As Another Coronavirus Begins to Spread, Follow Reasonable Precautions and Avoid Fear-Mongering

(Editor’s note: Published January 24. The situation has considerably changed in the intervening weeks, during which the virus has rapidly spread across the globe. We obviously now know a great deal more about the dangers it presents.)

Emerging infections are part of our world—more evident these days because we have the tools and global communication networks to quickly identify them. This month, we’ve begun another crash course in the initial management of a new pathogen.

Short timeline from first cases to screening test availability.

Rumors of a concerning cluster of undiagnosed pneumonia in Wuhan, China, surfaced on social media on December 31. The patients weren’t responding to antibiotic therapy, but tests were negative for the usual viral suspects. World Health Organization staff quickly connected with Chinese health officials and testing and epidemiological investigations kicked into high gear.

Many of the infected patients had worked at a fish and live animal market in Wuhan, suggesting that the illnesses might be zoonotic (passing from animals to human) in origin. On January 7, the pathogen was identified as a new coronavirus, related (though not closely) to the coronaviruses that cause SARS and MERS. The viral genome was quickly sequenced, and on January 12, China shared the genetic sequence with the global scientific community. […]

2020-03-19T17:12:45-04:00January 24th, 2020|infection control, infectious diseases, Nursing, Public health|1 Comment
Read More

Looking Back to Look Forward: Top Health, Nursing, Policy, and Clinical Practice News of 2019

Photo via Flickr / Luis Marina

Each January, AJN takes a close look at the most noteworthy health care–related news of the past year, from general health stories and policy to specific nursing and clinical issues. Which stories stood out in 2019? Here’s a rundown:

Health care news

  • Negative trends intensify for key measures of population health and access to care. As life expectancy declines again in the United States, signaling a three-year trend, the Affordable Care Act remains under threat from GOP-sponsored litigation; children have been losing coverage; new work requirements and paperwork barriers are undercutting Medicaid coverage gains; and rising drug costs are in the spotlight.
  • Cyberattacks and hospital data security. Health care organizations’ cybersecurity spending lags behind that of other industries.
  • A changing climate. As environmental protections are weakened or rolled back, new research details the significant and long-lasting health consequences of climate change.
  • Women’s reproductive health. The U.S. maternal mortality rate continues to rise, and several states have passed legislation to curtail abortion access.
  • Society in distress. In 2019, Americans experienced the public health consequences of political discord, poverty, and unaddressed social needs, as magnified by the crisis at the border and rising rates of gun violence and homelessness.

2020-01-14T09:16:17-05:00January 14th, 2020|health care policy, Nursing|0 Comments
Read More

2020: The International Year of the Nurse and Midwife

By Barbara Stilwell, PhD, RN, FRCN, executive director, Nursing Now, a three-year global campaign seeking to raise the profile of nurses

Barbara Stilwell of Nursing Now

The World Health Organization has declared that 2020, the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, will be the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. The year represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to celebrate and thank nurses and midwives for all that they do, and to make clear the critical contribution that our professions can make in achieving universal health coverage. It is urgent that we make the most of 2020.

A global health care workforce crisis.

We are edging ever closer to a significant global health care workforce crisis. The WHO estimates that we are facing a shortfall of 18 million health workers to achieve and sustain universal health coverage by 2030—and approximately half of that shortfall, 9 million health workers, are nurses and midwives.

It is high time, therefore, that countries think radically differently about the way they train, deploy, and look after their health workers, particularly nurses and midwives. This will require political commitment and domestic resource mobilization. Countries will need to increase their allocation to health budgets to invest in their nursing and midwifery […]

2020-01-03T10:39:51-05:00January 3rd, 2020|health care policy, Nursing, nursing perspective, Public health|0 Comments
Read More

A Matter of Public Health: Physicians Make Case for Vaccinating Immigrants in Custody

For three days last week, physicians from around the country led demonstrations and a vigil outside of Customs Patrol and Border Protection (CBP) facilities in the San Diego area. After receiving no response to their repeated offers to the departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security to provide free flu vaccinations to immigrants in custody, the physicians (and a few NPs) had come to the border with donated influenza vaccine to press for a pilot vaccination program. CBP officials finally said they would pass the request up their chain of command.

Preventable deaths, plus a matter of the larger public health.

Three migrant children died in CBP detention centers during last year’s flu season. The last hours of 16-year-old Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, who died in May of influenza, were documented on a grim surveillance camera video that recently circulated widely on the Internet. But the issue of influenza vaccination for migrants is not “merely” one of such preventable deaths; it is a  public health issue. This year’s flu season has ramped up in recent weeks, and a “window of opportunity” for vaccinating this vulnerable population is closing.

The CDC recommends that everyone six months of age and older receive influenza vaccination each year. […]

2019-12-19T14:10:39-05:00December 19th, 2019|infectious diseases, Nursing, Public health|1 Comment
Read More

A Nursing Way with Meaning

“I have found that the residents of Johnson Tower teach me more about being a nurse and a human being than you would imagine.”

Despite our seriously malfunctioning health care system, sometimes we are lucky enough to be reminded of the richness of our practice. Most of us experience a bright spot or two on most days—a patient’s condition finally improves, and we know we had a hand in that; we are able to spend some “quality time” to help a patient cope with her illness; a discharged patient returns for a happy visit.

Thriving, not just surviving.

A few of us, though, are lucky enough to have nursing work in which we can thrive, and not merely survive, every day. In this month’s Reflections column, “The Way of Johnson Tower,” nurse practitioner Mark Darby describes his work in an unlikely setting: a medical clinic located in a public housing high-rise. Resources may leave something to be desired—occasional leaks from the laundry above seem to target the clinic’s centrifuge—but his practice is rich and fulfilling.

“All these people, despite their circumstances, teach me more about generosity, perseverance, and hope than I could learn anywhere else.”

[…]

2019-12-02T12:57:58-05:00December 2nd, 2019|Nursing, nursing roles, nursing stories, Public health|1 Comment
Read More

Comment ground rules

1. Please be respectful.
2. We moderate all comments.

Content disclaimer

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.
Go to Top