Nursing for women's health
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The emergence of carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) in the United States represents a serious danger to people who are hospitalized and is associated with case mortality rates as high as 50 percent. CRE infections have limited treatment options and the potential to spread widely if prevention and transmission measures are not employed. Decreasing the impact of CRE requires coordinated efforts between nurses and other clinicians, as well as administrators, to improve patient outcomes.
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Significant strides have been made in recent years to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality rates around the world. But in the United States, maternal mortality rates have increased from 6.6/100,000 live births in the 1980s and 1990s to somewhere between 13.3/100,000 live births, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 21/100,000 live births, as reported by the World Health Organization. This article discusses factors influencing this trend, and explores organizations, systems and programs that have shown promise for reducing maternal morbidity and mortality.
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Evidence-based screening guidelines issued by national organizations sometimes contradict each other, leading to confusion among health care providers and the women they care for. This article summarizes the most recent guidelines for breast and cervical cancer screening and notes where they concur and where they diverge.
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Up to 99 percent of alarms sounding on hospital units are false alarms signaling no real danger to patients. These false alarms can lead to alarm fatigue and alarm burden, and may divert health care providers' attention away from significant alarms heralding actual or impending harm. As the health care environment continues to become more dependent upon technological monitoring devices used for patient care, nurses must become aware of the possibility and consequences of alarm fatigue and ways to prevent it from negatively affecting their practice, as well as the possible consequences for patient care.