Adults with psychiatric conditions who are admitted as inpatients need to be assessed carefully to ensure they receive the best possible care. Although staff nurses don’t make the diagnosis, your assessment can help the psychiatrist  and other treatment team members understand the patient’s struggle. This is particularly important as many inpatients are hospitalized involuntarily and timely intervention is essential. This article provides an overview of selected psychiatric conditions and their signs and symptoms.

One of the most painful experiences for any parent is the death of a child. The family is deeply affected by the loss, and the extended “family” of co-workers, neighbors, and community are also affected. However, not many organizational leaders, including those in health care, are prepared for the challenges that can face an organization when a staff member loses a child through an accident or illness.

Research reports that one in three deaths in the United States is due to medical error, much of which is due to sloppy, hasty, or inept care and care systems. That means that many people are receiving poor care, often in the name of saving money. There is no justification for poor quality of care. We know (and have known since at least 1989) that, as Grajewski writes,“[H]igh quality care costs less than poor quality care. High quality care encompasses the elimination of unnecessary or inappropriate services while providing better clinical outcomes, fewer avoidable complications, and greater patient satisfaction. Poor quality care results in adverse outcomes and patient dissatisfaction, both of which can prove costly to a hospital in a competitive market. Hospitals are developing sophisticated data-bases to monitor the quality of care provided to patients.”

Nursing is a dynamic profession, requiring enhanced professionalism and leadership skills to deal with the increased complexity of the healthcare needs of today and into the future. New nurses are often overwhelmed with transitioning from student roles into the role of professional nurses. They tend to focus on nursing as a job, not a profession.

In an attempt to halt the current epidemic of overdose deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently came forward with strong new stances on opioid pain medications. Their recommendations follow similar guidelines from such key organizations as the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). These organizations are urging providers to first try nonopioid agents, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen. If opioids, such as oxycodone or hydromorphone, are prescribed, most patients should receive only a few days’ worth.

Government health policy has an impact on nearly every aspect of healthcare delivery. It drives payment methodology, influences the quality of the care that is delivered, and affects the day-to-day operations of healthcare systems. In short, it creates the environment in which nurses and other providers deliver health care to patients and populations. As the largest single group of healthcare providers (3.4 million), it is essential that registered nurses (RNs) engage in the formulation and development of health policy, particularly since physicians and other providers, as well as healthcare entities (such as insurance companies and hospitals), have a strong voice in healthcare matters.

“I will be your mentor.” I was fortunate to hear these five words early in my career. As nursing becomes more complex, patients more critical, and students more challenging to teach, mentoring becomes more essential for clinicians and educators.
Here are answers to common questions about mentoring and how it works.

It’s been a stressful day at work — nothing new. Your patient fell, an I.V. line became occluded right when you were ready to hang a blood infusion, and a patient’s family became angry with you. We all experience stressful days, but unfortunately, sometimes we take our stress out on each other. Too often, this ineffective way of identifying and managing stress leads nurses to engage in lateral violence.

On June 1, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved
Netspot, the first kit for the preparation of gallium Ga 68 dotatate injection, a radioactive diagnostic agent for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. 
cobas EGFR Mutation Test v2, a blood-based companion diagnostic for the cancer drug Tarceva (erlotinib). This is the first FDA-approved, blood-based genetic test that can detect epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations in non-small cell lung cancer patients.