Electronic intensive care units (eICUs) use live, remote audio, visual, and data transmission to monitor patients in multiple hospitals centrally. eICU "intensivists" work closely with in-hospital RNs, charting and triaging around the clock.

Healthcare reform is one of the largest issues in the debate, RN presents the plans and arguments of Senators McCain and Obama on issues like universal care, prescription drug costs, Medicare/Medicaid, and the nursing shortage.

Article provides guidance for emergency department nurses on how to implement best practices to manage increasing patient flow safely. Examples include nurse administration of procedural sedation, nurse authority to carry out standing orders, use of retail health clinics to relieve pressure on EDs, and individual nurse initiative to enact best practices.

With rates of physical and verbal violence against nurses high, this article describes the healthcare worker's options when confronting violence from patients or coworkers, including strategies for dealing with agitated patients, reporting verbal abuse or belittlement, and legislative or administrative responses.

Many hospitals now welcome visits from therapy animals to calm patients or assist in their recovery. The article details the training process for therapy animals, describes clinical and therapeutic benefits of animal visitation, and provides guidance on facilitating visits of patients' pets.

Since December, nurses in the Memorial Healthcare System in and around Hollywood, FL, have been participating in a voluntary Forensics in Nursing course offered through the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office. Their experiences are helping families gain closure, assisting law enforcement in evidence preservation, enhancing their own professional development, and aiding hospital risk management efforts.

To meet the needs of our veterans and their families, we developed an end-of-life program to prepare them for what will happen to their loved one, which includes a written guide on administration of comfort care and a "quilt of honor" for the veteran that the family can keep as a memento.

Four well-known members of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN)--Judith Goldberg, BSN, RN, CNOR; Victoria Steelman, RN, PhD, CNOR, FAAN; Cecil A. King, RN, MS, CNOR; and Charlotte Guglielmi, RN, BSN, MA, CNOR, share their thoughts on the impact the organization's Recommended Practices have made in the workplace.

Thought leaders Peter I. Buerhaus, RN, PhD, FAAN; Linda H. Aiken, RN, PhD, FAAN, FRCN; Leah Curtin, RN, ScD(h); and Rear Adm. Carol A. Romano, RN, PhD, FAAN, FACMI, share their observations on how nursing will be reshaped in the future amid the ongoing shortage.