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This May, the World Health Assembly (WHA) will vote on re-establishing a mandate for the WHO to address the health consequences of nuclear weapons and war.
The first atomic bomb exploded in the New Mexico desert 80 years ago, in July 1945. Three weeks later, two relatively small (by today’s standards), tactical-size nuclear weapons unleashed a cataclysm of radioactive incineration on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By the end of 1945, about 213 000 people were dead.
Last December, Nihon Hidankyo, a movement that brings together atomic bomb survivors, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its ‘efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons...
Commentary on: Michinov E, Robin G, Hémon B, Béranger R, Boissart M. Protective resources against stress among student nurses: influences of self-efficacy, emotional intelligence and conflict management styles. Nurse Educ Pract. 2024 Jan;74:103849. doi: 10.1016/j.nepr.2023.103849. Epub 2023 Nov 22.
Implications for practice and research Educational programmes should include simulations and role playing to enhance student nurses’ self-efficacy and reduce stress. Integrating emotional intelligence training into nursing education aids students in managing emotional demands. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies to uncover causal relationships among factors.
Clinical practice training introduces stress to student nurses due to potential conflicts with patients, families and supervisors.
Commentary on: Boxall C, Fenlon D, May C, Nuttall J, Hunter MS. Implementing a nurse-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy intervention to reduce the impact of hot flushes/night sweats in women with breast cancer: a qualitative process evaluation of the MENOS4 trial. BMC Nurs. 2023 Sep 15;22(1):317. doi: 10.1186/s12912-023-01441-3.
Implications for practice and research Collaboration between nurses, primary care and healthcare managers, healthcare partners in breast care will facilitate the role of the breast care nurse in patient care. More research is needed on breast cancer survivors with diverse population at multiple sites, thereby improving the quality of research on cognitive–behavioural therapy.
There is a growing body of evidence that 85% of women experience hot flashes and night sweats after breast cancer treatment
Commentary on: Kaldal, MH, Voldbjerg, SL, Gronkjaer, M, et al. Newly graduated nurses' commitment to the nursing profession and their workplace during their first year of employment: A focused ethnography. J Adv Nurs 2023:00:1-14.
Implications for practice and research Hospitals should have a structured support system for newly registered nurses (NRNs) to facilitate a positive and successful transition into professional practising nursing careers. A further qualitative research study exploring the nature of support NRNs require to facilitate a successful and committed nursing career.
The commitment of newly registered nurses (NRNs) mostly depends on their work environment and the support they receive from their first employment.
Commentary on: De Giorgi R, De Crescenzo F, Cowen PJ, Harmer CJ, Cipriani A. Real-world outcomes of concomitant antidepressant and statin use in primary care patients with depression: a population-based cohort study. BMC Med. 2023 Nov 7;21(1):424. doi: 10.1186/s12916-023-03138-5.
Implications for practice and research Providers should encourage antidepressant use with statins for depression that is comorbid with physical conditions. Research can clarify which population subgroups taking both medications demonstrate improved outcomes.
Depression affects more than 350 million people worldwide.
De Giorgi and colleagues used the largest UK-based...
Commentary on: Feo R, Young JA, Urry K, Lawless M, Hunter SC, Kitson A, Conroy T. ‘I wasn’t made to feel like a nut case after all’: A qualitative story completion study exploring healthcare recipient and carer perceptions of good professional caregiving relationships. Health Expect. 2023 Oct 19;27(1):e13871. doi: 10.1111/hex.13871. Epub ahead of print.
Healthcare providers can foster effective patient–provider relationships by addressing concerns early on and adopting key behaviours, such as showing interest in understanding the patient’s issues, validating their concerns and respecting their choices. Future research should focus on identifying strategies to help healthcare providers develop effective patient–provider relationships. This requires a thorough understanding of these relationships from the perspectives of all involved parties, including healthcare providers, patients and their informal caregivers.
The patient–provider relationship is at the core of effective disease management.
Commentary on: Spoelma MJ, Sicouri GL, Francis DA, Songco AD, Daniel EK, Hudson JL. Estimated prevalence of depressive disorders in children from 2004 to 2019: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics. 2023;177(10):1017–1027.
