Former Navy Nurse Raises Awareness About the Lingering Effects of Agent Orange

Susan Schnall and a group of children at Tu Du Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, in 2008. Susan Schnall and a group of children at Tu Du Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, in 2008.

On August 10, 1961, the United States military first sprayed Agent Orange, a defoliant containing a particularly toxic dioxin compound, in Vietnam. Fifty-five years later, the effects of this and other chemicals linger on. And 48 years after former naval nurse Susan Schnall was court-martialed for protesting the Vietnam War, she visited Vietnam for the first time and witnessed these effects firsthand.

“In all my years in health care, I have never seen children with such severe birth defects,” Schnall said during an interview with AJN. After her court-martial, Schnall went on to have a successful 30-year career in hospital administration. After retiring and visiting Vietnam, she decided she needed to do something about what she witnessed there.

Schnall joined a group called the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign, made up of American Vietnam Veterans, Vietnamese Americans, social activists, and community leaders. The group aims to educate the public on the repercussions of the chemical warfare used in Southeast Asia […]

2016-11-21T13:01:01-05:00August 15th, 2016|nursing perspective, nursing stories, Public health|0 Comments
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AJN News: E-Cigarettes and Children, Transgender Health, Nursing Workforce Survey, More

AJN’s monthly news section covers timely and important research and policy stories that are relevant to the nursing world. Here are some of the stories you’ll find in our current issue (news articles in AJN are free access):

E-cigarette packaging uses colorful images to depict various flavors. Photo by David Becker / Reuters.

Toxic Exposures of Young Children to E-Cigarettes on the Rise

A new analysis of calls to U.S. poison control centers found that e-cigarette exposures in children younger than six increased dramatically from 2012 to 2015. Though child-resistant packaging for e-cigarette products was federally mandated in January, advocates are also calling for regulations on eye-catching packaging, […]

2016-11-21T13:01:02-05:00August 11th, 2016|Nursing, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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Zika Transmission Update: New Findings Shed More Light

zika-400The unfolding Zika epidemic demonstrates how we learn about any “emerging infection.” Ongoing surveillance, close clinical observation, and follow-up of recovering individuals steadily refine our understanding of its epidemiology, the public health measures needed, and management of the disease and its sequelae.

Local transmission in the U.S.

The U.S. has seen more than 1800 travel-related cases of Zika infection. Regular travel between countries and the presence of genus Aedes mosquitoes in much of the U.S. made the establishment of local transmission here inevitable, especially in the warmest and most mosquito-abundant parts of the country. Since early July, the Florida Department of Health has identified 15 cases of local Zika transmission in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Testing of close contacts of cases as well as of asymptomatic people in the community continues in an effort to confirm the extent of the outbreak.

An epidemic of locally acquired cases in the U.S. remains unlikely; window and door screens and the widespread use of air conditioning decrease (though don’t eliminate) human exposure to mosquitoes.

But even with limited local spread, the possibility of microcephaly or other neurological injury in utero is serious, and the CDC has issued its first ever infectious disease–related travel advisory inside U.S. borders. Pregnant women are cautioned to avoid travel to parts of Florida where there is active transmission […]

2016-11-21T13:01:02-05:00August 5th, 2016|Nursing|0 Comments
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Guarding the Flame of Quality: When Nursing Journal Editors Talk Shop

LegoNurse Lego nurse

After first spending a few days on holiday in Scotland (lots of ruined castles, cathedrals, and some expensive scotch—saw one aged 40 years and costing 13,000 pounds!), I recently attended the annual meeting of the International Academy of Nursing Editors (INANE, www.nursingeditors.org) in London. I know a few folks reading this may be thinking (and this is in my best British Monty Python voice), “Wot? A meeting of editors of nursing journals talking about writing and editing? I’d rather stick a pencil in my eye.”

But truly, this meeting tends to be one of the highlights of my year, with rich discussions, networking, and always something new to learn. Those who submit articles to journals headed by these editors should know that their work is reviewed carefully by people who strive to present accurate and clearly written, evidence-based content that will move our profession forward.

In keeping with the tradition of a location outside of North America every third year, this year’s location was picked to coincide with the 100 anniversary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which publishes several nursing specialty journals in addition to Nursing Standard. The RCN headquarters occupies a stately old building off Cavendish Square. It’s the former home of Lady Cowdray, who donated it to the […]

2016-11-21T13:01:02-05:00August 5th, 2016|Nursing|0 Comments
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A Measure of Contentment: One Patient’s Daily Ritual

By Annelisa Ochoa for AJN By Annelisa Ochoa for AJN

“A Measure of Contentment,” the August Reflections essay in AJN, describes the daily ritual of a resident in a long-term care facility. As author Nancy Ngaruiya shows us, nurses and other health care providers can sometimes notice, and support, the small pleasures and routines that make life worthwhile for patients.

Of this patient, she writes:

We make our own happiness. We define what makes us content, what actions help us find that happiness. Sometimes the recipe takes just a few ingredients. Even in an environment where freedom is limited, where rules dictate when to wake up and go to bed, what days of the week we will get assistance with a full bath and who will do it, what meals and activities are or are not available, he has defined what makes him content, perhaps even happy.

The patient in question happens to be one of those who often get frustrated, who aren’t always grateful or helpful—those who tend to be labeled as “challenging” or “difficult” by overworked providers. It’s easy to notice only the frustration of people who’ve watched their worlds shrink bit by bit as their freedoms and abilities diminish along with their health.

2016-11-21T13:01:02-05:00August 3rd, 2016|Nursing, nursing stories, patient experience|2 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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