The Real Criminals Here: Justice is Served in Winkler County, Texas, Whistleblower Case

Map of USA with Texas highlighted

By Maureen ‘Shawn’ Kennedy, AJN editor in chief

On January 13, news from Texas let nurses everywhere take heart that, sometimes, the system works. According to a report by the Odessa American, the Winkler County, Texas, officials, Sheriff Robert Roberts and attorney Scott Tidwell, who had filed charges against whistleblower nurses Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle, have been indicted on felony charges of misuse of official information. The hospital administrator who fired the two nurses, Stan Wiley, was also indicted. For more on the story, which we’ve kept a close eye on since October 2009 in our news reports and on this blog, see this ABC World News article; the Texas Nurses Association also has an archive of the case.

In a separate civil suit against the county, Mitchell and Galle were awarded $750,000. Very excellent.

Why is this so exciting and significant? The case outcome supports nurses who raise concerns about unsafe patient care and upholds the nurse’s right—duty, really—to advocate for patients. Hopefully, the nurses’ victory and the award from the civil suit will give pause to those who think they can intimidate nurses who are acting on good conscience and within legal and ethical boundaries.

Kudos to the courts for realizing who the real criminals are.

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2016-11-21T13:14:20-05:00January 17th, 2011|nursing perspective|2 Comments
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Placenta Facebook Photos: Nurse and Mommy Tribes See Student Expulsion Differently

Will patients trust that when they are anesthetized they will be treated respectfully? Will hospitals and other clinical agencies be less inclined to host students for fear of litigation over privacy? I imagine at the very least, all nursing schools are now quickly developing social media policies. The American Medical Association has one and the American Nurses Association is, I’m told, developing one.

2016-11-21T13:14:21-05:00January 12th, 2011|career, Ethics, healthcare social media, nursing perspective, students|14 Comments
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An NP Prepares: Calling All Nurse Mentors

Well, I’m here to tell you, from the evidence gathered in my own laborious, and mostly fruitless, job search, that archaic ideas about the ease of finding a position as a nurse are dead wrong.... A seasoned professional or trusted peer is crucial in providing helpful advice, guidance, and inspiration.

2016-11-21T13:14:23-05:00January 7th, 2011|career, students|4 Comments
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Choosing AJN’s Med-Surg Nursing Books of the Year


By Julie Zerwic, PhD, RN, interim executive associate dean, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago

The faculty in the department of biobehavioral health science at the University of Illinois College of Nursing looked forward with enthusiasm this fall to our opportunity to pick the AJN medical—surgical book of the year. The range of books that are submitted is outstanding and it was a challenge to find the book that we felt was deserving of the title. In fact, we selected two books. Both selections fill a need, covering material neglected in other works. 

How to Manage Pain in the Elderly, by Yvonne D’Arcy, will be useful for any nurse working with older adults in pain. The book begins by dispelling myths about the experience and treatment of pain in the elderly. The material in each chapter is brought together by text boxes, figures, and rich case studies. The book includes material on the physiology of pain in the elderly, pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic approaches to pain management, issues of multidrug therapy, and palliative care.

I recently watched as my 75-year-old mother experienced a long episode of pain after knee replacement surgery. An infection and then problems with a degenerative spine left her searching for some type of therapy that would relieve the debilitating pain. Many of the concepts that D’Arcy covers in her book were relevent to the situation my mother found herself in. This book will provide a resource as health care providers […]

2016-11-21T13:14:25-05:00January 6th, 2011|nursing perspective|0 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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