As we pause for the holidays…
Levels of Weariness Among Nurses
I imagine that nurses throughout the world are constantly being asked “How are things at work these days?”—with the implied question being “How are you holding up with your work situation?” While my colleagues and I in our pediatric hospital have not seen an overwhelming surge of COVID+ patients come through our doors, we have certainly seen some, with an uptick in our COVID+ census as the numbers throughout the country have increased.
When I pause at this point in the conversation, the usual response I get is, “Oh, that’s so good to hear. You’re lucky.” And I agree and reflect this back to whoever I’m speaking with. My heart hurts for my fellow nurses in other parts of the nation who have been utterly overwhelmed by COVID and its cruelty. I recognize that I am indescribably lucky.
At the same time, though it’s hard to articulate why, even nurses who haven’t been hit by the surges seen in other hospitals bear layers of deep weariness by this point in the pandemic. […]
An Intimate Glimpse of Community Health Nursing During the Pandemic
Photo courtesy of Monica M. Finifrock.
We hear a lot about frontline nurses and the trauma they’ve endured throughout the year fighting the world’s deadliest pandemic in 100 years. Their stories are harrowing and heroic and shine a much deserved spotlight on the importance of the profession. And yet COVID-19 has touched not only those working in ICUs and EDs—but in every area of health care. Our December In the Community article, “Keeping Calm in the Buffer Zone,” is just one example of a nurse touched by COVID-19 in her daily work.
Community health as a ‘buffer zone.’
When the article opens, author Monica M. Finifrock is on her way to work at a community health clinic in Seattle. It’s April and the pandemic is beginning to take a toll.
I don’t consider myself on the front lines of the pandemic . . . I’m not watching patients take their last gasps of air or making hard decisions about who gets a ventilator and who doesn’t. I’m a community health nurse, and my role during the COVID-19 pandemic is to do exactly what I always strive to do—serve the community.
Calling her clinic a “buffer zone,” Finifrock argues that community health clinics are more […]
Community-Acquired Pneumonia: New Antibiotic Guidelines, Essential Nursing Management
“Pneumonia is an excellent example of an illness in which nursing measures (and not simply drug treatments) are very clearly central to a patient’s rapid and full recovery.”
In these pandemic times, a patient with signs and symptoms of pneumonia is assumed to have COVID-19. But of course other types of pneumonia continue to occur both in the hospital and in the community, and people with COVID-19 can develop secondary bacterial pneumonias as well.
Abandoning old pneumonia categories in determining antibiotic use.
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Until recently, pneumonia was routinely classified as either community-acquired or health care–associated, and the category determined treatment. Health care–associated pneumonias were more often caused by resistant organisms, while someone with no recent exposure to hospitals or nursing homes was thought likely to have a more “benign” infection. But now, a 2019 guideline developed jointly by the American Thoracic Society and the Infectious Diseases Society of America offers new recommendations for the initial treatment of pneumonia.
As described in a CE article “Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Review of Current Diagnostic Criteria and Management” in the December issue of AJN, the new guidelines recommend abandoning the use of categories of pneumonia to determine antibiotic coverage.
Instead, treatment decisions should be based on local epidemiology (what is […]
‘What a Decade This Year Has Been’: Nurses Worldwide Double Down on Commitment to Care
The year nobody expected.
A mere dozen months ago, we were all set to celebrate the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, poised to shine in the global spotlight with the spring release of the first State of the World’s Nursing report. There were plans to fete us with dinners and awards. “Give them ribbons, buttons and badges to wear,” one website suggested.
How quaint and frivolous that sentiment seems now in light of the continuing shortages of the masks, face shields, gowns, and gloves that we need to protect ourselves, our patients, our families and communities from COVID-19
Nurses in the spotlight.
The pandemic changed everything—except for the fact that nurses did land squarely in the spotlight this past year. Nurses—as always—were asked to multitask when the first confirmed cases led to sustained global transmission. We dug in even as we pivoted, attempting to prevent hard-won health gains from being reversed. For example, women still needed prenatal care. Lockdowns didn’t preclude families from requiring essential preventive and lifesaving treatments for countless infectious and chronic diseases—including malaria, HIV, TB, diabetes, and cancer—that suddenly took a backseat […]