Features Category
Geriatric research
April 18, 2012
“Is this a house of corrections or a house of comfort?” asked the attending physician, a native of Britain, noting that American nurses have such strange practices, tethering their patients. Those comments, delivered to a group on medical practice rounds that included a young Lorraine Mion, PhD, RN, FAAN, shaped the whole course of her…
Geriatric Nursing Facts
April 18, 2012
According to the Administration on Aging, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services: The population 65 years or older numbered 39.6 million in 2009, the latest year for which data is available. They represented 12.9 percent of the U.S. population, about one in every eight Americans. Older women outnumber older men at…
On a Patient’s Worst Day
April 18, 2012
Minutes from now, the newly conscious patient will flail softly in her bed and try to pull out her breathing tube. A nurse will be there to stay her hand. Right now, though, she’s slipping toward death. As she was being turned in her bed, her heart rate plummeted, and it hasn’t returned. She’s gone…
Q+A: An Interview with Trish Trangenstein
April 18, 2012
What does the term “nursing informatics” mean? Nursing informatics is a specialty recognized by the American Nurses’ Association. Nursing informatics transforms electronic information into knowledge and eventually knowledge into wisdom needed to improve outcomes. Nursing outcomes can only be improved if you can apply wisdom across any number of areas, and a person needs advanced…
Raiding the Medicine Cabinet
October 19, 2011
Drug disposal event saving environment /livesby Carole Bartoo America has a drug problem. But it’s not what you think; in fact this drug problem is probably happening in your community – even in your own home. The problem is the accumulation of prescription drugs with no good plan for disposing of them. As the number…
Dangers of Improper Prescription Drug Use
October 19, 2011
Prescription painkillers can cause nausea and vomiting. Mixing anti-anxiety or sleep disorder drugs with other drugs, particularly alcohol, can slow breathing and heart rate, and possibly lead to death. Abusing stimulants while taking a cold medicine with decongestants can cause dangerous increases in blood pressure and irregular heart rhythms.
