My Magical Day in the Trauma ICU.

Healing is a difficult concept to describe, quantify, or replicate. It is a complex mixture of personal contributions from the professional providing care, including competence, compassion, and empathy, that conjoins with the needs, sensitivities, and receptivity of the one who is receiving the care. Although it may be difficult to predict all the elements that come together to initiate sustained healing, as well as the long-term impact, it is important to observe the moments that make a difference. For those who study the nature of healing, a patient's reflections can surface the kinds of elements that are present when healing is sustained. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2024;55(7):326-327.].

The Future of Nursing: Navigating the AI Revolution Through Education and Training.

Artificial intelligence is becoming a fundamental technology in health care, nursing, and education. Understanding how to navigate this advanced technology is critically important for clinical nursing staff as well as educators. Basic professional nursing education is increasingly using artificial intelligence solutions for teaching and learning. For experienced clinical staff, new learning is required, and professional development leaders are key to leading nurses in this new future. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2024;55(3):108-109.].

Modernizing Bedside Clinical Instruction.

Knowledge and competency gaps of new graduates can be effectively mitigated through stronger partnerships between nursing clinical instructors and bedside clinicians. Bedside clinicians can pull back the curtain on practice realities to show both the challenges and the joys. Traditional nursing faculty must learn how to strengthen and support a new way of working with bedside clinicians that includes letting go of the wheel. Changing the dynamic among nursing clinical faculty, bedside clinicians, and students is an important and essential step in nursing education and preparing new nurses to understand the realities of practice. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2024;55(1):7-9.].

The Sad State of Maternal Health in the United States.

Despite our economic and social standing as a world power and one of the key developed nations, the United States continues to show worsening maternal health outcomes. A lack of recognition of the serious impacts and complications of pregnancy and a lack of willingness to raise these matters to a level of national dialogue have been contributing factors to recent declines. A new program at the National Institutes of Health is intended to change the direction of the data trend. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2023;54(11):495-496.].

Population Health and Climate Change.

A call to action by the oldest nursing organization in the United States should not be ignored. In 2022, the National League for Nursing published a strategic vision statement on climate change noting that unquestionably climate change will be one of the greatest public health and health equity issues of our time because of the immense health impacts. As our health systems increasingly point their care efforts toward population health, climate change and its implications cannot be overstated. Nurses in all roles are essential to addressing the health impacts of climate change. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2023;54(7):297-298.].

Nurses on Strike.

Walking out on a job is not an easy thing to do. For nurses, considered the most ethical and trusted profession in America, walking out on patients is heartbreaking. It is extreme action taken in the face of extreme circumstances. Nurses and their managers are frustrated and distraught, and patients are in the middle. Talking about strikes brings up strong feelings on both sides, and the growing prevalence of this method for solving disputes begs the question: How do we solve such an emotion-laden and complex problem as nurse staffing? Just 2 years after the pandemic crisis, nurses are pointing to a staffing crisis. Nurse managers and leaders are struggling to find sustainable solutions. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2023;54(3):104-105.].

Sé Amable.

The blistering political and social climate is nothing new, but the ubiquitous hammering of negativity is ever more present in social media, print, radio, and television, and even in daily interactions. As we try to navigate difficult professional and personal challenges, discovering ways of personal renewal is ever more essential. Being kind (sé amable) is often thought of as an external engagement. Kindness to oneself is more elusive and less discussed. Self-kindness is a fundamental part of self-compassion and is a proven method to rediscover personal peace. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2023;54(1):9-10.].

Racism in Nursing.

The American Nurses Association has issued a draft position statement on racism in nursing. This historic step has the goal of facilitating emancipatory nursing practice that ®ill both unveil structural systems that perpetuate racism in nursing and create ne® approaches to nursing education, research, and practice. The objective is to ultimately tackle persistent problems of health disparities and create equitable environments for education, research, and practice in nursing. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2022;53(11):481-482.].

Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI®).

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a fundamental skill for all health care providers. Annual skills reviews and certification checks are the time-honored tradition for tracking and evaluating such skills. The assumption that CPR retraining in its traditional form is a sufficient measure of basic competence has been challenged by recent studies, and technical evaluations of the efficacy of CPR competence of certified nurses have surfaced significant gaps. Nursing schools and employers can bridge those gaps with Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI®). [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2022;53(9):393-394.].

Can Ethics Consultation Services Evolve to Support the Moral Distress of Caregivers?

