Aspiration: Blocking the airway

You’re caring for a 75-year-old man admitted to your unit with a diagnosis of ischemic stroke, left-sided weakness, and dysphagia. He receives continuous feedings via a small-bore tube through his right nare. Aspiration precautions include keeping the head of the bed at 30 degrees. As you enter the patient’s room, you note his labored breathing (RR 42 breaths per minute) and that his feeding tube has become dislodged. You call for help and activate a rapid response.

Nurse burnout

The nursing profession requires comprehensive and multifaceted strategies to combat burnout. Leadership training and adequate staffing can help address the issue, but they’re not the only solutions. A study at Shannon Medical Center explored and analyzed various interventions, many of which offered practical solutions that nurses, units, or the larger organization could implement. If implemented effectively, these interventions could significantly improve nurse retention rates.

Aspiration: Blocking the airway

You’re caring for a 75-year-old man admitted to your unit with a diagnosis of ischemic stroke, left-sided weakness, and dysphagia. He receives continuous feedings…

Nurse burnout

The nursing profession requires comprehensive and multifaceted strategies to combat burnout. Leadership training and adequate staffing can help address the issue, but they’re not…

I remember: Reflections of a hospice nurse

As I drive down the road I pass familiar houses. The homes flood me with memories. I remember the faces. I remember the look in your eyes. The smile when I came through the door. The pleading look when the pain was bad, asking me to help.

Syphilis eradication is still a long way off: Doxy-PEP can help

In the late 1990s, public health departments around the globe celebrated the prospect of eradicating syphilis. However, by the early 2000s, this sexually transmitted infection (STI) changed course and climbed…

COVID-19 patients fared worse on ECMO than non-COVID-19 patients: Study

Pneumonia patients with COVID-19 who required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) fared worse than those without COVID-19, according to a study that looked at six years of patient data. After the…

Enhancing rural health through expanded APRN scope of practice

Rural American communities frequently struggle to provide adequate primary care services due to limited healthcare facilities and a shortage of qualified professionals. Advanced practice RNs (APRNs) are highly trained and…

I remember: Reflections of a hospice nurse

As I drive down the road I pass familiar houses. The homes flood me with memories. I remember the faces. I remember…

Syphilis eradication is still a long way off: Doxy-PEP can help

In the late 1990s, public health departments around the globe celebrated the prospect of eradicating syphilis. However, by the early 2000s, this…

COVID-19 patients fared worse on ECMO than non-COVID-19 patients: Study

Pneumonia patients with COVID-19 who required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) fared worse than those without COVID-19, according to a study that looked…

Webinars

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Simulation: Preparing for workplace violence

Tactical Implementation of an Effective Falls Program

Challenging and Inspiring: Beyond Common Fall Prevention Practices

Travel Nursing – How to ensure a good experience

Something’s afoot: foot health in nursing and beyond

Continuing Education

Women and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis

Why are new HIV cases still occurring when we have preventive treatment? One reason could be a lack of knowledge and experience among healthcare…

Coaching and evaluating new graduate nurses

Ongoing research shows a decline in new graduate nurses’ clinical judgment. Effective mentorship plays a crucial role in ensuring patient safety while new nurses…

Navigating Long COVID

Long COVID, a stigmatized and somewhat controversial condition, has begun to gain the public’s attention as some who previously had acute COVID-19 began reporting…

Living with atopic dermatitis

A healthy 4-month-old baby boy of Eurasian descent is exclusively breastfed. This morning, his mother changes him and finds crusty, red oozing blisters covering…

Medication safety

In 2023, the CDC reported that the most common types of adverse drug events are associated with allergic reactions, side effects, over-medication, medication errors,…

Living donor liver transplant coordinator

Living donor liver transplant has helped overcome the global shortage of donor organs. Live liver donors who electively undergo major abdominal surgery require specific…

Women and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis

Why are new HIV cases still occurring when we have preventive treatment? One reason could be a lack of knowledge and experience…

Coaching and evaluating new graduate nurses

Ongoing research shows a decline in new graduate nurses’ clinical judgment. Effective mentorship plays a crucial role in ensuring patient safety while…

Navigating Long COVID

Long COVID, a stigmatized and somewhat controversial condition, has begun to gain the public’s attention as some who previously had acute COVID-19…

Living with atopic dermatitis

A healthy 4-month-old baby boy of Eurasian descent is exclusively breastfed. This morning, his mother changes him and finds crusty, red oozing…

Education and Career Guide

Education can be the key to professional success. Whether you’re a new or experienced nurse, returning to school to get your BSN or another advanced degree can make the difference between thriving and stagnating in your career. Tap into the articles presented in this year’s education guide for tips and thoughtful advice on nursing education. The American Nurse Education and Career Guide, provides you with facts, figures, other nurses’ experiences, and tons of other resources to help you in your journey.

