Contributor - Kaija Freborg, DNP, RN, AHN-BC, HWNC-BC Helpless. This is how a Minneapolis nurse described feeling in response to the militarized occupation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota, an operation that is being used to disappear immigrants, racialized people, and others who stand in the way. With despair, the nurse recounted having … Continue reading Emancipatory Nursing and the Limits of Political Neutrality
Political activism
Russell–Fawcett Model and Local Governance for Community Health Nursing Praxis
Guest Contributor: Ann M. StalterCommunity/Public Health Nurse Educator Local governments make decisions daily that shape the health and well-being of communities, yet nurses rarely serve on the boards and councils where these decisions occur. The absence of nurses in such political spaces is significant because they comprise the largest sector of the health care workforce … Continue reading Russell–Fawcett Model and Local Governance for Community Health Nursing Praxis
Collaborative Care as an Essential Health Benefit (EHB)
Contributor - Kathleen Donaher-Keough, PhD, RN Why This Matters to Nursing Source From a nursing policy perspective in the United States, defining collaborative care as an Essential Health Benefit (EHB) aligns reimbursement, workforce utilization, and quality outcomes with what nurses already do every day: coordinate, assess, educate, and sustain care across settings and time. Primary … Continue reading Collaborative Care as an Essential Health Benefit (EHB)
Nursing Voices in the US Immigrant Crisis
Alex Pretti, ICU nurse assassinated by ICE on January 24, 2026 At our January Nursology.net Advisory Team Zoom meeting, we heard from a colleague who lives and works in the great city of Minneapolis. She spoke of the suffering in her neighborhood, where people are being terrorized by atrocities committed against Brown people and others. … Continue reading Nursing Voices in the US Immigrant Crisis
Jo Ann Ashley (1939-1980) – Guardian of the Discipline
Co-contributor: Karen Anne Wolf, PhD, RNP, DPNAP Guardian of the Discipline Jo Ann A. Ashley (October 29, 1939-November 20, 1980) I am indebted to Peggy Chinn, who recently alerted colleagues, including me, to Jo Ann Ashley’s work and asked if someone would write a blog about Dr. Ashley. I volunteered to do so, in part … Continue reading Jo Ann Ashley (1939-1980) – Guardian of the Discipline
Call to WHAT Action?
This blog is a follow-up to my previous blog, Call to Action NOW My participation in a November 24, 2025 webinar presented by staff of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) (WF25_11_24_OBBBA_Webinar Handout.pdf) brought to my attention a possible rationale for the United States (US) Department of Education proposal for a change in … Continue reading Call to WHAT Action?
How to Talk about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: And Why it is Important for Nursing to Do So
Contributor: Donna J. PerryAuthor of "Transcendent Pluralism" theoryAlso see "An Urgent Need for Peace" blog post Fifteen years ago, as I was finishing up my last trip for peace research in Israel and Palestine, I asked my Palestinian taxi driver how the situation was on the ground. He said that tensions were rising and he … Continue reading How to Talk about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: And Why it is Important for Nursing to Do So
Action Defending Democracy
Last November, Nursology.net initiated a blog category - "action defending democracy" with a post authored by Dr. Robin Walter titled "The Value of Integrating Nursing Theories in an Era of Legislative Censorship." On this day that commemorates the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence, we invite Nursology.net visitors to reflect on these blogs, … Continue reading Action Defending Democracy
Texas’ HB3817: What Nurses Need to Know About the Latest Anti-Trans Legislation
Guest Contributors: Kendrick T. Clack and Jasmine Perkins A new wave of anti-trans legislation is sweeping across the United States, and Texas is leading the charge. One of the most alarming bills under consideration is House Bill 3817 (HB3817), which seeks to make "gender identity fraud" a state jail felony. If passed, this law could … Continue reading Texas’ HB3817: What Nurses Need to Know About the Latest Anti-Trans Legislation
Beyond the Stethoscope: Educating Our Way to Healthcare Justice
Guest Contributors: India Willis and Natasha CrooksNursology.net posts supporting DEI As diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives face unprecedented rollbacks across academic and healthcare institutions, the responsibility of Black nurses to educate and advocate has never been more critical. In an era where systemic barriers are being reinforced rather than dismantled, our role as educators becomes a form of … Continue reading Beyond the Stethoscope: Educating Our Way to Healthcare Justice
