perspectives

8 lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic

Clinical nurse specialists share experiences on how the pandemic and social distancing are highlighting the CNS role. The “new normal” resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the…
time

COVID-19 Survival Tip #1: Time to disconnect

We live in a world where many people are attached to their electronic devices. Like a fetus attached to their mother via an umbilical cord, these individuals believe…
Figure No. 1: The Social theory NURSING Acronym

Critical Theory: NURSING acronym

In nursing, Critical Theory is used to analyze and challenge the structure of power, politics, and injustice, particularly within health systems. It encourages nurses to investigate and change…
Nursing student grieving after the death of a patient

Dealing with Death as a Nursing Student

Death is common in the hospital but nursing students are rarely prepared to deal with it. Although death is a natural part of life, it’s typically not talked…
nursing student with disabilities

Diversity to include students with disabilities

Diversity in the nursing profession begins with the hiring process, but needs to be addressed at the university level and include and support those with disabilities. Bringing awareness…
Heal Well

Food for thought: Heal well

As nurses, we often say to our patients, “Good luck at home” or “Take care and good luck.” Luck—it’s a funny word. If our patients had luck, would…
Laura Swoboda at the European Gaza Hospital

From the Midwest to the Middle East

In the light from the hospital courtyard where refugees were cooking and doing laundry, I read the dedication in War Surgery, a book by the International Red Cross…
Professor with nursing student

How to write a teaching philosophy

Have you ever applied for a position in academic nursing education, only to find that in addition to your curriculum vitae (CV) and cover letter you also need…
nurse talking with patient

Improve the patient experience: STAT

As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, the damage it has left in its path will take years to clean up. Just like with any other catastrophic disaster,…
Nurse administering PIVC

Is it really “just a peripheral I.V.”?

Vascular access devices are essential to the administration of I.V. solutions and medications. Peripheral I.V. catheters (PIVCs) are the most frequently placed vascular access devices and the most…
nurse listening to patient

Listening: A nurse’s superpower

Recently, I was on a call with a young mom of five kids who has chronic kidney disease (CKD). Her husband also happened had CKD and in the…

Navigating loss induced by COVID-19

The COVID-19 global pandemic has disrupted virtually every facet of society, infecting millions of people and instilling lingering fear about what is yet to come. Lockdown procedures and…
Florence Nightingale

Nightingale: Exemplar for the power of nursing

Nightingale’s intentional pursuit of preparation in nursing, despite her parents’ objections, honed her observational and documentation skills. An early experience during a cholera outbreak proved foundational to her…
NP Week

Nurse practitioners: Past, present, and future

Nurse Practitioner Week is celebrated annually in the second week of November. This is the perfect time to recognize the role of the nurse practitioner (NP) in shaping…
medication titration

Nurses need to take the lead on medication titration

For decades, critical care nurses have practiced and shared their knowledge related to titration of continuous I.V. medications. These lifesaving medications primarily affect cardiac function and blood pressure,…
school nurses

Nurses struggling on the frontline of COVID-19

Innovation is important in maintaining an open-minded perspective on the frontline of healthcare, particularly in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a practicing ICU nurse, I know…

Nurses, please don’t withdraw care

When I started practicing as a nurse in an intensive care unit (ICU), everything I saw and heard seemed so unfamiliar. Like on a long immersion in a…

Proud to be chosen

What do you want to be when you grow up? How many times have you heard this question? How many times have you asked this question? As much…

Reflection on competencies in healthcare systems

In the repertoire of leadership, competencies are critical for organizational effectiveness. Leaders are professionals who manage organizations and are distinguished by ambition, hard work, intelligence, and political clout.…
nurse providing home elder care

Risky business: Home sweet home or nursing home?

Cheri described witnessing employees turn off the emergency buttons when residents were “too bothersome,” patients being medicated “so that they wouldn’t have to deal with them,” an aide…
School nurse checking student's temperature

School Health Nursing comes to Baltimore

Nationwide, a third of schools don’t have a nurse. At the end of 2023, about 50 RNs covered more than 150 schools in the Baltimore school system. Nurses…
nurses-under-pressure, healthcare, registered nurse, nursing, nursing journal

Sense of Duty

Immanuel Kant believed that no action was moral unless performed out of a sense of duty or obligation. Even the word duty suggests that one must follow a…
toxic-work-relationships

Septic relationships

In the emergency department, we’re well trained to recognize the signs and symptoms of serious infections—infections that start from an infinitesimally small and undetectable microorganism and grow into…
nurse in distress

She Went to Work

“As a Psych Mental Health RN and leader, the loss of life to workplace violence has taken my breath away yet again,” said Dr. Karen Adams DNP, RN, Nurse Manager…

Stumbling upon my why

Upon entering the nursing program, I hadn’t exactly known why I wanted to choose nursing as my career. At the beginning of every semester, each professor would ask…

The Bedpan and its Significance

During the holiday doldrums I came across a 2015 Smithsonian magazine article entitled “The strange saga of George Washington’s bedpan.” The article was a sort of a biography…
Nurse using soft skills with a patient

