnik, Ershler, Schrier, & Picozzi, 2005). From 2000 to 2004, ...
Patient education documentation: is it being done?(Research for Practice)(Report)
Oct 01, 2008; ... Patient education is a key to disease management, convalescence, and overall wellness maintenance. The medical and allied health literature identifies the important partnership of responsibility to be developed between the patient and health care provider in order to ensure proper health ...
Medical emergency team implementation: experiences of a mentor hospital.(Clinical Practice)
Oct 01, 2008; ... In early 2004, nurses who attended an Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) meeting challenged our 412-bed Sisters of St. Joseph community hospital to reduce inpatient mortality rates and improve patient outcomes by adopting a medical emergency team. Medical emergency teams (METs), ...
Evaluation of postoperative blood salvage and re-transfusion in a total knee arthroplasty patient population: a retrospective study.(Research for Practice)(Report)
Oct 01, 2008; ... Arthroplasty is surgery to relieve pain and restore range of motion by realigning and reconstructing a joint. Patients of various ages and activity levels may require a total knee arthroplasty (TKA). At the authors' institution, the patient age can vary from 40 to 90. All patients, ...
Retrospective chart reviews.(Research Roundtable)(Report)
Oct 01, 2008; ... Poulin-Tabor and Hyrkas (2008) used data from a retrospective chart review to answer the question of whether or not blood salvage auto-transfusion can prevent anemia in patients following total knee arthroplasty. This research study design has strengths and weaknesses that readers need to ...
Nurses' stories: discovering essential nursing.(Clinical Practice)
Oct 01, 2008; ... Nurses enjoy a long history as storytellers. Their accounts provide listeners with snapshots of nursing life. Whether interacting orally or in writing with authors, audiences often begin to understand the many rewards of nursing practice through nurses' stories. The value of nurses' ...
Age, gender, and location are keys to predicting patient fall injuries in hospitals.(MEDSURG MINUTE)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2008 ... Studies have suggested that serious injuries after a fall in a hospital can increase patient charges by about $4,000. A new study by Washington University Medicine researchers suggests keep close watch on older and female patients in bathrooms and patient care areas if they hope to quell ...
Bariatric surgery.(Preparing for Certification)
Oct 01, 2008; ... Obesity in the United States has reached epidemic proportions and has far-reaching consequences for individuals, families, and the health care industry. Bariatric surgery may be indicated for a patient with body mass index (BMI) greater than 40, or for one with a BMI greater than 35 with ...
Medication reconciliation matters.(Professional Issues)(Case study)
Oct 01, 2008; ... John Davis, an 83-year-old man with a history of heart failure, presents to the emergency room with shortness of breath, pain, fever, and lethargy. Because of his altered mental status, the emergency room staff turns to his wife for medical history. She relates that he has "had heart ...
AHRQ releases 2006 state data from HCUP.(MEDSURG MINUTE)(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality )(Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project )(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2008 ... The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recently released state data for the 2006 data year from the Agency's Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). HCUP is a federal-state-industry partnership that brings together the data collection efforts of State data ...
Antihypertensives.(Nursing Pharmacology)
Oct 01, 2008; ... In 2002, hypertension was listed as the primary cause or as a contributing cause of death for 277,000 Americans. It also was the reason for 35 million outpatient visits in 2003 (Centers for Disease Control, 2007). The purpose of this article is to review the different classes of drugs used ...
Potentially deadly infection doubled among hospital patients over last 5 years.(MEDSURG MINUTE)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2008 ... The number of hospital patients stricken by an infection that can lead diarrheal blood poisoning, and even death increased by 200% between 2000 and 2005, according to data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The sharp upturn follows a 74% increase in the number of ...
Patient safety indicators may be useful for comparing quality of care across delivery systems.(MEDSURG MINUTE)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2008 ... A new study of Veterans Health Administration (VA) hospitals shows excess deaths, longer hospital stays, and higher costs in all groups of patients who experienced potentially preventable safety problems indicated by patient safety indicators (PSIs) developed by the Agency for Healthcare ...
The Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scale.
Oct 01, 2008; ... WHY: The assessment of functional status is critical when caring for older adults. Normal aging changes, acute illness, worsening chronic illness, and hospitalization can contribute to a decline in the ability to perform tasks necessary to live independently in the community. The ...
Tobacco use: ending the epidemic.(Cancer: Caring and Conquering)
Oct 01, 2008; ... Nurses should encourage leaders in their health care systems to provide effective tobacco-use treatment and follow up. Nurses also need to support the policy and community interventions that motivate tobacco users to try to quit, create a supportive environment, and provide more intensive ...
Patient satisfaction and high-reliability organizations: what's the connection?(On Leadership)
Oct 01, 2008; ... TRANSPARENCY IS THE WATCH-word of the day as we enter the new era of public reporting in health care. The public wants to know our outcomes before choosing a provider and a facility, and the government and other payers want to know if we are providing value for the dollars spent. We have ...