Notes from the Web

Here are a few items of interest on today’s Web as these huge wet snowflakes actually start to accumulate on rooftops here in NYC and the horizon (New Jersey, that is, across the thin wedge of the Hudson River you can see from AJN offices) closes steadily in:

Kim at Emergiblog has a nice post dealing with changing her mind about whether or not she wanted to get a BSN.

And this post by Anne Dabrow Woods at In the Round (excerpted below) got our attention for its honesty about the difference between treating a condition in the hospital and treating it at home in a family member—and also because it put a human face on an article we ran in our February issue about ostomy complications and management.

My oldest daughter was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when she was 7 years old and despite aggressive treatment for her disease; she required a total colectomy, temporary ileostomy, and an ileo-anal anastamosis when she was 12. As a nurse I thought I was equipped to care for her ileostomy; was I ever wrong. I had experience taking care of hospitalized patients with ostomies, but I quickly learned caring for someone who is active is a totally different story.

In his most recent post, Anonymous Doc is as usual thoughtful and honest (except for that anonymity thing, of course . . . which does, whatever its drawbacks, kind of free him up as a writer). He moves from […]

2016-11-21T13:19:09-05:00February 25th, 2010|health care policy, nursing perspective, students|0 Comments
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If Health Care Reform Were an ICU Patient . . .

The idea that the Health Care Reform bill is on life support is disappointing, but not surprising. It was admitted in a weakened state of health. It appears suspiciously a victim of domestic violence by special interest groups. The bruises on its body resemble the outline of handprints of the insurance companies it was created to protect our citizens from.

So writes nurse-artist-blogger JParadisi RN in a recent post, which (whatever your beliefs about whether we should do something major soon about the increasing numbers of uninsured Americans and the skyrocketing costs of health care) has particular resonance as President Obama prepares to address the nation tonight about this and other issues.


(Full disclosure: Paradisi’s artwork appeared on the October 2009 cover of AJN.)

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2016-11-21T13:19:49-05:00January 27th, 2010|health care policy, nursing perspective|2 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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And You Thought PE Was Another Name for Gym Class

By Jacob Molyneux, senior editor

The template goes something like this: Start with a legitimate quality-of-life issue — like fitful sleep or shyness — that does not yet have its own prescription medication and is debilitating to a few people a lot of the time. Next, position the quality-of-life issue as a medical condition with symptoms so common it covers vast numbers of people who had previously not identified themselves as having a health problem, or who thought they were just experiencing an occasional and normal annoyance.

According to the rest of this article in the NY Times, the latest disorder about to enter our dictionary of accepted medical conditions is premature ejaculation (PE). Several companies are developing treatments in the form of pills or aerosol sprays. The net of nonspecific symptoms seems to have been cast fairly wide—a representative of one drug company is quoted as saying that one in three men have this condition. 

Celebrities may soon be confessing that the anxiety occasioned by PE has led to ruined marriages, depression, drug use, and even the use of prostitutes. The ironies of the media campaign to push the term PE into our medical lexicon are worth considering as our legislators debate health care reform provisions and the crisis of rising costs. Medical bankruptcy is on the rise. Many cannot afford medications they need for serious conditions like heart disease and diabetes.

It may be premature to suggest it, but it seems likely the pharmaceutical companies expect health care reform legislation […]

2016-11-21T13:20:37-05:00December 14th, 2009|health care policy|0 Comments
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What We Heard from the Leaders of the New National Nursing Union

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

As we noted earlier this week, several major nursing unions have united to form a “superunion.” The National Nurses United (NNU) brings over 150,000 nurses together by combining the California Nurses Association (CNA)/National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) with the Massachusetts Nursing Association (MNA) and some members of the United American Nurses (UAN).

There are three co-presidents: Karen Higgins (from the MNA), Jean Ross (from the UAN), and Deborah Burger (from the CNA/NNOC).

Ross told me this:

  • The CNA/NNOC will cease behaving as a national union and, like the MNA, be a state union; both will be affiliates of the new NNU.
  • The UAN will cease to exist as a national union; those state associations that were members will automatically be members of NNU, unless they decide not to.
  • NNU will focus on health care reform, will advocate for a single-payer system, and will seek to organize all non-union staff nurses in the country

Ross had this to say as well: “People in this country have been waiting for a long time for nurses to come forward to make true health care reform a reality.”

Co-President Deborah Burger told me that NNU will pursue the main objectives of a “massive organizing campaign to organize all nurses nationally” and an aggressive “social justice” agenda focused on advocating for a single-payer health care system. They will also work for passage of federal staffing ratios legislation introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer.

Said Burger, […]

2016-11-21T13:20:40-05:00December 10th, 2009|career, health care policy|0 Comments
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