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News on Nursing in the Media

 

And in the end, is the love nurses take equal to the love they make?

January 18, 2008 -- HealthStyles is a weekly radio show hosted by Diana Mason, RN, PhD, and Barbara Glickstein, RN, MPH, MS on WBAI-NY, 99.5 FM, www.wbai.org. In the first part of today’s program, producer and moderator Mason interviews Karen Ballard, RN, MA, on how exposure to health facility chemicals, medications, and radiation affects patients and nurses. Some nurses recommend sustainablehospitals.org, which describes how we can reduce the risks from potential hazards like mercury in the ways we buy, use, and clean equipment in health facilities. In part 2 of the show, Nancy Kaleda, RN, and Anne Bove, RN, discuss why nurses employed by New York City’s public hospitals don’t receive the same benefits as other city employees who are classified as doing "physically taxing work," such as firefighters and police. In part 3 of the show, Pamela Mitchell, RN, PhD, president of the American Academy of Nursing, discusses a campaign to increase the visibility, financing, and adoption of nurses’ health care innovations, which have not received their due even though clinical and financial data show them to be cost-effective. Click here to listen to the archive or if you would like a weekly reminder to listen to HealthStyles every Friday, please email us with a subject line "subscribe HealthStyles alert."

 

Hotter Than July

August 20, 2007 -- Today the Express and Star (U.K.) reported that staff at Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital said nurses were "risking the spread of superbugs by snubbing the in-house laundry service and washing their uniforms at home." The unsigned piece, "Nurses risk spreading bugs," says nurses avoid the service because it does a poor job. The piece fails to mention the risk from other hospital staff--do physicians wash all of their clothes and neckties at 70 degrees C (158 F)? But we commend the Express and Star for focusing attention on this issue, which is often overlooked by the media, by staff, and by hospitals, which should provide workable systems to control infection risks that are plainly beyond the reach of individual staff to manage. We also encourage nurses in clinical settings to urge their employers to provide uniform cleaning services and showering facilities for all staff to reduce the spread of deadly organisms from health facilities to the community. more...

 

State of Tomorrow

November 26, 2007 -- Today the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) announced the four winners of its 2007 Media Awards. The awards went to: "State of Tomorrow...Rising Challenges. Higher Education Solutions," a documentary about the nursing shortage shown on Texas PBS stations, by the University of Texas, Alphaeus Media, and Texas Tech University's School of Nursing; "Vietnam Nurses with Dana Delany," a documentary about U.S. nurses during the Vietnam War shown on Women's Entertainment Television, by Creative Street Entertainment by director David H. Smith, and producers Steven Katzenberger and Dan Meadows; "Charting Nursing's Future," a series of policy briefs about the nursing shortage posted on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation web site and distributed to a "target audience" by mail, by Susan B. Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, Michelle A. Larkin, and Jeri Spann; and "Mommy's Light Lives On: Education for and about Bereaved Children," a multi-media project by Margaret "Mimi" Mahon, PhD, RN, FAAN (honorable mention). The Center congratulates all the winners and thanks the AAN for continuing to recognize the importance of media about nursing. more...

 

Please support us by recommending your health care colleagues

January 2008 -- Would you like a chance to review the care of your advanced practice colleagues? CareSeek is creating a new web site to help patients find quality advanced providers through recommendations made by nurses. CareSeek will donate $5 to the Center when you review your colleagues online. CareSeek was developed by the CEO and founder of the successful company MedSeek. Truth executive director Sandy Summers serves as an advisor to CareSeek. CareSeek values nursing input, and knows that the public trusts nurses. The company wants one million candid and fair nurse reviews of providers before its launch to the general public. Do you have a great provider colleague? Recommend her or him highly. Have a different view? Review accordingly. This site could give patients and their families vital health information that they are not getting today and enhance public awareness of nursing expertise. Please click here to recommend and review your colleagues and provide support to the Center. Thank you for your support!

 

Check out our Action page!

Please consider the wide variety of things we can do to help resolve the nursing shortage, and meet the challenges of 21st Century health care, by increasing public understanding of nursing. Here are just a few:

Encourage others to get involved by:

  • Creating bulletin boards at your workplace by posting our analyses or news alerts;
     
  • Starting a chapter in your hometown.

Read From Silence to Voice, which is nursing's manual on how to speak out about the life-saving work that nurses do. It is important for the health of our profession that you tell everyone you know about the value of your work.

Doing a presentation on nursing's image? Get some film clips here.

Monitor the media and alert us to noteworthy portrayals of nursing. Set your DVR, TiVo or DVD recorder to record every time you watch television. If you see a nursing portrayal you'd like us to consider covering, let us know.

Start a health radio show, like HealthStyles with Diana Mason & Barbara Glickstein. Do health minutes and work to become a local health correspondent for television and radio news programs, like television commentator and author Pat Carroll.

Create, read or support nurse-friendly media and art.

Wear the RN patch on your uniform.

Register with our nurse expert database.

Start a Nurse Shadowing Program for medical students and interns at your hospital or school. We must educate physicians as to the nature of nursing work so they can play a more positive role in creating nursing-related media, and so we can develop more collaborative relationships, which lead to better patient outcomes. See a sketch of a nurse shadowing program at Dartmouth.

Letter-writing campaigns--please write a letter for each of our campaigns.

Last but not least, please become a member of the Center. We need your financial support to make our work happen. Thank you!

See other ways you can get involved on our full action page!

 

Invest in your future

The Center promotes better understanding of nursing, so nurses can do their work. But just like nurses, we need financial support to do our work. The long-term sustainability of the Center depends on it. If you appreciate our work, would you be able to chip in to help us continue? Our current situation requires that key staff donate many hundreds of hours to the Center every year, at great cost to themselves and their families. Please do your part to help us out. Thank you!

The Center's global media monitoring, analysis and advocacy is a huge challenge. It takes extensive research, writing, communication, and Internet efforts. We must pay for office equipment, supplies, transportation, Internet products, insurance, postage and telephone costs. Our office is donated by our staff. And our staff can undertake only a small part of the work that needs to be done to improve nursing's image.

So we urge you to make a donation to help us continue and expand our work. Just click here to learn about the great gifts you can receive for joining or renewing your Center membership, including our cool t-shirts and the Archie McPhee nurse action figure! It's quick and easy! And because the Center is a 501(c)(3) charity, your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.

Thank you for all of your support over the past year. You are the reason we've had a real impact on public understanding of nursing worldwide. Together, we can strengthen nursing, and give patients the kind of health care they deserve in 2007 and beyond!

Sandy Summers, RN, MSN, MPH
Executive Director
The Truth About Nursing
203 Churchwardens Rd.
Baltimore, Maryland, USA 21212-2937
office 1-410-323-1100
fax 1-410-510-1790
ssummers@truthaboutnursing.org

 

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