Will Sebelius ‘Walk the Talk’ on Nurses and Health Care Reform?

HSS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Photo by National Governors Association, via Flickr.

Reportedly, in a speech yesterday to nurses with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), brand new Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told the group that if the Obama administration is to “make health reform a reality, we need nurses at the forefront of the effort.”

Sounds good, and it’s on point with Obama’s messages to nurses during his campaign.

So far, the Obama team has been consistent with its positions on health care reform. But as we learned from the Clintons’ efforts, talk doesn’t always translate into reality. Dare we hope that this time—with nurse Mary Wakefield as administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA); a Democratic-controlled Congress; data like we’ve never had before linking nurses to quality, cost-effective health outcomes; and a population at the end of its rope—maybe, just maybe Congress will get it right? Or will the powerful insurance and medical lobbyists prevail?—Shawn Kennedy, AJN editorial director

(AJN editor-in-chief Diana Mason adds this comment: Sebelius knows that nurses are key to reforming health care and reducing health care disparities. We have an infrastructure of childbirthing centers, community nursing centers, convenient care clinics, and other models of care that can be ramped up if Congress and states will remove barriers to full utilization, fair payment, and credentialling of nurses, including permitting them to head medical […]

2016-11-21T13:30:23-05:00May 6th, 2009|health care policy|1 Comment
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The Little Humiliations of National Nurses Week

By Stephen Cummings, via Flickr.

“When is ‘Kid’s Day’?” That’s what I asked my mother on Mother’s Day one year, after she’d finished opening her gifts from the five of us. And—like many who’ve asked before—I was told, “Every day is Kid’s Day.” This led me to realize that people who have days or weeks dedicated to them must have it pretty bad the rest of the year. Professions with prestige and power don’t have a day or a week. So how can nurses be seen as equal professionals if we have Nurses Week? […]

2016-11-21T13:30:26-05:00May 6th, 2009|career, nursing perspective|6 Comments
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“Maybe I Couldn’t Have Done That”: (Almost) Memories of Being a Nurse in Vietnam

Vietnam Women's Memorial, Washington, DC. Courtesy of Kay Schwebke.

I attended nursing school between 1967 and 1971, when the war in Vietnam was raging. I spent a good part of 1968 at the Manhattan Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital, where I did much of my medical–surgical clinical rotation. Two days a week, I provided care for injured soldiers who were my own age. In the evening, I watched newscasts filled with images of freshly wounded soldiers and napalmed villagers and dutifully listened to the nightly body count, feeling not much better when “we” had fewer than “them.” […]

2016-11-21T13:30:37-05:00May 5th, 2009|nursing history|1 Comment
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Pediatricians Protect Turf in Medical Homes in Bid to Deny Nurse Practitioners Role in Care Coordination

Photo by faeryboots, via Flickr.

The April issue of Pediatric News, the newspaper for pediatricians, has a front-page story on the official position of the American Academy of Pediatrics to oppose nurse practitioners (NPs) in independent practice. It doesn’t matter that in some areas of the country, the ONLY primary care provider may be an NP or a physician’s assistant (PA).

The National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) has issued a statement that points out their dismay regarding this position by their physician colleagues, noting that there is abundant evidence documenting that pediatric NPs have clinical outcomes that are comparable to those of pediatricians and asserting that NAPNAP will continue to focus on reforming health care to ensure access to care for the nation’s children.

The issue is who will control and be paid for care coordination through medical homes. Physician groups have been insistent that only practices led by a physician should qualify as “medical homes.” This means that an NP or PA in a rural area who has physician backup through telemedicine must pretend that the physician “leads” the practice—and the physician will get the fee for the care coordination even if that coordination is done solely by the NP or PA. Sounds like a good way to reduce access to care coordination, drive up costs, and put frontline practitioners out of practice. Whose interests are being served?

Diana J. Mason, AJN editor-in-chief

2016-11-21T13:31:08-05:00May 4th, 2009|career, health care policy, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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A Random Friday Sample of Feverish and Flu-Related Opinion

It’s been a busy week, with constant updates on the progress of the H1N1 infection (swine flu). Nothing sells a story like fear. How much of what we’re hearing is just media noise? Is the flu really changing most of our lives in any substantive way? Will it? Who’s afraid, and who’s not? Here’s a random sample of fact, speculation, and opinion we came across today.   

A rant: “All pigs are men: why we need to learn to manage infodemics, too…”

From the Wall Street Journal Health Blog, an interesting angle on numbers and severity: “Why Does the Flu Seem More Severe in Mexico: Here’s a Clue.”

Curtis Brainard of the Columbia Journalism Review writes that “blogs have called upon mainstream media to investigate the potential role of large factory farms in breeding and spreading the virus” in Mexico.

A cranky reality check from the nursing trenches: “What kind of country of dummies have we become when the PRESIDENT has to go on TV and tell us to WASH OUR HANDS and COVER OUR MOUTHS when we cough?”

Lastly, some sensible thinking on personal preparedness from Christine Gorman at Global Health Report.

-Jacob Molyneux, AJN senior editor, and Joy Jacobson, AJN managing editor

2016-11-21T13:31:22-05:00May 1st, 2009|nursing perspective|0 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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