COVID-19 for Nurses: Skip the Rumors and Stick to the Basics

(Published: February 28. Editor’s note: much information in this post is now dated and the post should be read only as a response to a particular moment in time. COVID-19 is now officially a pandemic and has rapidly spread worldwide. While rumors and misinformation were, sadly, already very much in play when this was written, and the overall tone of this post was neutral and descriptive according to our knowledge at that current moment, the post only remains live for archiving purposes. Our most recent posts on the crisis can be found here.)

In the U.S. at the time of this writing, the major risk presented by the current novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is not from the disease itself but from misinformation. Rumors, misinterpretations, and conspiracy theories are being transmitted at a rate far greater than that of the coronavirus itself. While the situation is evolving rapidly and things can change quickly, our understanding of the illness has also grown in a remarkably  short period of time.

So, is this a pandemic?

In an NPR interview this week, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the term is used to suggest that the spread of a new infection is out of control and doing significant damage worldwide. We are not quite there yet. COVID-19 transmission in China appears to have plateaued, and, while the virus has been detected in numerous other countries this week, several countries have also been successful in controlling the spread of COVID-19 within […]

2020-03-19T14:34:33-04:00February 28th, 2020|infectious diseases, Public health|13 Comments
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Health Care Work and Hypochondria: When Knowledge Equals Fear

By Amy M. Collins, associate editor

This Thursday I will graduate. Not from college—sadly, that was many years ago. Rather, I will finish a health anxiety class, taken in desperation when untimely hypochondria struck. I admit it. I’ve always been a bit of a worrier when it comes to health and illness. Working as a health care writer/editor doesn’t always help. I just have too much information at my fingertips, and a brain that jumps to the extreme (a pain in the side can mean cancer, and so on).

Before getting a degree in writing and journalism, I studied human biology with the intention of going into some type of health care work. But reading about diseases made me start to self-diagnose with fervor, so I decided to switch majors. And this was before the advent of the Internet, where one can constantly consult “Dr. Google.”

Years ago, while working at a medical publishing company in Spain, things got worse. I was put on the cardiovascular beat, which only increased my health fears. Diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse as a child, and on medication for arrhythmia at the time, reading about this particular disease made my heart literally flutter. My boss, recognizing my discomfort, took me off the topic and asked me to instead write […]

2016-11-21T13:11:10-05:00December 14th, 2011|Nursing|4 Comments
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