1918 Redux: Supportive Nursing Care for the Coronavirus Pandemic Is Courageous Care

Litter carriers at Red Cross Emergency Ambulance Station in Washington, D.C., during influenza pandemic of 1918.

The lessons of the past.

As we struggle to make sense of unfolding data, announcements, and public health directives about the current coronavirus pandemic, appreciating the lessons from past pandemics can help us understand the effectiveness and challenges related to quarantines and social isolation, as well as the need for reliable and timely communications.

In times of public health uncertainty, nurses and nursing care have played a critical role in saving lives and relieving suffering. We now know a great deal about the role of nursing during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Some lessons need heeding now.

Historian Nancy Bristow’s American Pandemic (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012) presents the historical facts clearly. For example, public health officials’ 1918 prohibitions on public gatherings, the sharing of such (then) new personal items as toothbrushes, and school attendance and religious services met acceptance as well as resistance. […]

2021-01-21T11:05:06-05:00March 18th, 2020|infectious diseases, Nursing, nursing history, Public health|1 Comment
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‘Worth Its Weight in Gold’: The Small, Unexpected Triumphs of Nursing

“Nursing is a job that sometimes finds you investing emotionally in things you never expected to care about.”

How many times have you waxed enthusiastic at work about something that people who aren’t nurses would find weird, or even downright gross? Eyeing a patient’s Foley bag and exclaiming about how great her urine looks…praising a young man for coughing up gobs of sticky sputum….

Illustration by Pat Kinsella for AJN.

The challenge of obtaining a specimen.

In this month’s Reflections column, “Worth its Weight in Gold” (free until July 7), visiting nurse Jonathan Robb describes his efforts to obtain a urine sample for culture from an elderly woman who has minimal bladder control.

Most of us are familiar with the balancing act of obtaining a specimen under conditions that cause discomfort or embarrassment to a patient. We cajole and gently press for whatever has to be done, trying to maintain a relaxed atmosphere while hiding any urgency about completing the task that we might feel. This delicate pas de deux has the potential to be very stressful for both parties.

Robb’s sometimes comical descriptions of the contortions necessary to meet his particular challenge will ring true to nurses.

“…despite the […]

2019-06-17T10:16:20-04:00June 17th, 2019|Nursing, nursing stories, patient engagement|0 Comments
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Hepatitis A, B, and C: The Latest on Screening, Epidemiology, Prevention, Treatments

One of several posters created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to raise awareness that millions of Americans of all ages, races, and ethnicities have hepatitis C—and many don’t know it. Posters are available to order or download for printing at www.cdc.gov/knowmorehepatitis/media/posters.htm. Poster © Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One of several CDC posters intended to raise awareness that millions of Americans of all ages, races, and ethnicities have hepatitis C—and many don’t know it. Posters are available to order or download for printing at www.cdc.gov/knowmorehepatitis/media/posters.htm. Poster © Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It’s crucial that nurses in all health care settings stay informed about the changing landscape of viral hepatitis in the United States. Hepatitis affects the lives of millions, too many of whom are unaware that they have been infected.

Right now, there’s good news and bad news about hepatitis in the U.S. While the incidences of hepatitis A and B in the United States have declined significantly in the past 15 years, the incidence of hepatitis C virus […]

2016-11-21T13:02:17-05:00July 16th, 2015|Nursing|1 Comment
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Nurses Aren’t Just Healers, They’re Teachers Too: A Patient’s View

Illustration by Jennifer Rodgers. All rights reserved. Illustration by Jennifer Rodgers. All rights reserved.

A teeny red bump had mysteriously appeared on my left index finger. It hurt when I pressed on it. I figured it was nothing. . . .

That’s the start of the June Reflections essay in AJN, “Ms. Lisa and Ms. MRSA,” a patient experience narrative by freelance writer Shannon Harris. As luck would have it, the bump on her finger, it turns out, is not nothing. It’s MRSA.

The diagnosis takes a while. Finally the situation worsens, and surgery is needed. The author takes it all in stride, at least in retrospect:

The third physician stood out to me most. He asked to take a picture of my green and black, staph-infected finger with his iPhone. “Sure. Look at it! I thought this only happened to pirates,” I told him as he snapped away. He glanced at the young, button-nosed nurse standing beside him. “Don’t you want a picture? For your records?” he asked.

She shook her head, squinting and gritting her teeth. “I know. Yuck,” I said. I later shared photos of my infection journey online, to the great wonder and disgust of my friends and family. Before that, though, came surgery.

The author’s tone is light, but the situation […]

2016-11-21T13:02:27-05:00June 3rd, 2015|Nursing, patient engagement, patient experience, Patients|1 Comment
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Scrubs on the Street: Big Concern?

This colorized 2005 scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicted numerous clumps of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, commonly referred to by the acronym, MRSA; Magnified 2390x. CDC/via Wikimedia Commons This colorized 2005 scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicted numerous clumps of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, commonly referred to by the acronym, MRSA; Magnified 2390x. CDC/via Wikimedia Commons

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

Last week I came across this article on the Reporting on Health blog from the Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism at the University of Southern California. It discusses one woman’s campaign to get hospital health care providers to stop wearing scrubs outside of the hospital. She wants people to photograph the ‘offenders’ and send the photos to hospital administrators. She’s concerned that the clothing will pick up infection-causing bacteria in the community and spread infection to weak, immunocompromised patients.

Wearing uniforms outside of the clinical setting has been debated on and off for years. Here’s an excerpt from an editorial comment that appeared in the March 1906 issue of AJN (you can read the full article for free as a subscriber):

AJNArchiveExcerptNursesonStreet

2016-11-21T13:05:59-05:00November 20th, 2013|nursing perspective, nursing research|6 Comments
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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