This Month in AJN – March 2019 monthly highlights

March 2019

Editor-in-chief Shawn Kennedy and clinical editor Betsy Todd present the highlights of the March issue of AJN. The authors of our first CE, “Original Research: New Acute Symptoms in Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment: What Should Family Caregivers Do?” assessed the frequency with which family caregivers of older veterans with cognitive impairment sought guidance for new physical or behavioral symptoms and described the characteristics of such events, including the diagnoses and advice given. Our second CE, “Type 2 Diabetes: A Pharmacologic Update,” reviews established and newer type 2 diabetes medications, plus nursing implications. Our next article, “Using a Fall Prevention Checklist to Reduce Hospital Falls: Results of a Quality Improvement Project,” describes how nurses implemented a fall prevention checklist to improve adherence to an existing protocol and evaluated its impact on fall incidence. “Clarifying the Confusion of Arterial Blood Gas Analysis: Is it Compensation or Combination?” reviews basic arterial blood gas interpretation and discusses the combinations of imbalances and compensatory mechanisms that may occur. In addition, there’s News, Reflections, Drug Watch, Art of Nursing, and more.