Here are what the editors at HealthDay consider to be the most important developments in Nursing for June 2008. This roundup includes the latest research news from journal articles, as well as the FDA approvals and regulatory changes that are the most likely to affect clinical practice.
Nurse Understaffing Adversely Affects Patients
MONDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- Hospitals are routinely dealing with nurse understaffing through the use of voluntary and mandatory overtime, a practice that leads to adverse patient outcomes and increases nurse burnout, according to an article published in the June issue of the AORN Journal.
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CDC: 2007-2008 Rotavirus Season Unusually Mild
MONDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- The 2007-2008 rotavirus season began three months later than usual and has been significantly milder, suggesting that 2006 recommendations for infants to be vaccinated at ages 2 months, 4 months and 6 months with the RotaTeq vaccine may be having an impact, according to an interim report issued June 25 in the early release edition of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
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Organ Transplants in Need of Up-Front Consent Policy
WEDNESDAY, June 25 (HealthDay News) -- The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) should create a policy requiring potential organ transplant recipients to go through a comprehensive consent process that allows them to specify whether they'll accept or decline all non-standard organs, according to a Sounding Board feature in the June 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Overcrowding, Understaffing Stressing Health Care Systems
TUESDAY, June 24 (HealthDay News) -- Hospital overcrowding and understaffing are putting stress on health care systems and increasing the risk of spreading methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to a review in the July issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
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Triage Must Comply with Emergency Treatment Act
TUESDAY, June 24 (HealthDay News) -- In an emergency department setting, how triage is conducted and who is qualified to conduct triage are two aspects that must comply with the Emergency Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), and compliance is an on-going process, according to an article published in the June issue of the Journal of Emergency Nursing.
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Lack of Nursing Faculty Threatens Health Care Quality
MONDAY, June 23 (HealthDay News) -- The shrinking pool of experienced nurses and nurse faculty is a direct threat to the quality of health care in the United States, according to an article published in the June issue of the Journal of Emergency Nursing.
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Surveillance Systems Could Reduce Injuries in Children
FRIDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) -- The creation of a country-wide injury surveillance system for unintentional child and adolescent injuries could help monitor risk and identify ways to reduce injuries in the United Kingdom, according to an editorial published in the June 21 issue of BMJ.
Editorial
Article Examines Use of 'Key Opinion Leaders' in Drug Sales
FRIDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) -- Influential doctors known as "key opinion leaders" are paid generous fees to influence their peers to prescribe a company's drugs and may in fact be considered salespeople by the industry, according to an article in the June 21 issue of BMJ.
Full Text - Moynihan
Editorial - Buckwell
Editorial - Fava
Teletriage May Reduce Misuse of Emergency Departments
FRIDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) -- A teletriage program based on standardized guidelines and protocols was potentially helpful in alleviating the chaos in emergency departments caused by misuse by non-emergent cases, according to an article published in the June issue of the Journal of Emergency Nursing.
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Non-Adherence Raises Mortality Risk for Epilepsy Patients
THURSDAY, June 19 (HealthDay News) -- Epilepsy patients who regularly fail to take their anti-epileptic drugs have increased risks of mortality and serious clinical events, according to a study published online June 18 in Neurology.
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Nurse-Led Cardiology Program Shows Some Benefits
FRIDAY, June 13 (HealthDay News) -- A preventive cardiology program coordinated by nurses that encouraged family lifestyle change, dietary changes and other improvements in risk factors helped patients with coronary heart disease and those at high risk make some healthier changes compared to usual care, according to research published in the June 14 issue of The Lancet.
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Editorial
A Third of In-Hospital Deaths After CABG Were Preventable
WEDNESDAY, June 11 (HealthDay News) -- Approximately one-third of in-hospital deaths following coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) were preventable and occurred regardless of hospitals' low all-cause mortality rates, according to a report in the June 10 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
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Infant Pertussis Outbreak Traced to Hospital Worker
TUESDAY, June 10 (HealthDay News) -- An outbreak of pertussis in the summer of 2004 in 11 infants born in a Texas hospital was linked to a health care worker at the hospital's newborn nursery with the illness, according to a report in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's June 6 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
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Racial Disparities Widespread in Diabetes Care
TUESDAY, June 10 (HealthDay News) -- Racial disparities in diabetes outcomes are largely the result of variations in individual physicians' care of patients and, to a lesser extent, of sociodemographic factors, according to a report published in the June 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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Many Nurses Not Trained for Potential Bioterrorist Attack
MONDAY, June 9 (HealthDay News) -- Many perioperative nurses may feel unprepared for the challenges of a bioterrorism event, but a relatively brief self-study guide can help improve their sense of preparedness, according to research published in the May AORN Journal.
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NHS Reforms Threaten Best Aspects of U.K. Patient Care
FRIDAY, June 6 (HealthDay News) -- Changes under way in the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) threaten to destroy patient-led personal care that is at the heart of the organization's ethos and success, according to an article published in the June 7 issue of BMJ.
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Trachoma Eradication Effort May Be Nearing Success
FRIDAY, June 6 (HealthDay News) -- Trachoma -- a keratoconjunctivitis caused by ocular infection with Chlamydia trachomatis -- is still common in many poor regions of the world. But a World Health Organization (WHO) program launched in 1998 -- the Global Elimination of Trachoma by 2020 -- has helped place this blinding disease on the brink of extinction, according to a seminar published in the June 7 issue of The Lancet.
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Osteoporosis Coordinators Seen As Beneficial
FRIDAY, June 6 (HealthDay News) -- At tertiary care centers, the hiring of a part-time osteoporosis coordinator to manage outpatients and inpatients who have fragility fractures may reduce the incidence of future hip fractures and save significant hospital costs, researchers report in the June issue of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.
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Rise in Sweetened Beverage Intake Among U.S. Youth
WEDNESDAY, June 4 (HealthDay News) -- Reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and fruit juices and changing parental interventions are potentially important factors in reducing obesity in children and adolescents, two studies report in the June issue of Pediatrics.
Abstract - Wang
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Abstract - Neumark-Sztainer
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Adverse Events Lengthen Stays at Pediatric Hospitals
MONDAY, June 2 (HealthDay News) -- Adverse events experienced by hospitalized children may increase length of stay and costs, and pediatric-specific quality indicators are useful in calculating these effects, according to research published in the journal Pediatrics in June.
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Nearly 14 Million Young U.S. Adults Lack Health Insurance
MONDAY, June 2 (HealthDay News) -- In 2006, 13.7 million U.S. adults aged 19 to 29 lacked health insurance, according to a report published May 30 by The Commonwealth Fund.
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