Raising awareness about the risk of heart disease is the overall goal of the Women’s Healthy Heart Initiative (WHHI) at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). The major component of the initiative is the Women’s Healthy Heart Clinic, a nurse-initiated and nurse-led clinic that is improving access to primary prevention services.

To protect staff, patients and visitors from exposure to second-hand smoke, the Capital Health Authority in Edmonton, Alta., banned outdoor smoking and closed all its smoking rooms — including those in psychiatric hospitals — in 2006. Compared with the general population smoking rate of 19 per cent, people with psychiatric disorders have a smoking rate of 50 per cent. Individuals with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) are the heaviest smokers, with smoking rates estimated from 75 to 85 per cent (Harris, Parle, & Gagné, 2007).

Bringing best practices to the bedside is a challenging task that involves multiple steps and the need for facilitators, who act as guides and coaches. St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton made a commitment in 2006 to become a Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO) through the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). At that time, two of RNAO’s best practice guidelines were implemented: Prevention of Falls and Fall Injuries in the Older Adult and Risk Assessment and Prevention of Pressure Ulcers.

A practice placement in a gerontology setting is not usually high on most nursing students’ wish lists of “awesome” experiences. The prospect of this kind of placement will elicit negative reactions: “It’s like going to a backwater” or “There’s nothing to learn there.” For one of their fourth-year practicums, students Sara Kilik and Ryan Lakie, in collaboration with their field guide, Jeannine Moreau, set out to explore the apparent lack of interest in and knowledge about gerontology and the reasons that the complex, rich spectrum of learning opportunities in this area is neither recognized nor valued. Our plan was to come up with strategies for shifting students’ thinking and attitudes.

There are about 15,500 births per year in Calgary, and early discharge of mothers and babies is the norm: 25 per cent of women who have had vaginal births are discharged within 24 hours of delivery; an additional 60 per cent are discharged between 24 and 48 hours after delivery. Sixty-six per cent of women who have had caesarean sections are discharged within 72 hours after the birth. Early discharge has the potential to interrupt monitoring of the newborn, thereby possibly delaying the identification and treatment of hyperbilirubinemia.