American Nurses Association (ANA) members may not realize it, but they have access to some of the most cutting edge, up-to-date practice information available anywhere—and it’s offered to them free of charge as part of ANA membership: ANA’s Online Journal of Issues in Nursing (OJIN).
“OJIN’s peer-reviewed articles examine in-depth topics that affect nurses’ day-to-day practice,” says OJIN Editor Harriet Coeling, PhD, RN, CNS. “Our expert writers tackle topics that affect nursing practice, research, and the wider health care sector, and they present the information in a way that’s accessible to all nurses, not just academics.”
What’s more, OJIN authors present information that can be used by the staff nurse to improve her or his knowledge of such diverse subjects as promoting healthy work environments, increasing health literacy for patients, and genetics and genomics, among others.
“OJIN’s goal is to educate nurses in an accessible way, and make topics such as genetics and genomics more understandable and relevant to nurses at the bedside,” Coeling says. “By giving staff nurses the newest information that they can put into practice immediately, we hope to improve the lives of both nurses and their patients.”
OJIN publishes new topics three times per year, and ANA members can access new topics as soon as they are posted (non-members gain access to prior topics when a newer topic is posted). OJIN also posts updates to prior topics when new information is available.
The online nature of the journal encourages interaction and feedback, something that Coeling says is critical to OJIN’s mission.
“We know that by encouraging discussion and dialogue around these important topics, we can move nursing forward in an effective, dynamic way,” Coeling says. “I would hope that all nurses would want to participate in helping OJIN advance knowledge in nursing. We highly encourage them to do so.”
For more information on OJIN, go to www.nursingworld.org/OJIN. The OJIN Facebook page can be found at www.facebook.com/ANAOJIN.
Joe Vallina is the assistant director, periodicals at ANA.
