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Racism, Social Justice, and Nurses

By Karen Roush, PhD, RN, FNP-BC

The murder of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer, following so quickly on the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, shot down while jogging in February, and Breonna Tayler, an EMT with plans of becoming a nurse who was killed by police in her own home in March, coalesced years of anger, fear, and despair into an extraordinary outcry for racial justice that has not been seen since the civil rights movement.

Black Lives Matter.

Credit: National Nurses United

The chilling casualness with which Derek Chauvin ended George Floyd’s life over nearly nine agonizing minutes exposed more dramatically than anything else why we need to insist that black lives matter. The fact that it took four days for any charges to be brought against Chauvin, and over two months for the murderers of Mr. Arbery to be charged, only serves to reinforce what many have been saying for a long time, that all lives do not matter equally.

People have filled the streets of large cities and small to march in solidarity for racial justice and the end of police brutality. (Looters and rioters are not part of the protests and unwelcome by those marching for justice.) Not everyone may agree on how to […]

2020-06-12T13:22:12-04:00June 11th, 2020|Nursing, Public health|4 Comments
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Addressing Clinician Mental Health and Suicide Risk During the Pandemic

Pandemics are known to cause panic disorder, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and posttraumatic stress. Depression can lead to suicide if not treated, yet is a treatable disease. We have seen nurses die by suicide during this pandemic in Italy.

Past experience suggests that health care workers exposed to the stress of the pandemic will need help long after the pandemic is under control.

I am serving as co-chair of the Strength Through Resilience task force of the American Nurses Association, whose focus was originally to collate resources to reduce suicide among nurses. We quickly shifted gears when the pandemic hit to collate resources to optimize resiliency and mental health among nurses in relation to the projected impact of the pandemic. Curiously, these resources are virtually identical. The ANA has posted initial resources as part of their Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation campaign and is and building more resources as quickly as possible.

Nurses already at higher suicide risk.

The added stress of the pandemic is particularly problematic because of evidence that emerged before the pandemic that nurses were at higher risk of suicide than the general public. If leaders at health care organizations have not already started proactively screening staff for […]

2020-05-12T16:27:31-04:00May 12th, 2020|COVID-19, mental illness, Nursing, Public health|0 Comments
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A Safety Paradox: Stay-at-Home Policies and Domestic Violence Risks

What happens when the very measures put in place to keep us safe and healthy instead place us at risk for harm? For women in abusive relationships, the stay-at-home strategy for controlling the spread of COVID-19 can do just that.

A perfect storm of risk factors for escalating violence.

High stress levels, loss of a sense of control, unemployment, increased time together—all are known to increase the frequency and intensity of intimate partner violence (IPV). A study of IPV rates before and after Hurricane Katrina found a 98% increase in physical IPV and a 35% increase in psychological IPV against women after the hurricane, with stressors as one of the strongest predictors for increased violence. IPV rates are known to rise with unemployment rates; a study of IPV during the economic recession of 2007-2008 found that a rapid rise in unemployment led to increased violence and controlling behaviors. And multiple studies have found that IPV incidents occur at much higher rates on weekends and during the summer—times when couples spend more time together. With Covid-19, people are suddenly unemployed and experiencing stress due to economic hardship, fear of illness, and uncertainty about the future. And couples are now spending all their time together […]

2020-05-04T12:27:03-04:00May 4th, 2020|Nursing, Public health, women's health|0 Comments
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A Message from Frontline Nurses: Let’s Keep the Real Enemy in Sight

The recent protests against stay-at-home restrictions across the country are painful to watch for nurses most affected by the pandemic, those caring for COVID-19 patients. Four RNs working in hospitals in New York City who are graduate students at the Lienhard School of Nursing at Pace University decided to work together with one of their professors to share their thoughts on behalf of nurses on the front lines.

There are refrigerator trucks filled with bodies outside our hospitals. Many of us have to pass by them when we go into work, knowing that among those bodies are the patients we cared for yesterday and when we leave 12 hours later, some of the patients we cared for today will join them. Even harder to handle is the knowledge that among those bodies may be a colleague or friend, fellow nurses who caught COVID-19 while caring for others. It is heartbreaking and terrifying because we know that we too could end up in a body bag shelved in a refrigerator truck.

So, it is no wonder that the sight of people protesting protective measures generates such strong emotions for us—anger, fear, sadness. Anger that in choosing to ignore restrictions, or insisting on the right to risk their own health, they are also […]

2021-01-21T11:07:20-05:00April 29th, 2020|infectious diseases, Nursing, nursing perspective, Public health, students|7 Comments
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Practicing the ABCDEs of Self-Care in Pandemic Times

While talk of the surge in COVID-19 cases continues, what has been less audible in the national discourse is the surge in mental health distress that will be with us long after the pandemic is gone. Many of us who have enjoyed relative psychological well-being are feeling inundated with near-pathological levels of anxiety, uncertainty, anticipatory grief, and real or secondary trauma.

Here are ABCDEs of self-care to keep yourself and loved ones emotionally—and physically—well.

ABCDEs of Self-Care

About

Stay informed as you need to regarding the pandemic, but then promptly pull yourself away and unplug. Initiate what we call a “sensory diet” to limit anxiety-provoking exposure to TV and radio news, social media, print materials, etc., beyond what you must know for yourself, your family, and/or your job. Fearful news can be addictive. Don’t overindulge!

Body

Many people, when asked how they can best care for themselves to stay well, say something on the order of “handwashing, masks, social distancing….” Sure, all that! But we also need to respect the healthy things our mother tried to teach us. How about exercise and fresh air (even if it’s just a three-minute brisk walk around the block), adequate sleep and decent nutrition? Honoring our bodies now will help us stay healthy and well, in […]

2021-01-21T11:10:16-05:00April 13th, 2020|infectious diseases, mental illness, Nursing, wellness|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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