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.”

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2019-12-02T12:57:58-05:00December 2nd, 2019|Nursing, nursing roles, nursing stories, Public health|1 Comment
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Multistate Outbreak of Life-Threatening Pulmonary Disease Amid E-Cigarette Use

Health officials are investigating an outbreak of severe pulmonary disease this summer that appears to be linked to the use of e-cigarettes, or vaping. One person has died, and many others have been hospitalized with a variety of symptoms in the days and weeks after they reported vaping. As of late August, 215 possible cases of e-cigarette–associated pulmonary disease have been reported in 25 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Unknown Cause

On Friday, the agency released a Health Advisory that provides information about e-cigarette products, updated details about the outbreak, and recommendations for clinicians, public health officials, and the public.

Health officials noted that respiratory (cough, shortness of breath, chest pain), gastrointestinal (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), or nonspecific constitutional (fatigue, fever, or weight loss) symptoms have been occurring in otherwise healthy people, many in their teens or 20s, since June.

The exact cause of the outbreak is unknown, but reports point to a common factor: e-cigarette products were reportedly used by those affected. Many, but not all, patients reported that they’d used tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other cannabinoid products. The CDC, along with the Food and Drug Administration and local and state health departments, continues to investigate the cause of the outbreak.

[…]

2019-09-06T10:38:59-04:00September 5th, 2019|Nursing, Public health|0 Comments
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Nurses Getting Things Done: A Red Cross Volunteer’s Experience

Providing support after a local disaster.

Red Cross volunteer nurse Debby Dailey hugging her client, Janetta Sconiers. Photo by Eddie Zamora for the American Red Cross

Most people are aware of the important role nurses play in the American Red Cross, from its founding by Clara Barton—138 years ago this week—to nurses’ contributions during national and regional disasters. Yet the varied work of these nurse volunteers is often unseen by other nurses, health care providers, and the public.

Within the Red Cross, nurses hold leadership, teaching, and crisis response positions, providing crucial and sometimes long-term follow-up assistance to people who’ve been affected by disasters.

Nurses “are in an ideal position to do this work.”

Debby Dailey is a nurse and former firefighter and emergency medical technician. She currently works as a nursing clinical instructor and has been a Red Cross volunteer for 40 years, responding to national disasters and playing an important role in all aspects of Red Cross work in her region, California’s Central Valley.

This month’s In the Community column, “Advocating for Janetta,” features a rare look inside a Red Cross nurse volunteer’s daily work. In it, Dailey sequentially and […]

2019-05-24T10:28:11-04:00May 24th, 2019|Nursing|0 Comments
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Can You ‘Stop the Bleed’?

Reconsidering tourniquets.

Bystanders apply pressure to woman’s leg to stop bleeding after explosion at 117th Boston Marathon. Photo by John Tlumacki / Boston Globe via Getty Images.

Have you ever used a windlass tourniquet? I had never even heard of one until recently. The only tourniquets I knew were fashioned from belts, scarves, or neckties, and we were always admonished to use these sparingly, because it was thought that they could cause severe damage to a limb.

In “Leading the Effort to Promote Bleeding Control in Our Communities” in this month’s AJN, James Reed and Margaret Carman dispel myths about tourniquets and share the growing evidence for their safety.

They also introduce us to the Stop the Bleed campaign. Hemorrhage is the second-leading cause of death (head injury, the first) after a traumatic injury, and when an extremity is the source of bleeding, rapid tourniquet application saves lives.

“More than 50,000 casualties sustained in the wars in Central and Southwest Asia have provided evidence that recognizing hemorrhage and controlling it should be the highest priority in caring for an […]

2019-05-16T12:15:52-04:00May 16th, 2019|Nursing, Public health|0 Comments
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How Can Nurses Identify and Assist Human Trafficking Victims?

Wikimedia Commons/ AlvaroGzP

What do sex workers have in common with nannies, housekeepers, farmworkers, janitorial and restaurant staff, and factory and construction workers? They all work in settings where victims of human trafficking are commonly found.

Human trafficking is big business in the United States.

Our country is reported to be the second-largest market globally for women and children trafficked into sex work. Sex trafficking is the main form of trafficking among U.S. citizens, while forced labor trafficking is more common among foreign nationals living here.

Globally, human trafficking is second only to drug trafficking among criminal industries. Because nurses are “everywhere,” we are very likely to come into contact with human trafficking victims at some point. Would you know how to recognize one?

Possible indicators of human trafficking.

In a 2011 AJN article, Donna Sabella shares several possible indicators of human trafficking that warrant further investigation, including:

2018-12-13T08:10:08-05:00December 13th, 2018|Nursing, Public health|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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