Revisiting Katrina’s Lessons 10 Years Out, from a Nursing Perspective

By Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN editor-in-chief

Hurricane Katrina Hits New Orleans, August 29, 2005/ Wikimedia Commons Hurricane Katrina Hits New Orleans, August 29, 2005/ Wikimedia Commons

This past week we’ve seen many media retrospectives on the devastation Hurricane Katrina visited on the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. I remember it vividly—as AJN’s news director at the time, I cut short a Labor Day vacation and flew to Mississippi on September 10 to report firsthand on how relief efforts were progressing.

I visited the emergency shelter staged at the Meridian Naval Air Station and then drove as far as I could south from Meridian toward the Gulf of Mexico. I got as far as Hattiesburg, Mississippi, before I had to turn around because there were no open gas stations and my gas tank was at half-empty. The devastation along the highway was remarkable; trees were completely flattened and debris of all sorts was scattered about as if a giant trash can had been overturned. And this was still about 70 miles inland from the Gulf.

Over the following months and then years, AJN published a number of articles and reports on health-related issues that arose from Hurricane Katrina (see the list below). We highlighted the heroics of many nurses who found ways to deliver care with few resources, discussed […]

2016-11-21T13:02:05-05:00August 31st, 2015|career, Ethics, Nursing, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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‘An Immutably Personal Process’: A Hospice Nurse Contemplates Uncontrol

Megen Duffy, RN, BSN, CEN, currently works in hospice case management. She writes AJN’s iNurse column, which focuses on technology and nursing.

by mark ahsmann/ wikimedia commons by mark ahsmann/ wikimedia commons

I started my day the way I often do: watching sunlight begin to filter in and softly illuminate the sunken face of a person who would die, not later, but sooner. I sat curled in the chair I’d been in since 3:00 AM, wrapped in my sweater against the institutional chill, and waited.

This is, perhaps unbelievably, my favorite part of being a nurse. In hospice, there is no deadline. No one needs the room right now. The patient does not have to go to the floor in the next 30 minutes to avoid throughput delays. I do not have five other patients claiming my time. No, I have the gift of being able to sit quietly with only one objective: to do everything I can to make sure this person leaves this life without pain or fear.

I am not bored. It may appear as if I am doing nothing, but that is far from true. I am watching and listening for every breath, every movement, every toe that turns a deep bruised purple, every expression that may say “I am hurting.”

I am merely cooperating with death, and death’s agenda is never known to me. […]

2016-11-21T13:02:06-05:00August 27th, 2015|Ethics, narratives, Nursing, nursing perspective|8 Comments
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An Updated Code of Ethics for Nurses as a Call to Action

By Katheren Koehn, MA, RN, executive director of the Minnesota Organization of Registered Nurses (MNORN) and a member of AJN‘s editorial board.

YearofEthics2015In January, the American Nurses Association declared 2015 to be “The Year of Ethics,” to highlight the first revision to the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements since 2001. Last week, in Baltimore, ANA hosted an Ethics Symposium to facilitate a dialogue about just what the Code means to nursing practice.

This was not your typical esoteric ethics conference, with terms like beneficence, nonmaleficence, fidelity, and utilitarianism floating throughout the sessions. At this symposium the Code of Ethics became a unifying “Call to Action” for the profession.

In welcoming comments, Patricia Davidson, dean of Johns Hopkins School of Nurses, spoke of how ethical practice is critical for improving health care, especially with the move to person-centered care. She reminded us of the moral imperative to address entrenched health disparities, including access to care, and urged each of us to summon our own courageous leadership as we advocate for patients and families and question “entrenched beliefs.”

ANA President Pam Cipriano gave an overview of the Code of Ethics for Nurses, which articulates the ethical obligations and duties of every nurse. The Code binds us together, according to President Cipriano, no matter what practice setting we work in, or job title we hold. It is our nonnegotiable ethical […]

2016-11-21T13:02:22-05:00June 17th, 2015|career, Ethics, Nursing, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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AJN Collections of Note: From Women’s Health Issues to Assessment Tools for Older Adults

By Jacob Molyneux, senior editor

'Nuff Said by ElektraCute / Elektra Noelani Fisher, via Flickr. Elektra Noelani Fisher/ Flickr

It’s easy to miss, but there’s a tab at the top of the AJN home page that will take you to our collections page. There you can delve more deeply into a wide range of topics—and find many options for obtaining continuing education credits in the process.

For example, you’ll find a collection of recent continuing education (CE) feature articles devoted to women’s health issues, such as menopausal hormone therapy, cardiovascular disease prevention for women, and issues faced by young women who are BRCA positive.

The patient population in the U.S. continues to age. To gain confidence in meeting the needs of these patients, nurses can consult our practical collection of articles and videos devoted to the use of evidence-based geriatric assessment tools and best practices.

For the more creative side of nursing, we have a collection of 20 visual works and poems from our Art of Nursing column.

For those concerned with potential legal issues, it’s a good idea to have a look at the three CE articles from our Legal Clinic column on protecting your nursing license.

For would-be authors and those interested […]

2016-11-21T13:02:31-05:00May 18th, 2015|Ethics, Nursing, nursing perspective, nursing research|0 Comments
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Nurses Week: An Annual Occasion for Mixed Feelings and a Little Reflection

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

by rosmary/via Flickr by rosmary/via Flickr

It’s here again, that week set aside to remember the accomplishments of Florence Nightingale and the good work all nurses do. Many nurses I speak with don’t like this annual event and feel it represents a patriarchal tradition that diminishes our professionalism. One nurse recently said to me, “Do they have a Neuroscientists Week, or an Attorneys Day?” (Actually, a Google search reveals there’s a “Be Kind to Lawyers Day”! But you get the point.)

Others say that Nurses Week provides an opportunity to promote our profession and gain recognition for what we do, even if only for a week—and that’s better than nothing. Organizations do seem to have evolved from the “Love a nurse prn” shoelaces to more substantial recognition, like a lunch with a noted speaker, or better yet, recognizing the achievements of their own staff.

On the other hand, I was surprised last year when I asked on AJN‘s Facebook page what nurses’ workplaces were doing for Nurses Week and many nurses replied, “nothing.” That word was often followed by some derogatory remarks about the facility.

I have mixed feelings, but I guess I fall more into the camp of using Nurses Week to remind everyone—including ourselves, colleagues, employers, and the […]

2016-11-21T13:02:37-05:00May 4th, 2015|career, Ethics, Nursing, nursing perspective|2 Comments
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