NICU Awareness Month and Advocacy for Compassionate Care

A mom holding her baby in the NICU.

Despite the number of babies and families who spend their time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), NICU awareness remains fairly low. This makes initiatives like NICU Awareness Month all the more essential. The NICU is a special place, filled with tiny toes, flashing lights, beeping alarms and quiet whispers.  It’s a place for … Read more

IV Dressing Types: Acrylic vs. Silicone

Despite the prevalence of intravenous (IV) therapy, not enough attention is given to the securement technique and IV dressings used, including the host of complications that can occur all based upon which IV dressing was applied.  Not all IV dressings are made equal, and the choice of dressing, including factors such as acrylic vs. silicone, … Read more

What is Patient Centered Care?

A frontline nurse practicing patient centered care with the patient and their family members.

If you’ve worked in healthcare in the past few years, you know that patient centered care has taken center stage when it comes to both the discussions and innovations around the quality and provision of healthcare. However, with recent pressures and demands on the system and healthcare professionals themselves – including the rise of healthcare … Read more

How Frontline Nurses can Advocate for Patient Safety

Patient advocacy meeting to discuss new infection prevention control measures.

Bedside nursing not only involves delivering care like taking vital signs, running IV-lines and administering medications, it also involves becoming a patient advocate – speaking up for the unique needs and safety of your patients.  However, while patient advocacy has been embraced by many organizations and healthcare teams, it’s often limited in practice.  There are … Read more

How to Prevent Bloodstream Infections that Lead to Sepsis

Nurse hanging up IV antibiotics to treat a patient who has developed sepsis from a bloodstream infection.

Healthcare-associated bloodstream infections, if not identified and treated quickly enough, can lead to the development of sepsis: a serious complication of infection. Sepsis is a life-threatening response to infection that results in the death of at least 350,000 adults in America each year and 2.9 million children around the world.   In fact, sepsis is the … Read more

How to Promote C-Section Scar Healing

A new mom holding her baby in hospital after a c-section.

C-section scars shouldn’t leave a lasting mark beyond a faint line.  Yet, many C-section incisions lead to infections, prolonged trauma and unwanted scarring that goes beyond the initial incision line.  A C-section is a major surgery of the abdomen performed to deliver a baby.  During a C-section, the skin of the abdomen – and all … Read more

Incision Care: Caring for postoperative incisions to avoid surgical site infections (SSIs)

A team of surgeons performing surgery in an operating room who are working with a focus on incision care so the patient has healthy postoperative incisions.

After a surgery, many patients think the hard part is over – but caring for postoperative incisions can become more stressful than the surgery itself due to the risk of infection in the surgical site. Although surgical site infections (SSIs) are preventable, they are the leading cause of readmission to hospitals after surgery, and at … Read more

Compassion Tech and Patient Centered Care

Treating an infant with compassion tech by Covalon

Today, our capacity for empathy and compassion doesn’t just begin in our hearts and minds and end at our fingertips. It now extends to the technology that we hold in our hands.  In healthcare, the vast majority of hospitals now prioritize patient and family centered care: an approach to healthcare that places patients and families … Read more