Public health Archives - Page 58 of 75

HCR: Been There, Done That

By Maureen ‘Shawn’ Kennedy, AJN editor in chief

I was doing some research in the AJN archives and came across an editorial written in November 1993 by Virginia Trotter Betts, then-president of the American Nurses Association. “The Best Buy in Health Care” (click through to the PDF option; article will be free until July 18) reads like it was written with the Institute of Medicine’s Future of Nursing report in mind. Here’s an excerpt for those who don’t have access to the AJN archives (a shameless plug: subscribers have full access to ALL the issues of AJN, back to the very first issue in 1900—a treasure trove of nursing history):

“But we must also face the fact that such reform will require significant changes in nursing. Nurses will have to operate with greater autonomy and deliver care to a broader clientele. To foster enhanced roles for nurses as case managers and team leaders, nursing administrators must alert the work environment to offer a continuum of care on site and off site. Nurse educators will need to offer innovative programs, curricula, and clinical placements that prepare nurses for careers characterized by critical thinking and maximum flexibility. Nurse researchers will need to add more health care system, economic and policy studies to their repertoire.”

And another:

“Nurses want to do more in a reformed system to facilitate access at a reasonable cost. We want to do what we are educated to do – provide […]

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Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:14:18-05:00January 18th, 2011|career, health care policy, nursing perspective|0 Comments

‘At the Night Camp’: How Assumptions About Patients Can Blind Us

The entire time he was with us he kept looking around, eyes darting back and forth and toward the truck he’d driven, which he told me wasn’t his own. He shifted uneasily in his chair, and I felt the impulse to try to comfort him and tell him we could help.

That’s an excerpt from “At the Night Camp,” the December Reflections essay in AJN. The essay, by Meg Sniderman, a student in the MSN program at Emory University School of Nursing in Atlanta, takes a wry, honest look at the ways we can imagine whole lives for those around us based on their cultural identifiers, yet often miss the most obvious things about these patients . . . the things that make them just like us, despite apparently vast cultural differences.—JM, senior editor/blog editor

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:14:39-05:00December 17th, 2010|nursing perspective, patient engagement, Public health, students|0 Comments

‘Problems Worthy of Attack’: Takeaways from IOM Summit on Nursing’s Future

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN interim editor-in-chief

Last week, I spent two days at the summit convened by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to launch the Campaign for Action—the strategic plan to implement the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report on the future of nursing.

The days were packed with presentations from key players in health care, who offered their perspectives for implementing the recommendations (plus lots of networking, hallway “sidebars,” animated dinner conversation, and commitments from individuals and organizations to continue the momentum). Here are some quotes and snippets of conversation that stick with me as I work on a more comprehensive report:

IOM president Harvey Fineberg, in his opening remarks: “It’s our turn to act to advance nursing and health.”

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, opening the event: “We will remember that we were here on November 30 at the beginning of a new future for nursing.” And cautioning: “scope of practice is the hot button that could blow all this apart.” (A thought echoed by Jack Rowe, an IOM committee member, professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and former CEO of Aetna, who used the term “combustible.”) […]

Amy M. Collins, managing editor2016-11-21T13:14:45-05:00December 6th, 2010|career, health care policy, nursing perspective|0 Comments

Turkey, Sweet Potatoes, and Living Wills

By Christine Moffa, MS, RN, AJN clinical editor

When I was growing up, my family spent Thanksgiving dinner at my grandmother’s house. She was a star in the kitchen, with cooking and baking skills beyond compare. However, while she made a chocolate cream pie to kill for, her knack for turning every conversation into a newsfeed of various neighbors’ illnesses, symptoms, and near-death experiences, if not actual deaths, stood out more. She did this so much that my brother began referring to her as Grandma Kevorkian.

It turns out that death-and-dying discussions on Thanksgiving might not be such a bad thing, according to Engage with Grace, a nonprofit organization that promotes end-of-life discussions. In 2008 they launched a blog rally timed with Thanksgiving weekend, for bloggers to get the word out about end-of-life discussions. The idea is to have the conversation when most of the family members are together, and the Thanksgiving holiday is a perfect fit. There’s a five-question tool available on the site that can be used as a conversation starter, as well as other resources.

While talking about these topics could potentially clear a room, it’s a lot worse to be sitting at a family member’s bedside in the ICU and not knowing what to choose for them because they didn’t let you know in advance.

For additional information on end-of-life discussions and options, see the AJN articles “Life-Support Interventions at the End of Life: Unintended Consequences,” by […]

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:14:50-05:00November 24th, 2010|nursing perspective, patient engagement, Public health|2 Comments

AJN Webnotes: Anatomizing Medical Errors; Insurance Rebates; Social Media and Nurses

The most popular article in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine did not tout the discovery of a novel gene, nor describe a cardiology clinical trial with a clever acronym as its title. Rather, it was the report of a case in which a surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital performed the wrong operation on a 65-year-old woman.

So begins a nicely engaging summary post at The Health Care Blog of the main points of an NEJM article describing how a medical error occurred—and yes, nurses play a major role in the story too.

Feel like your insurance company spends too much time trying to weasel you out of your money? Kaiser Health News reports today that the Affordable Care Act may soon result in a little payback, in the form of rebates:

Millions of Americans might be eligible for rebates starting in 2012 under regulations released Monday detailing the health care law’s requirement that insurers spend at least 80 percent of their revenue on direct medical care.

“I have nothing listed under my work experience, yet Facebook somehow knows where I work,” cries Not Nurse Ratched, in a post called “Latest Facebook creepiness rant.” Such surprises are worth considering for anyone who might forget that information has a life of its own on the Web. Speaking of social media and nurses, A Nurse Practitioner’s View gives a quick survey of social media networking platforms […]

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:14:53-05:00November 22nd, 2010|health care policy, healthcare social media|0 Comments