The Nursing clinics of North America
-
Tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of death and disability in the United States today. In 2003, the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health recommended to establish a federally funded national tobacco quitline network by 2005. ⋯ The combination of health professionals referring patients to an accessible, evidence-based, cost-effective cessation resource can produce a substantial reduction in the number of tobacco users in the United States. Initiatives to increase knowledge and working relationships between nurses and quitlines need to be created, implemented, and evaluated.
-
Nurs. Clin. North Am. · Sep 2011
Educating the patient: challenges and opportunities with current technology.
Patients using the Internet are inundated with abundant information on health care that may be correct and may be incorrect. It is becoming the role of clinicians to enable patients to educate themselves by providing information about accurate and reliable Web sites, and to answer questions from literature that patients encounter. In addition, there is a myriad of technological advances to help patients and clinicians access, retrieve, and file information, and numerous communication tools to foster the patient-clinician dialog. This article provides an overview and some recommendations for clinicians to help patients better use information to achieve better outcomes.
-
It is imperative that nursing responds to the call of creating a health literate society by taking an active role in health literacy research, education, and promotion. Nurses have a professional and ethical obligation to communicate in a clear, purposeful way that addresses the unique information needs of each patient. ⋯ This article explores the concept of health literacy and its relationship to patient education and communication. Practical strategies that the nurse can use to assess, communicate with, and evaluate comprehension in patients with low literacy skills are provided.
-
Nurs. Clin. North Am. · Dec 2010
Substance abuse interface with intimate partner violence: what treatment programs need to know.
This article provides suggestions for skill development for substance abuse (SA) treatment agencies and providers for implementing Treatment Improvement Protocol number 25: Substance Abuse Treatment and Domestic Violence. Methods for detecting, screening, intervening, and referring victims and perpetrators of intimate partner violence enrolled in SA treatment are presented. ⋯ A 2-minute screen for domestic violence as well as danger assessment for lethality of abuse and the Conflict Tactics Scales 2 are reviewed. A survey of interventions aimed at establishing trust, brief intervention from best practice, guidelines for safety planning, compliance strategies for SA treatment, and community resource development are presented.
-
Nurs. Clin. North Am. · Dec 2010
Interventions for anxiety in the critically ill: a guide for nurses and families.
Anxiety is a common feeling for patients and families during the critical care experience. As anxiety for critically ill patients presents increased risks for morbidity and mortality, it is imperative that nurses strive to identify unrelieved anxiety early to prevent adverse events. Alleviating anxiety experienced by families as a result of the critical care experience involves providing assurance, allowing them to remain near the patient, providing accurate and current information, providing for their comfort, and projecting a supportive attitude. As constant care providers, nurses can have the greatest impact on creating an environment that is safe, healing, and humane for critically ill patients and their families.