Nurses spend more time with patients than most other types of providers and have unique insight into patient care and the the healthcare system.

Legacy of the Living Legends: Slackers Need Not Apply

By Shawn Kennedy, editor-in-chief

Earlier this month, I attended the American Academy of Nursing 38th Annual Meeting and Conference. With e-mails flooding my inbox and a full meeting agenda over the next few days, I was thinking of skipping the 2011 Living Legends event that took place on the first evening. Thankfully, an old friend, nurse historian Sandy Lewinson, talked me into going—it was one of the more memorable nursing events I’ve attended.

The academy honors “Living Legends” in recognition of the multiple contributions these nurses have made to the profession and the impact these contributions have made on health care in the United States and abroad. This year’s honorees are shown in the photo, from left: May L. Wykle, Meridean L. Maas, Ada Sue Hinshaw, Suzanne Lee Feetham, and Patricia E. Benner.

Credited with such achievements as creating a nursing taxonomy on nursing error, building the science of pediatric nursing in the context of the family, conducting ground-breaking nursing research, developing and implementing professional nurse governance in employing organizations, promoting policy change, and addressing the nursing shortage, these nurses join 77 other nursing notables who’ve been so honored since the first class was named in 1994. […]

2016-11-21T13:11:35-05:00October 27th, 2011|career, nursing perspective|2 Comments
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Changes in Latitude: Comparing Health Care Systems with Nurses Down Under

By Peggy McDaniel, BSN, RN, who writes the occasional post for this blog and currently works as a clinical liaison support manager of infusion in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia Pacific.

I recently found myself sitting on a boat, enjoying a “sausage sizzle,” dressed as a pirate no less. In Australia, a party that includes barbecued meat usually includes sausage; thus the name. The pirate theme was an added bonus. As an American and a nurse, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself seated at the same table as two Australian nurses. What were the chances of that? The conversation that evening gave me some insight into the Australian health care system, which I am just getting familiar with.

Comparing health care systems. Once we all realized we were experienced nurses and shared the belief that quality patient care should always be the primary focus of health care, the conversation turned to cost. In Australia, there is a public health option that all Australians can access. It is paid for by taxes. If you choose to do so, you can also purchase a private plan to supplement this public option. I have yet to determine what part, if any, employers play in paying for health care or private insurance. However, a sick Australian will […]

2016-11-21T13:11:39-05:00October 26th, 2011|health care policy, nursing perspective|43 Comments
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The Dance of Empathy

By Peggy McDaniel, BSN, RN. An infusion practice manager currently based overseas, Peggy has written for this blog a number of times in the past.

by Augustin Ruiz, via Flickr

Although it’s only late October, this time of year finds me pondering holidays past, which were often spent working at a hospital. As a younger nurse, I worked in a neuro-trauma-rehab unit at a large children’s hospital. We had a strong primary nursing model and often cared for the same patients throughout their stay, which could last days, weeks, or months. Memories of patients from that unit and others occasionally come back to mind at this time of year, often spurred by holidays.

One of my first assignments was a beautiful youngster who had suffered a brain injury. It was a difficult case and the family spent many hours on our unit, helping me provide basic care and praying for a recovery. But after more than three months, the child’s strong and previously healthy body stopped fighting and the child passed away, with family at the bedside.

Years later, after being away from this facility, I returned for a short stint as a per diem on the float team. I dropped in to work when and where needed, days or nights. Many of the same people I’d loved working with were still there, and […]

2016-11-21T13:11:40-05:00October 25th, 2011|nursing perspective|4 Comments
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Nursus Paradoxus

By Marcy Phipps, RN, a regular contributor to this blog. Her essay, “The Soul on the Head of a Pin,” was published in the May 2010 issue of AJN.

Black Hole Paradox/ Angel’s Gate, via Flickr

We’ve been using a new piece of hemodynamic monitoring equipment in our ICU. Considered minimally invasive, it uses an arterial line to measure fluid balance status by measuring stroke volume variation (SVV). The derived values are useful in guiding fluid resuscitation, and are based on a principle with an interesting and contradictory name. Instead of pulsus paradoxus (variations in arterial pressure during spontaneous breaths), the SVV is calculated based on reverse pulsus paradoxus (variations in arterial pressure during mechanical, positive pressure ventilation).

I’m a “numbers” person. From a scientific perspective, I totally get this. But the concept of monitoring hemodynamics using a principle described as a reverse paradox is unsettling. I don’t want paradoxes, especially reverse paradoxes, to exist in nursing; I don’t need or want circular logic to confound and muddle my days. And yet, as I’ve considered paradoxes in general, I’ve found nursing-related situations that seem to fit the definition:

2016-11-21T13:11:43-05:00October 17th, 2011|nursing perspective|1 Comment
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Nurses and Patient-Centered Research

By Shawn Kennedy, editor-in-chief

I’m immersed in nursing research and nursing leaders this week, attending (in order and immediately following one another) meetings of the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science (CANS), the 25th anniversary concluding scientific symposium of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), and finally, the American Academy of Nursing.

Wednesday was CANS and its focus on comparative effectiveness research. After an opening keynote by Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), who discussed the need to accelerate progress in improving U.S. health outcomes, a panel of nurses discussed different methodological considerations, from databases to competencies.

Research to help people make informed decisions. Especially interesting was a discussion of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), the research entity which was mandated by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. […]

2016-11-21T13:11:45-05:00October 13th, 2011|nursing perspective, nursing research|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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