The Job Description Doesn’t Say You Get to Choose Your Patients

He was a pedophile, just released from jail after 20 years. His diabetes required two different types of insulin. He had acute renal failure and a recent ileostomy.

“They didn’t know what to do with him,” the previous nurse said, “so they dumped him on our doorstep.”

The Reflections essay in the March issue of AJN tells one nurse’s story of holding fast to her responsibility to provide compassionate and quality care to all patients, whatever they may have done in the past, whoever they might be. We hope you’ll click the link above, read it, and let us know your thoughts (the best version to read is reached by clicking through to the PDF version).

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2016-11-21T13:19:11-05:00February 24th, 2010|career|8 Comments
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Is the Florence Nightingale Pledge in Need of a Makeover?

By Christine Moffa, who was AJN clinical editor at the time it was written in 2010.

Authors and publishers frequently send nursing– and health care–related books to AJN in hopes we will review them. I love it, so keep on sending them. My latest read is Mystery at Marian Manor: The Adventures of Nora Brady, Student Nurse, a book for young adults. I guess you could call it a Cherry Ames for the new millennium.

At the beginning of the book is the Florence Nightingale Pledge, something I haven’t read since my graduation in 1995. I have to say it made me cringe. It’s almost as bad as when I visit my parents and see the nursing school graduation photo of me in that silly nursing cap I wore under protest. (If the men didn’t have to wear it, why did I?) If you’ve forgotten the pledge, here goes:

I solemnly pledge myself before God and presence of this assembly;
To pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully.
I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous
and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug.
I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession
and will hold in confidence […]

2016-11-21T13:19:41-05:00February 2nd, 2010|career, nursing history, nursing perspective, students|26 Comments
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Essential Reading for Nurses Responding to Disasters

Many nurses are volunteering their services to assist the residents of Haiti following the earthquake. The magnitude of the damages and injuries will require a sustained disaster relief effort. AJN has compiled a list of our articles with useful information for nurses participating in any disaster relief effort. Given the current urgency of this issue, we have made all articles free. We hope you’ll take a look and pass along anything you find informative or helpful.

For example, our Disaster Care article back in December dealt with the often-overlooked physiologic and psychosocial needs of children in public health emergencies. These can be very different from those of adults.

(And if, by some chance, you’ve actually had any experiences working in Florida or in Haiti with the victims of this earthquake, please let us know what skills and knowledge you’ve found most crucial.) 

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2016-11-21T13:19:51-05:00January 26th, 2010|career, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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Gallup Poll: Power Elite Believes Nurses Should Have More Say in Policy, Management

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

Last week I attended a press conference in Washington, D.C., where the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) released a Gallup poll it had commissioned to find out what 1,500 opinion leaders (or as Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport put it, “the people who run things in this country”) think about nursing leadership and nurses’ influence on health care reform. 

It’s no surprise that most (69%) see nurses as having little influence on health reform. Nurses ranked at the very bottom—immediately below patients, who were below physicians in the rankings. Mary Naylor, an innovative leader from the University of Pennsylvania and part of a reaction panel, hit the nail on the head: “Everyone should be concerned that the largest group of health care providers and the consumers are the least influential.” (Those seen as having the greatest influence are government officials and insurance executives—no surprise there, either.)

In identifying what impedes nurses’ ability to be in leadership roles, here’s how the opinion leaders weighed-in:

2016-11-21T13:19:52-05:00January 25th, 2010|career, health care policy, nursing perspective|1 Comment
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Smokers Need Not Apply

By Peggy McDaniel, BSN, RN

Are you a smoker? If so, and you live in Chattanooga, TN, don’t even bother to apply for a job at Memorial Hospital, where being a smoker automatically disqualifies you. To ensure that job applicants are telling the truth, the hospital will subject them to drug tests—for nicotine! This new rule does not apply to current employees, but it does raise some interesting questions. The article notes that such requirements for hire could be a slippery slope on the way to other forms of discrimination. 

As unpopular as this may be, as a fellow health care worker I can see a lot of positives to such a trend. In a previous blog post I discussed nurses as role models for our patients. My focus was on obesity,  but I also mentioned smoking.  

Another recent article, this one in the UK’s Nursing Times, says nursing students in Europe should be encouraged to stop smoking. The article discusses an Italian study reporting that nursing students are twice as likely to be smokers than are members of the general public. Maybe this would be a good policy to promote in the US? The article raises some of the same points I had raised in my earlier post about role modeling and the ways our actions or choices may influence our effectiveness as educators.

In addition to the health benefits in being a nonsmoker, there are also huge cost savings. As with obesity, smoking affects the overall cost of our health care system. The Tennessee health department […]

2016-11-21T13:20:05-05:00January 20th, 2010|career, nursing perspective, students|9 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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