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Current Journal

Building programs to reduce sharps injuries for insulin injection

Catalysts of change

Nurse leaders: Don’t miss these transformational webinars

EBP, QI, and IS

Some use the terms evidence-based practice (EBP), quality improvement (QI), and implementation science (IS) interchangeably. However important differences exist. Clinicians must understand…

American Nurses Enterprise News, March 2025

Nurses take top spot on Gallup Poll for 23rd year The American Nurses Association celebrates The Power of Nurses™, who have been…

Everyday ethics: Prioritizing patients

It’s my understanding that a nurse’s primary commitment is to our patients. Recently, while working as a travel nurse, I’ve been concerned…

Learn More

Rapid Response

Aspiration: Blocking the airway

You’re caring for a 75-year-old man admitted to your unit with a diagnosis of ischemic stroke, left-sided weakness, and dysphagia. He receives continuous feedings…

Acute dystonic reaction

Acute dystonic reactions, movement disturbances, fall under the umbrella of extrapyramidal side effects. They’re associated with medications (including antipsychotics and antiemetics) that mediate dopamine.

Cystic fibrosis

A 48-year-old woman with a history of cystic fibrosis, is admitted to the surgical unit with a small bowel obstruction. At home, the patient…

Eclampsia

A 28-year-old woman who’s 8 months pregnant arrives at the obstetrics ED with right-side upper abdominal pain, a progressively worsening headache for the past…

Syncope

An 88-year-old man experiences syncope after sustaining a patellar fracture related to a fall. He’s admitted to the telemetry unit with fall and injury…

Decompression sickness

Kachina Montgomery, a 27-year-old woman, is spending her honeymoon in Florida learning to scuba dive. About an hour after her last dive, she develops…

Aspiration: Blocking the airway

You’re caring for a 75-year-old man admitted to your unit with a diagnosis of ischemic stroke, left-sided weakness, and dysphagia. He receives…

Acute dystonic reaction

Acute dystonic reactions, movement disturbances, fall under the umbrella of extrapyramidal side effects. They’re associated with medications (including antipsychotics and antiemetics) that…

Cystic fibrosis

A 48-year-old woman with a history of cystic fibrosis, is admitted to the surgical unit with a small bowel obstruction. At home,…

Eclampsia

A 28-year-old woman who’s 8 months pregnant arrives at the obstetrics ED with right-side upper abdominal pain, a progressively worsening headache for…

Practice Matters

EBP, QI, and IS

Some use the terms evidence-based practice (EBP), quality improvement (QI), and implementation science (IS) interchangeably. However important differences exist. Clinicians must understand those differences and use the correct terminology.

Empathy in ostomy care

Empathy relies on understanding an experience from another’s perspective. A simulated learning activity such as wearing an ostomy bag for a day, in combination…

Focus on nurses’ well-being

Nurses hold demanding and frequently stressful positions and hectic lives. Managing the stresses and strains of work and finding a positive work–life balance can…

Nurses’ role in skin cancer prevention

Skin cancer has reached epidemic proportions—one in five Americans will develop some form by age 70. Nurses have an opportunity to make a significant…

How to balance a bed shortage

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…

Advancing antiracism

State nurses association initiatives build on community ties. In June 2024, the American Nurses Association took a significant step forward in addressing…

The emergence of AI and practice

Since beginning my doctoral work in 2015, I’ve pursued AI to solve nurse staffing and scheduling challenges. The literature revealed that these…

Nurse innovator resources

Eight guidebooks assist in framing and developing ideas. Nurses frequently have insights and innovations relevant across healthcare but might not know how…

From the Ethics Inbox

Everyday ethics: Prioritizing patients

It’s my understanding that a nurse’s primary commitment is to our patients. Recently, while working as a travel nurse, I’ve been concerned about some…

Ethics in everyday care

The pandemic, from its earliest days in March 2020, exposed not only a health and healthcare crisis but also deep inequities in our society.…

Improving obstetric care for Black patients

As a labor and delivery nurse, I’ve witnessed some of my Black obstetric patients suffer negative outcomes during their birthing experiences from what I…

A call to better serve unsheltered patients

I’ve become increasingly concerned by the growing number of patients experiencing homelessness who’ve been coming to our clinic. How can I get involved to…

Asking for a change of assignment

I’ve been a charge nurse for several years and find passion and purpose in my responsibility directing the care team and being a nursing…

Responding to workplace violence

In my work as an emergency department (ED) nurse, my colleagues and I routinely experience physical assaults from patients. At this point we question…

