Contributor: Patricia H. Strachan RN PhD For many years I have been trying to understand and promote ways that nurses could speak with patients who are living with one or more serious illnesses, about what are often termed “difficult” issues. When nurses refer to difficult conversations, the subject (or perhaps person or family) is thought … Continue reading Radical Nurse Talk
Advocacy
Becoming an Accomplice in Decolonizing Nursing Knowledge
Notable Works The recent attention that has emerged related to disparities in health and healthcare, along with acknowledgement of systemic racism, has been known and acknowledged in the nursing literature long before the surge that happened after the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. Long before this happened, there were many voices calling … Continue reading Becoming an Accomplice in Decolonizing Nursing Knowledge
When Nursing Faculty Burn Out
Unsplash.com: Photo by Isabella Fischer I have a friend, Margaret, who confesses to being burned out. She’s in a state of panic and malaise, characterized by feeling weighed down by exhaustion, disengagement, and decreased productivity. With a faculty appointment as an associate professor in a public university, she balances teaching, mentoring graduate and undergraduate students, … Continue reading When Nursing Faculty Burn Out
Comfort and dignity in intensive nursing care: A look at the theoretical works of Jacobs and Kolcaba
Contributor - Sónia Patrícia Rodrigues Bastos When I started working in intensive care, I quickly realized the complexity of the nursing care provided there. Within this complexity of care, one of the situations that I find highly relevant is the importance of constantly seeking to provide maximum comfort to the patient and the respect and … Continue reading Comfort and dignity in intensive nursing care: A look at the theoretical works of Jacobs and Kolcaba
Optimizing Comfort in Clients with a Surgical Wound: Nursing Approach from Kolcaba’s Perspective
Contributor: Bruno Miguel Ferreira Alves Over several years of practice, I have developed a particular interest in wounds and all its surroundings. As a nurse in an orthopedic inpatient unit, I am confronted daily with clients who have something in common - a wound - the surgical wound. The surgical wound creates an element of … Continue reading Optimizing Comfort in Clients with a Surgical Wound: Nursing Approach from Kolcaba’s Perspective
“Stranger in a foreign Land”: Crossing the Political Divide to Support Adoptive Families
It’s somewhat fitting that I begin this blog by quoting Moses from the Old Testament, who became the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. I use these words to convey how I felt at a recent conference sponsored by the National Council for Adoption (NCFA), a national organization of adoption professionals. Encouraged to submit an … Continue reading “Stranger in a foreign Land”: Crossing the Political Divide to Support Adoptive Families
One Size Fits All Does NOT Apply for the Spanish-Speaking Population
Contributors: Maribel Alcala MHSM, BSN, RN, Angeles Nava, Ph.D., RN andFrancisco Javier Ayala DNP, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, CCRN Introduction According to the United States Census Bureau (2019), Spanish-language speakers represented 13.5% of the United States population, making Spanish the second most spoken language in the U.S. (Christy et al., 2021). Spanish speakers are projected to … Continue reading One Size Fits All Does NOT Apply for the Spanish-Speaking Population
Mentorship in Advanced Practice Nursing
“I work with children too, but I have not encountered anyone approaching them and their families as you do.” My mentee told me on her first day shadowing at the clinical site. She was a nurse practitioner (NP) student whom I was assigned to be a mentor for her clinical rotation. I was unsure which … Continue reading Mentorship in Advanced Practice Nursing
July 4th – It’s Complicated
The complicated meanings of the July 4th holiday have been glaringly obvious for Black Americans for a couple of hundred years, but hidden and ignored for the most part by white Americans. The holiday is celebrated in the United States to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which declared the 13 original British … Continue reading July 4th – It’s Complicated
Patient Safety Research: Magnifying Silent Voices
Contributor: Seth Stephens Patient safety has always been an important part of nursing. Over the course of my twenty years as a nurse I have had the opportunity to see nurses escalate broken care processes and issues that have saved patient lives, and I’ve seen how systems errors can result in patient deaths. Several years … Continue reading Patient Safety Research: Magnifying Silent Voices