🤬 and Banned Words: Advancing our Scholarship and Activism of Outrage – Part II
My beloved aunt, my mother’s sister, was a Southerner, what one might have called a “genteel woman” who was never harsh but could be stern. There would be no thought of using a curse word; Heaven forfend! When the men cursed she said it was “a mite tee-jus” to have to listen. Should any of … Continue reading 🤬 and Banned Words: Advancing our Scholarship and Activism of Outrage – Part II
Banned Words and a Scholarship and Activism of Outrage
Introduction In their recent article, “Federal Government’s Growing Banned Words List Is Chilling Act of Censorship” (https://pen.org/banned-words-list/), Pen America compiled a list of 250 words unacceptable to the Trump administration that soon became a list of 350 words. Not to be outdone, Reuters, Gizmodo, The Washington Post, Propublica, More Perfect Union, Science, 404 Media, Popular … Continue reading Banned Words and a Scholarship and Activism of Outrage
Woe to those who make unjust laws
Ethical Knowing in NursingBlogs by Marsha Fowler Isaiah 10.1 Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees,2 to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.3 What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar?To whom will you run for … Continue reading Woe to those who make unjust laws
Moral Duty, Ethical Mandate: Why Nurses Must Champion Mental Health Access
Contributor, Frances Okpaluba Should nurses view mental health access as a moral responsibility or an ethical requirement? Although these terms are frequently used synonymously, they possess a slight variation. Ethics represents the structured analysis of morality, while morals demonstrate the principles that influence our individual and professional decisions. For nurses, ethics and morals matter deeply. … Continue reading Moral Duty, Ethical Mandate: Why Nurses Must Champion Mental Health Access
Nurses Join Together in Solidarity and Resistance
2025 Nurses' Declaration of Solidarity and Resistance Nurses worldwide share a deep concern, even horror, as we witness the violent and unjust assaults the Trump administration is committing against the health and well-being of people who reside within the borders of the United States. In March, Sally Thorne, Editor of Nursing Inquiry, published an editorial … Continue reading Nurses Join Together in Solidarity and Resistance
Canadian Nurses and our ethical mandate: The impact of American politics
Contributors: Cameron R. Albright, Lisa Bland, Lisa Goldberg In our recently published commentary in the Halifax Examiner, “an independent, investigative, and adversarial news site” in Atlantic Canada, we three Canadian nurses address the disruptive and ethically reprehensible policies emerging from the United States (US).. By drawing attention to the Canadian Code of Ethics for Registered … Continue reading Canadian Nurses and our ethical mandate: The impact of American politics
Impending Destruction of NINR?
Contributor: Jane M. Georges, PhD, RNAuthor: Theory of Emancipatory Compassion Amid massive cuts to research funding at NIH, the administration has fired the Director of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) with a proposal to "consolidate" NINR into a larger entity (see report here ). This action will have a profound impact on nursing … Continue reading Impending Destruction of NINR?
False Equivalencies in Nursing Ethics
Part 1: A Call for Moral Clarity Sally Thorne’s March 11 (2025) “We Were Made for These Times” editorial in Nursing Inquiry stimulated a lively discussion among nurse leaders about our ethical obligations (see for example, our Nursology.net March 21st post). Given the tumultuous challenges we are confronting every day now, the group was energized … Continue reading False Equivalencies in Nursing Ethics
“We Were Made for These Times”
This is the title of Sally Thorne's editorial in Nursing Inquiry published on March 11, 2025. The editorial is "free access" - meaning that reading and downloading the PDF file is free of any cost. Her message is clear - in the face of organized and powerful assaults on human health and freedom, nurses are … Continue reading “We Were Made for These Times”
The Power of a Diverse Nurse Force in Uncertain Political Times
Guest Contributor: Brenice DuroseauPhD Candidate at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing Nursing, at its core, is a profession built on care—yet care is not neutral. It exists within systems shaped by history, power, and oppression. As nurses, we do not simply provide healthcare; we operate within the legacies of colonialism, white supremacy, and capitalism, … Continue reading The Power of a Diverse Nurse Force in Uncertain Political Times