October 2011 Highlights

Editor-in-chief Shawn Kennedy presents the highlights of the October 2011 issue of the American Journal of Nursing, which debuts a three part series on supporting family caregivers which will run through the end of the year. Each article has an accompanying video. There are two CE articles: one is original research, a systematic review of practices and provider and patient attitudes around deactivation of implantable cardiac defibrillators at the end of life, and the other is an article reviewing the evidence and calling for the abandonment of outdated preoperative fasting practices. Other articles include clinical features examining treatment options for patients with kidney failure and medication calculations, a column examining the ethical issues that may arise when best practices may not be so for particular patients, plus News, Drug Watch, Reflections, and more. There’s also podcasts with authors Levine (the family caregiving article), Russo (original research piece), and Crenshaw (preoperative fasting CE piece).