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Below are recent articles from
Iowa Nurse Reporter, the official publication of the Iowa Nurses Association.
In today’s digital world, social media is a vital tool for connection and communication. However, for nursing professionals, social media can present potential risks.
Patients’ perceptions of their care may not correlate to the actual quality of care given but rather their beliefs about what they perceive as quality care. Nurse leaders must address the patient experience with approaches that impact multiple goals simultaneously. One such approach involves nurse leader rounds, or what we call “nurse leader rounds plus.” This underutilized initiative can improve the patient experience, enhance the culture of safety, and increase staff engagement.
Ongoing research shows a decline in new graduate nurses’ clinical judgment. Effective mentorship plays a crucial role in ensuring patient safety while new nurses develop clinical judgment skills. A mentor is an experienced nurse who maintains a long-term relationship with a new nurse via coaching and evaluation to assist in professional development. Mentoring promotes patient safety, and Tanner’s Clinical Judgment Model can serve as a framework for developing these vital skills.
The WHO remains concerned about several global health issues, but its focus has shifted since the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus and its consequences have led to the most dramatic impact on global health in our lifetime. Concerns topping the WHO priority list include mental health, cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness, cancer, and diseases related to climate change. The pandemic had an impact on all of these health issues.
Bed shortages remain a concern in hospitals across the country. For example, since the COVID-19 pandemic, most of Washington’s larger hospitals and tertiary centers operate well above daily capacity. These conditions lead to significant transfer delays in smaller hospitals. In response, the Washington Medical Coordination Center formed to serve as a statewide system designed to expedite the patient transfer process, load balance patients throughout the state, and provide equitable access to care.