The Case for Soft Skills in Nursing Education

Clinical proficiency is essential for providing safe and prudent care, but soft skills (communication, empathy, teamwork, leadership, critical thinking, cultural humility) are equally as vital. They allow us…
end-of-life

The Conversation Project

Have you ever needed to have a difficult conversation with someone about something very important but avoided it because of the delicate nature of the subject? An example…
opioid

The opioid epidemic—a crisis within a crisis

Opioid overdose deaths are skyrocketing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Author Jennie Burke movingly wrote of her brother’s death from a heroin overdose in May 2020, noting that he…
Patient- and family-centered care (PFCC) is often mentioned when discussing quality outcomes for care recipients.

The power of patient- and family-centered care

Patient- and family-centered care (PFCC) is often mentioned when discussing quality outcomes for care recipients. The theoretical framework of PFCC proposes that family influence and presence impacts each…

The soul of a nurse

In the beginning What is that first spark of desire in the mind of an ordinary person to become a nurse and where does it come from? Could…
survivors

To COVID-19 War Nurses

From this Iraq war nurse to all of you COVID-19 war nurses: I see you. I see your utter exhaustion from long days and extra shifts. I see…
Nurse working on writing an article

Want to publish? Study the craft of writing

Do you want to write professionally? As a former nurse peer reviewer, I found that not all nurses with advanced degrees write well. Are they smart and focused…
nurse reflections

What Did I Get Myself Into?

Nurse reflections on a hectic start to a career. Hello friends, New grad RN here to chime in and say, what did I get myself into? Allow me…

What’s your nursing area of focus?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, specialty is a special or distinctive quality, mark, state, or condition, a special subject of study, line of work area of interest, or…
Figure No. 1: The Social theory NURSING Acronym

Critical Theory: NURSING acronym

In nursing, Critical Theory is used to analyze and challenge the structure of power, politics, and injustice, particularly within health systems. It encourages nurses…
Heal Well

Food for thought: Heal well

As nurses, we often say to our patients, “Good luck at home” or “Take care and good luck.” Luck—it’s a funny word. If our…
Professor with nursing student

How to write a teaching philosophy

Have you ever applied for a position in academic nursing education, only to find that in addition to your curriculum vitae (CV) and cover…
Nurse administering PIVC

Is it really “just a peripheral I.V.”?

Vascular access devices are essential to the administration of I.V. solutions and medications. Peripheral I.V. catheters (PIVCs) are the most frequently placed vascular access…

Navigating loss induced by COVID-19

The COVID-19 global pandemic has disrupted virtually every facet of society, infecting millions of people and instilling lingering fear about what is yet to…
Florence Nightingale

Nightingale: Exemplar for the power of nursing

Nightingale’s intentional pursuit of preparation in nursing, despite her parents’ objections, honed her observational and documentation skills. An early experience during a cholera outbreak…

Proud to be chosen

What do you want to be when you grow up? How many times have you heard this question? How many times have you asked…

Reflection on competencies in healthcare systems

In the repertoire of leadership, competencies are critical for organizational effectiveness. Leaders are professionals who manage organizations and are distinguished by ambition, hard work,…
nurses-under-pressure, healthcare, registered nurse, nursing, nursing journal

Sense of Duty

Immanuel Kant believed that no action was moral unless performed out of a sense of duty or obligation. Even the word duty suggests that…
toxic-work-relationships

Septic relationships

In the emergency department, we’re well trained to recognize the signs and symptoms of serious infections—infections that start from an infinitesimally small and undetectable…
nurse in distress

She Went to Work

“As a Psych Mental Health RN and leader, the loss of life to workplace violence has taken my breath away yet again,” said Dr. Karen…

Stumbling upon my why

Upon entering the nursing program, I hadn’t exactly known why I wanted to choose nursing as my career. At the beginning of every semester,…

The Bedpan and its Significance

During the holiday doldrums I came across a 2015 Smithsonian magazine article entitled “The strange saga of George Washington’s bedpan.” The article was a…
Nurse using soft skills with a patient

The Case for Soft Skills in Nursing Education

Clinical proficiency is essential for providing safe and prudent care, but soft skills (communication, empathy, teamwork, leadership, critical thinking, cultural humility) are equally as…
end-of-life

The Conversation Project

Have you ever needed to have a difficult conversation with someone about something very important but avoided it because of the delicate nature of…

The soul of a nurse

In the beginning What is that first spark of desire in the mind of an ordinary person to become a nurse and where does…
survivors

To COVID-19 War Nurses

From this Iraq war nurse to all of you COVID-19 war nurses: I see you. I see your utter exhaustion from long days and…
nurse reflections

What Did I Get Myself Into?

Nurse reflections on a hectic start to a career. Hello friends, New grad RN here to chime in and say, what did I get…

What’s your nursing area of focus?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, specialty is a special or distinctive quality, mark, state, or condition, a special subject of study, line of work…

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