Implications for practice and research Clinical practice with young children benefits from knowledge about the prevalence of depressive disorders in childhood and that the well-established sex differences seen for depression in adulthood may not appear until adolescence. Further research is needed to address possible changes in the prevalence of childhood depressive disorders around the world and following the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether these changes are differentially distributed across individuals and communities.
Depression in childhood is a long-documented public health concern.
Commentary on: García-Hermoso A, López-Gil JF, Izquierdo M, et al. Exercise and insulin resistance markers in children and adolescents with excess weight: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Jama Pediatrics. 2023;177(12):1276–84.
Resistance exercises with aerobic training and high-intensity interval training reduced insulin resistance markers in 5–18 years old children with excess weight if done at least two to three times/week. Low to moderate certainty of evidence in this meta-analysis
The prevalence of childhood excess weight continues to grow, adding to risk of metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes.
...pining for lost places, for places we have once been in yet can no longer reenter. (Albrecht, 2005).
There is mounting evidence of the effects of global warming and ecological changes on human health, encompassing mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.
Commentary on: Ley C, Heath F, Hastie T, et al. Defining Usual Oral Temperature Ranges in Outpatients Using an Unsupervised Learning Algorithm. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Oct 1;183(10):1128-1135. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.4291.
This study suggests that clinicians should consider age, sex, height, weight and time of day when assessing a patient’s oral temperature. Consider moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach to fever diagnosis.
Future research should focus on how these individualised temperature norms can be integrated into clinical decision-making processes. Develop new diagnostic criteria for fever.
Traditionally, the ‘normal’ oral temperature of 37°C has been a long-standing benchmark in health assessments. However, this standard fails to consider individual variability influenced by age, sex and metabolism. Ley et al
Commentary on: Miller LG, McKinnell JA, Singh RD et al. Decolonization in Nursing Homes to Prevent Infection and Hospitalization. N Engl J Med. 2023 Nov 9;389(19):1766-1777.
Universal decolonisation of nursing home residents can reduce infection-related hospitalisations and overall hospitalisations. This may translate in the long term into potential reduction in healthcare costs of residents in nursing homes.
Nursing homes have a big role in healthcare delivery in the USA, thanks to the dramatic increase in population of older persons. Social interactions, indwelling devices, comorbidities and long stays predispose these residents to infections, particularly from multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO), which in turn increase hospital admissions and deaths.
This cluster randomised trial
Commentary on: Wu CY, Iskander C, Wang C, et al. Association of sulfonylureas with the risk of dementia: A population-based cohort study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2023; 71:3059–70.
Unless contraindicated, dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors (DPP-4i) should be used as first-line choice in older adults with type 2 diabetes in preference to sulfonylurea due to increased risk of dementia. Prospective studies are needed to ascertain if the use of sulfonylurea by older adult patients causes higher risk of developing dementia.
Diabetes is already known as a risk factor for developing dementia. Multiple factors contribute to this association: presence of microvascular and macrovascular complications, chronic inflammation, hyperglycaemia, hypoglycaemia and hyperinsulinemia.
Older adult patients often present with multimorbidities, polypharmacy, malnutrition, sarcopenia, longer duration of diabetes and renal and hepatic dysfunction. Furthermore, low education level, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, obstructive...
Commentary on: Labrague, L.J., Obeidat, A.A. 2025. Pedagogical approaches to foster caring behaviors among nursing students: a scoping review. Nurs Educ Today 146 (2025) 106547; doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2024.106547.
The review concluded that employing a diverse range of pedagogical approaches, enhances the development of caring behaviours in nursing students. However, they did not find robust evidence to validate their findings. It is imperative for educators to not only advocate for their inclusion in nurse education but also to develop the evidence base for the use of these more costly approaches.
Caring behaviours are key in delivering person-centred care, which emphasises respecting and valuing the individual’s preferences, needs and autonomy.
Commentary on: Kristiansen D, Boyle EH, Svec J. The impact of local supply of popular contraceptives on women’s use of family planning: findings from performance-monitoring-for-action in seven sub-Saharan African countries. Reprod Health. 2023 Nov 21;20(1):171.