Everyday ethics: Prioritizing patients

It’s my understanding that a nurse’s primary commitment is to our patients. Recently, while working as a travel nurse, I’ve been concerned…

Ethics in everyday care

The pandemic, from its earliest days in March 2020, exposed not only a health and healthcare crisis but also deep inequities in…

Improving obstetric care for Black patients

As a labor and delivery nurse, I’ve witnessed some of my Black obstetric patients suffer negative outcomes during their birthing experiences from…

A call to better serve unsheltered patients

I’ve become increasingly concerned by the growing number of patients experiencing homelessness who’ve been coming to our clinic. How can I get…

Community

Your eyes

A Nurse’s Journey of Empathy and Compassion

Proofreading: A quality-improvement tool to ensure accuracy

As nurses, we routinely use quality-improvement tools such as the plan-do-check-act cycle to refine our practice to benefit patients. Proofreading is a…

To complain or not to complain…

It always begins innocently, doesn’t it? “I’m just venting,” you think to yourself. But the more it goes on, the more infectious…

News

COVID-19 patients fared worse on ECMO than non-COVID-19 patients: Study

Better Nurse Staffing Reduced Cesarean Births: Study

COVID-19 patients fared worse on ECMO than non-COVID-19 patients: Study

Pneumonia patients with COVID-19 who required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) fared worse than those without COVID-19, according to a study that looked…

Better Nurse Staffing Reduced Cesarean Births: Study

Hospitals that staffed maternity wards at recommended standards had fewer cesarean births, according to a study published in Nursing Outlook. Cesarean rates…

My Nurse Influencer

Syphilis eradication is still a long way off: Doxy-PEP can help

In the late 1990s, public health departments around the globe celebrated the prospect of eradicating syphilis. However, by the early 2000s, this sexually transmitted…

The case of the vanishing stethoscope

A 2001 study assessed the cardiac auscultation skills of 314 internal medicine residents from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The results…

The symbiotic relationship between nursing and design

Like nurses—who can use their degrees in a range of areas from clinical bedside care to research, education, entrepreneurship, history and more—professional designers also…

Nurses as Pilgrims

The travel writer Rick Steves describes three types of travelers: tourists, traveler, and pilgrims. I’d like to propose that those same terms can be…

Call to action: Support the reauthorization of the Lorna Breen Act

If you’ve worked as a nurse for any length of time, you already know the emotional toll this profession takes. But what’s harder to…

Why I choose to be grateful

Around Thanksgiving, I bring blank thank-you cards to class and distribute them to my students. I ask them to take 5 minutes to handwrite…

Syphilis eradication is still a long way off: Doxy-PEP can help

In the late 1990s, public health departments around the globe celebrated the prospect of eradicating syphilis. However, by the early 2000s, this…

The case of the vanishing stethoscope

A 2001 study assessed the cardiac auscultation skills of 314 internal medicine residents from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.…

Figure 1. The Nursing Process and the Innovation Process.

The symbiotic relationship between nursing and design

Like nurses—who can use their degrees in a range of areas from clinical bedside care to research, education, entrepreneurship, history and more—professional…

Nurses as Pilgrims

The travel writer Rick Steves describes three types of travelers: tourists, traveler, and pilgrims. I’d like to propose that those same terms…

Mental Health

Motivational interviewing: A collaborative path to change

Michael had diabetes and a history of elevated blood glucose levels. A long-time drinker, he seemed to have no interest in giving…

Faculty role in promoting nursing student health

Nurses have a primary responsibility to promote health in the United States. In this capacity, they serve as role models, educators, and…

Critical Care

Ultrasound-guided I.V. catheter insertion

Establishing peripheral I.V. access is an essential, high-priority nursing procedure. However, access sometimes can be difficult to obtain even for experienced clinicians.…

Aortic dissection

An aortic dissection is caused by a tear in the intimal wall of the aorta forcing blood to flow between layers of…

Pediatrics

High-volume texting teens more likely to engage in risky behavior

Teens who text and send more than 120 messages per school day are 40% more likely to engage in risky behavior according…

Take Note – December 2006

CDC recommends HIV screening for everyone New recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) call for routine human immunodeficiency…

Cardiology

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection

Nurses should have a high level of suspicion for spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) when patients, especially young women, present with chest…

Attacking anterior-wall myocardial infarction in time

More than 1 million Americans a year suffer a myocardial infarction (MI). This article tells you how – and how quickly –…

American Nurse TV

HealthCom Media, the publishers of American Nurse Journal, the American Nurses Association and Al Roker Productions collaborated to bring a few shining examples of the exemplary work being done by nurses in today’s very challenging healthcare environment to the American public.

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