Deborah L. Phillips, RN, CVNS, CRRN, JD, went into nursing more than 30 years ago. At that time, nurses never worried being named in a medical malpractice lawsuit. "It was almost unheard of for a nurse to be named," says Phillips, a nurse attorney in Pleasanton, Calif. Today that trend is reversing and a large number of nurses are becoming involved in litigation as part of an action against the facility where they work or as individuals.

If they are found guilty of malpractice, even if the error was inadvertent or they thought they were following a physician's orders, nurses may lose their jobs, their licenses, and personal assets. And in several recent cases, nurses have even been criminally charged and faced jail terms for medication errors that have resulted in patient deaths. According to Phillips, state nursing boards and the public expect nursing practice to be perfect, which is getting more and more difficult as patients are sicker and nurses have so many responsibilities. "There's no tolerance for human error," she added.

Nurses need to protect themselves and their patients. The Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO) has mandated that medical errors be eliminated. Medicaid and Congress are refusing to pay for care related to malpractice. All of these factors point to the need for education. Our series, Avoiding Malpractice (403), which is scenario based, is an excellent resource for hospitals or schools of nursing as it demonstrates how easily errors can occur and the tools to use to ensure they are avoided.

Almost 17 percent of parents of asthmatic children are more concerned about the side effects of drugs needed to control the condition than their child's need for the medication. This concerns researchers, who note that only about half of the drugs prescribed are being given on a regular basis to the 10 million pediatric patients with asthma in the United States. "Children today can be virtually symptom-free, thanks to modern preventive medications," said Kelly Conn, of the University of Rochester Medical Center. "But kids rely on their parents to make health decisions for them, so we need to know what parents are thinking as we partner with them to achieve this goal."

Researchers collected data on parents of 622 Michigan children who were prescribed at least one preventive asthma medication. These parents were asked to fill out a Beliefs about Medications Questionnaire which compared their feelings about the need for the drugs versus their anxiety that their child had to take medication on a regular basis. Potential side effects or habit-forming properties of the medications were of particular concern. The results of this study showed that just over three-quarters of the parents felt that the medications controlling the asthma symptoms outweighed all other factors; 17 percent were more worried about the drugs' potential to harm their child than the need for it to manage the condition, and the remaining 6 percent were unsure. Demographic analysis of the data also revealed minority parents were more likely to worry about the drugs' side effects than believe in the necessity of the drugs.

Parents were also asked to complete a Medication Adherence Scale which noted how well they maintained the medication schedule. These data showed that parents who thought medications were important in managing symptoms gave the drugs to their children regularly; however, only 14 percent noted perfect adherence to the prescribed dosage plan. Conn added, "These findings suggest a great deal of promise for improving symptom control just by addressing parents' worries and providing accurate information about medication side effects."

Our series, Respiratory Disorders (113) has a program which describes the pathophysiology, signs, and symptoms of asthma. It can be used for RN or LVN schools as well as hospitals for orientation or patient education.

Artificial food color and additives in children's food increase the level of hyperactivity in children between ages 3 years and 8 to 9 years according to a study published online in The Lancet. "Artificial food colours and other food additives (AFCA) have long been suggested to affect behavior in children," write Donna McCann, PhD, from the University of Southampton. "Despite the failure of early studies to identify the range of proposed adverse affects, recent trials have shown a significant effect of AFCA on the behavior of children with ADHD. The possible benefit in a reduction in the level of hyperactivity of the general population by the removal of AFCA from the diet is less well established."

"Artificial colors or a sodium benzoate preservative (or both) in the diet result in increased hyperactivity in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the general population," the authors write. "We recorded substantial individual differences in the response of children to the additives. For both age groups, no significant effect of social and demographic factors was seen on the initial level of GHA [global hyperactivity aggregate] or in the moderation of the challenge effects."

Study limitations include inability to determine specific compounds in the mix that are harmful and lack of control over when the challenges are ingested in relation to the timing of measures of hyperactivity. "Although the use of artificial colouring in food manufacture might seem superfluous, the same cannot be said for sodium benzoate, which has an important preservative function," the authors conclude. "The implications of these results for the regulation of food additive use could be substantial."

Our series AD/HD (205) discusses identification, assessment, medication strategies, and behavioral interventions for individuals with the disorder. These programs can be used by academic programs in nursing, social work, education, psychology, and child development as well as in hospitals, schools, counseling facilities, and day care centers.

• September 27, 2007: Braden Scale Most Effective for Identifying Risk for Pressure Ulcers
• September 20, 2007: New Guidelines for Controlling Asthma in Adults and Children
• September 13, 2007: New Data Analyses Techniques Show Long-Term Survival Better for Cancer Patients
• September 6, 2007: Cortical Stimulation Gives New Hope to Stroke Patients
• August 30, 2007: 50% of All Cancer Deaths can be Linked to Obesity and Smoking
• August 23, 2007: Physical Activity Found to Improve Cardiovascular Risk in Children with Type 1 Diabetes
• August 16, 2007: Hostility and Depression Harmful to Men's Immune System
• August 7, 2007: Decrease in Women's Use of Hormone Therapy Linked to Drop in Breast Cancer
• August 2, 2007: Use of SSRI's Down in Teens While Suicide Number Rises
• July 26, 2007: New Definitions from the International Diabetes Federation

Concept Media produces and distributes award winning education media for colleges, healthcare institutions, social service agencies and counseling centers throughout North America, Europe, and the South Pacific. Most programs come in VHS, DVD and CD formats. Site Licenses and Distance Learning packages are also available for our library of programs.

Concept Media is best known in the area of professional nursing education and represented in more than 95% of the nation's nursing school media libraries. We have developed partnerships with leading nursing education institutions including Brigham Young University, Drexel University, and ICN/ Washington State University College of Nursing. Concept Media is well-respected and has received numerous awards for programs on diabetes, human development, mental health, substance abuse, counseling, and addiction.

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