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

“The Next Time She Needs a Pap Smear at 3 AM . . . “

Sunset, Turks and Caicos Islands


By Christine Moffa, MS, RN-BC, AJN clinical editor

Vacations are an important part of keeping balanced in life and a good way to prevent career burnout. However, I’m sure that, like me, many of you have had to step out of relaxation mode to come to the aid of some unfortunate vacationer who either injured herself or himself trying a new activity, had a near drowning at the beach, or suffered some other tragedy.

I’ve just returned from a trip with six friends to Turks and Caicos. There was beach, sun, a lot of activities like snorkeling and the flying trapeze, and unlimited food and alcohol; in other words, it was the perfect set-up for a trip to the infirmary. (I once had a three-week nursing gig at a resort, so I know the usual ailments: overindulgence in food, alcohol, and sun; twisted ankles from people playing sports they haven’t attempted in the last 10 years; and the occasional serious accident or heart attack.)

Two days into the trip, one of my co-travelers fell ill with food poisoning, which resulted in a day’s worth of vomiting. At 2 a.m. my phone rang. It was this friend telling me that not only was she sick, but she’d just […]

2016-11-21T13:18:24-05:00April 2nd, 2010|career, nursing perspective|3 Comments
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In Long-Term Care, What’s Favoritism?

By Sheena Jones, an LPN who is in training to be an RN at Dutchess Community College, Poughkeepsie, NY

Is it really fair when we get the favoritism speech from our superiors when we supply residents who have no family or friends with hygiene supplies? When there are two roommates and one has family and friends who visit daily and bring her all that she could need or want and the other has nothing and no one? Am I wrong for getting a couple of supplies from the dollar store for her? We all know that the hygiene supplies in many facilities are watered down and cheap. Am I wrong for buying someone some socks when they have none? We can’t share supplies or clothing between patients, so do I let someone walk around with nothing? If these people were my family or friends I would want someone to make them comfortable. They can’t leave the facility to go shopping with family or friends, and many of them have lost most of their mental capacity and have no one to help them—but that does not mean that they should walk around less put together than someone with a family? Do we just let these residents go without?

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2016-11-21T13:18:26-05:00March 31st, 2010|nursing perspective, students|3 Comments
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‘What’s Not to Like?’ A British Nurse, Recently Treated for Cancer, Weighs In on U.S. Health Reform

Here’s a little perspective on health care reform in the U.S. from AJN’s contributing editor on international health. Jane Salvage, RGN, BA, MSc, HonLLD, FQNI, is a visiting professor at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College, London, and recently spent a year on the Prime Minister’s Commission on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery.

Just two weeks ago I learned I had a stage 1 endometrioid adenocarcinoma—a cancer in the lining of my womb. In many other countries today, and in the UK until recent years, this would eventually have killed me. But here I am today, happily home after a hysterectomy, probably cancer-free, thanking my lucky stars and our British National Heath Service (NHS).

My life has been saved by an army of people, from nurses and doctors to lab assistants, many of whom I’ll never meet. All my high quality care was free at the point of delivery, efficiently funded from my taxes instead of boosting the profits of insurance officials or millionaire surgeons. And I am pleased that my taxes have also subsidized the care of the demented, impoverished old lady in a nearby bed, even though her hollering and howling kept us awake most of the night.

What’s not to like? A great deal, you’d think from the nonsense talked about our UK NHS during your U.S. health reform debates. Last September, visiting the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, I stayed at the same […]

2018-03-27T16:36:45-04:00March 26th, 2010|health care policy, nursing perspective|8 Comments
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Might Health Care Reform Happen? And What Will It Mean for Nurses?

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editorial director/interim editor-in-chief

Sometime in the next few days, Congress may bring the health care reform issue to a final vote and even a resolution of sorts, though one never knows what new twists may occur before then. I can’t even imagine what will occupy the news if it really does pass. (Philandering professional athletes and pilfering politicians better beware as newspapers seek new headlines.) 

Many Americans are calling their legislators to tell them what they want and don’t want. At the same time, many remain confused by the complexity of the legislative process as well as the particulars of the legislation. The final push received a boost this week from projections by the Congressional Budget Office that the bill would cut the budget deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next two decades. 

As nurses, we need to be knowledgeable and concerned with how health care will shape up—we’ll be delivering it. For information on the current bills under consideration, here’s two accessible sources: the Washington Post has a comparison of what the already passed Senate bill and the reconciliation version under consideration by the House include; the New York Times provides a pdf of the House bill.

Here’s a short list of provisions related to nursing likely to be in a final bill (as we noted in a post back in December about a useful ANA chart comparing House and Senate bills at the time):

2016-11-21T13:18:42-05:00March 19th, 2010|health care policy, nursing perspective|4 Comments
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Word Games? ANA Says We’ve Already Got a National Nurse; Others Disagree

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

On a new post at Homeland Voice, author Fiona Regina, MSN, RN, presents a rather critical discussion of the American Nurses Association’s opposition to the National Nurse initiative. She writes, “For heaven’s sake, it’s time for the ANA to get on board. The entire ANA organization would be better served by embracing motivated, politically active nurses willing to improve the health of our nation.” 

Regina offers several theories as to why the ANA might be taking the position (that is, aside from their stated reasons, one of which is that the U.S. Public Health Service already has a Chief Nursing Officer); what’s lacking in her piece, though, is any comment from the ANA to refute her charges or further elucidate their position. 

The ANA stance aside, the notion of a National Nurse keeps coming up and has support from many sectors. Diana Mason, AJN‘s editor-in-chief emeritus, argued for it here last September. More nurses should join the debate so that this issue can either move forward or be put to rest. What’s your opinion?
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2016-11-21T13:18:44-05:00March 18th, 2010|career, nursing perspective|28 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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