Implications for practice and research The concept of ‘demand’ and ‘supply’, from the perspective of individual preferences shaped by cultural and societal norms, can be incorporated by health practitioners and policymakers when addressing the root causes of unmet health needs. Understanding women’s empowerment and agency in family planning requires a rights-based community-engaged research approach. Community-level data can illuminate the underlying mechanisms of healthcare utilisation preferences.
The issue of unmet contraceptive needs remains a gap in global healthcare, despite various contraceptive options available now more than ever.
While artificial intelligence (AI) was first developed in the late 1950s
Commentary on: Gilbert R, Lillekroken D. Caring to the end: an empirical application of Swanson’s caring theory to end-of-life care. ANS Adv Nurs Sci. 2023 Oct 13. doi: 10.1097/ANS.0000000000000515. Epub ahead of print.
Implications for practice and research Nursing theories, like Swanson’s caring theory, can bring visibility to the knowledge and skill harnessed by nurses when caring for dying patients and their families. Further research should explore how nurses’ relational practice is influenced by sociopolitical as well as interpersonal contexts.
‘Caring’ is a critical concept in nursing discourse and many theories about care in nursing have been developed and applied to a variety of settings. One example is Swanson’s caring theory, an empirically derived middle-range nursing theory that situates caring as a relational way of attending to others to whom we have a sense of commitment and responsibility, through the five specific...
Commentary on: Avalos LA, Adams SR, Alexeeff SE, et al. Neonatal outcomes associated with in utero cannabis exposure: a population-based retrospective cohort. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2023; Nov 27. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2023.11.1232.
Implications for practice and research Healthcare professionals should provide counselling for anyone who is pregnant about how prenatal cannabis use can lead to adverse infant health outcomes. Further exploration is needed of the potential impact of prenatal cannabis on longer term outcomes, including the effects of cannabis strength and usage frequency.
In the USA, the incidence of cannabis use in pregnancy has increased from 3% (2002) to 7% (2017),
Commentary on: Cho IY, Han AY. Neonatal nurses educational needs in a family-centered partnership program: Five ways of knowing. Nurse Educ Today. 2024 Feb; 133:106028. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2023.106028. Epub 2023 Nov 11.
Implications for practice and research Collaborative alliances between parents and nurses are vital for delivering holistic family-centred care within the neonatal intensive care unit. Subsequent investigations should also explore the experiences and requirements of parents, as these may vary significantly.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Institute for Patients and family-centred care (FCC) outlined the core characteristics of FCC: dignity and respect, transparent information exchange, active family involvement in care and contextual care within the family and community.
This study by Cho and Han determines the educational requirements of neonatal nurses to establish a programme fostering FCC partnerships with parents, the study is grounded in five dimensions of...
When I took over as editor-in-chief (EiC) of Evidence-Based Nursing (EBN) in August 2010, I had a simple but ambitious goal: to make it easier for nurses and midwives to access research evidence and help them use it to improve their practise. I also hoped to amplify their voice in influencing health policy. 15 years later, as I write my final editorial before stepping down from my post at the end of July, I reflect on how the EBN team collectively brought that original vision to life.
At the heart of EBN are our commentaries—incisive, insightful pieces that critically evaluate current research. But over time, we’ve grown far beyond that. In 2011, we launched the Research Made Simple (RMS) series, which aims to demystify research methods for practitioners. I am proud that these papers have become an important resource for healthcare lecturers teaching research skills.
As a nurse educator,...
EBN Contemporary Nursing Education on: Thornton et al. 2025, How does trauma informed care education for paediatric healthcare professionals impact self-reported knowledge and practice. An integrative review. Nurse Education in Practice. 82.
Implications for nursing education Healthcare professionals reported improved awareness and understanding of trauma-informed care (TIC) and self-efficacy in applying it in practice. Nurse educators should continue to develop robust evaluation of TIC educational interventions.
Psychological trauma is a major public health concern, with high rates of exposure among the population. Within paediatric healthcare settings, exposure can be substantial.
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