Ethics consultation services were first implemented in the 1970s to provide physicians, other care providers, and family members with expert advice to address difficult ethical dilemmas in care. As nurses are increasingly confronted with moral dilemmas related to patient preferences, needs, and choices that conflict with their personal beliefs, the need for professional support has never been greater. This need may signal a new role for ethics consultation services. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2022;53(7):297-298.].

Courageous Leadership.

As the world watches war unfolding in Ukraine, leadership under the most extreme pressures is on full display. Health care and practice environments are not being bombed, but similar extreme events from the pandemic to workforce shortages to workplace safety to worsening equity outcomes are converging to challenge leaders in their roles. The daily pressures of solving and responding can drain the reserves of any leader. What can courageous leadership do for teams and those who lead them? [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2022;53(5):198-199.].

Integrative Transformation Using a Theory of Action.

Solving complex problems is one of the highest forms of leadership practice. Leaders have a propensity toward taking action, but having a theory of action can produce more sustainable and aligned results. Developing a theory of action can align the group and ensure that the plan is focused toward outcomes but grounded in shared beliefs. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2022;53(3):104-105.].

The New 5-Second Rule.

New Year's resolutions can backfire. Struggling to sustain and achieve big goals or even stay on a path aligned with those goals can leave us with feelings of failure. Reframing this long-held activity to employ mindfulness and find joy and self-satisfaction in everyday moments can provide a new way forward for this new year. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2022;53(1):8-9.].

R U OK?

Recently, some high-profile athletes and other celebrities have raised the visibility and public discussion of issues of mental health. The dialogue about mental health and the most extreme effect of depression, increased suicide rates, is needed now more than ever. The level of moral distress that our health care workers are experiencing in this recent spike of corona-virus disease (COVID-19) infection is taking an incredible social, emotional, and professional toll. Some describe their experience as post-traumatic stress disorder, and others report experiencing numbness, fog, despair, and hopelessness. The intervention discussed here, R U OK?, is gaining traction on social media as a way that everyone can engage to help to address the effects on individuals. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2021;52(11):500-501.].

Redesigning Clinical Learning.

The pandemic is not yet resolved, and the ongoing effects continue to be revealed. One such effect has been dubbed the great resignation. The fields of health care and information technology are the most dramatically affected by resignations, with health care seeing a 3.6% increase in resignations between March 2020 and March 2021. This change, coupled with restrictions on clinical learning opportunities for nursing students during the pandemic, raises the stakes for nursing education redesign and puts professional development educators in a crucial role. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2021;52(9):402-403.].

Pivot and Make Better Decisions.

Adam Grant's book Think Again challenges leaders to rethink our decisions, projects, and commitments to find a more productive path forward. During the pandemic, everyone has been challenged to rethink and reposition many longstanding beliefs. Grant posits that the factors that push us to stay the course have less to do with financial reasons and more to do with ego and image. Not being able or willing to rethink is called escalation of commitment. Avoiding escalation of commitment to a losing course of action is a critical success strategy for leaders. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2021;52(7):307-308.].

Understanding and Applying the Magic of Brain Science.

In his recent work Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina offers 12 rules or perspectives on not only how the brain works but how these inner workings can inform learning and help to better understand human behavior. The section on vision challenges some long-standing education methods, including the PowerPoint presentation. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2021;52(4):163-164.].

Animal-Assisted Support: Actionable Intervention for Burnout.

The impact of long shifts, the puzzling illnesses and manifestations of COVID-19, its personal and family impacts, and the sustained grief of many losses in the past 6 months requires consideration of interventions to lift caregivers' spirits. Burnout has long been a challenge for nurses working in intense acute environments. Today, the risk and effects are even greater. Animal-assisted support is one intervention that shows some promise in supporting employee well-being. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2020;51(11):496-497].

Changing Your Mind.

Changing one's mind is difficult to do. Beliefs are a combination of lived experience, the communities and relationships one has, and the extent to which the change presents personal risks. Creating environments where discussions about how changes in mindset have contributed positively to the world can help to mitigate the negatives associated with updating one's prior positions. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2020;51(9):397-398.].

Professional Relevance of the Learning Curve: Developing an "A" Team.

The term "learning curve" is common professional vernacular for describing a period of profound and intensive learning. Learning can actually be impeded when the curve is consistently on a steep vertical incline. Viewing the learning curve as an "S" instead of a steep bar offers a professional development perspective, as well as a team development perspective, that supports progression and helps to balance team strength. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2020;51(7):300-301].