Nurses Spotlighted by RWJF for Crucial Role in Health Care Reform

"Time for Change," David Reece / via Flickr.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) takes nursing very seriously. Their latest publication, “Nursing’s Prescription for a Reformed Health Care System,” makes it clear that workable health care reform in the United States is not going to happen without a major reenvisioning of the role nurses can play at every level of health care. Put another way, it’s not just about the technology and the physicians. The new RWJF brief

“combines case studies with analysis and policy recommendations, and arrives on the desks of lawmakers and health care reformers just as Congress and the President begin to piece together what promises to be the most significant overhaul of the nation’s health care system since the creation of Medicare. . . .‘Nurses have created model programs in acute care, primary care and public health settings that are improving the health status of individuals and communities,’ the brief declares. ‘These initiatives are expanding access, improving quality and driving down costs.’”

 These initiatives include
• “comprehensive, community-based care for the elderly”
• “nurse-managed health centers and retail clinics”
• initiatives such as TCAB (Transforming Care at the Bedside) aimed at supporting quality and patient safety in the workplace

-Jacob Molyneux, AJN senior editor

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2016-11-21T13:32:30-05:00April 28th, 2009|health care policy|0 Comments
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‘Diligent High School Nurse’ Instrumental in Discovery of Swine Flu Outbreak

Photo from otisarchives4, via Flickr. Photo from otisarchives4, via Flickr.

The New York Times reports this morning that a school nurse at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens was the first link in what appears to have been a chain of nurses involved in alerting public health officials to the outbreak of swine flu in New York City. Anemona Hartocollis writes:

“The detective story involving St. Francis began with a school nurse, who called the city’s school health nurse on Thursday to report about 75 students with symptoms including upset stomach, nausea and fever. The city nurse was struck by the number of cases and consulted her medical director, who told her to alert the nurse at the Bureau of Communicable Disease, officials said.”

The astuteness of these nurses has no doubt aided public health officials in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to keep track of the outbreak and organize a response. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are also tracking national and international trends as infections with influenza A (H1N1)–as the swine flu is known–emerge.

At noon today, CNN reported that the WHO has confirmed 40 cases of H1N1 infection in the United States, 26 in Mexico, six in Canada, and one in Spain.

–Joy Jacobson, AJN managing editor

And here are some of our more recent posts related to the H1N1 infection […]

2020-02-07T11:28:24-05:00April 27th, 2009|Nursing|3 Comments
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The ER Exit vs. the Long Goodbye: Notes of a Hospice Nurse on the Morning After

“Mourning Dove Bailing,” Bob MacInnes/ via Flickr. “Mourning Dove Bailing,” Bob MacInnes/ via Flickr.

I’m exhausted and shaky, and the “pssssht!” sound of the pneumatic doors of the ER closing behind me on the way out sounds final, and just fine. I didn’t used to feel this way when I worked in the ER. Of course, that was at the other end, the beginning, of my nursing career, when I was young(er) and callous and every code was a challenge and a rush—as if the people were characters in a play, and I got to join in each evening. I hadn’t a clue what they were going through. Now, 30 years and two dead parents, a dead best friend, and a score of minor players later, I’m beginning to understand. I suspect that this glimmer of connection and compassion is what makes hospice nursing sometimes so draining. […]

2016-11-21T13:33:13-05:00April 27th, 2009|nursing stories|0 Comments
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The Triple Talents of Some Nurse Bloggers

Yellow Triage Flower by zayzayem / Michael Zimmer, via Flickr.

Being very good at anything takes a lot of work. I’m impressed as all-get-out by people who get to be really good at, say, nursing. Or writing a blog. Or juggling. Or welding. I’m especially awed by people who get to be really good at more than one thing. In drifting through the blogosphere this week, I’ve come across some nurses with triple-threat skill sets, as it were. Have a look! […]

2016-11-21T13:33:33-05:00April 24th, 2009|career, healthcare social media, nursing perspective|1 Comment
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AJN Named One of the Century’s Most Influential Journals

Photo by Sarah G., via Flickr. Photo by Sarah G., via Flickr.

AJN has received lots of awards over the last decade, but few compare to the most recent one. The Specialized Libraries Association (SLA) has selected AJN as one of the 100 most influential journals of the century in biology and medicine—and the only nursing journal to receive that distinction.

AJN is in its 111th year of publication. It is the profession’s journal, the most reliable source of best practices, cutting-edge trends, and policy; and it also contains the history of American nursing in its pages—including developments in the American Red Cross, military nursing, the American Nurses Association (ANA), and issues that nurses have confronted across the decades and will continue to face as they go forward in this time of seemingly continual change.

As I write this, AJN is itself changing in many exciting ways to meet the needs of readers connected to the Web. Stay tuned as we go forward; tell us what you want to hear from us; engage us in conversation; and expect insight, challenge, and yes, that most boring, rare, and necessary of characteristics, reliability.
—Diana J. Mason, RN, Editor-in-Chief

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2020-02-07T11:29:19-05:00April 23rd, 2009|nursing perspective, nursing research|1 Comment
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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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