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Unconscious Pakistani nurseHeadlines:

The mythbuster:
     Quick clinic NP appears on CBS TV
     affiliate as health expert!

Thanking the nurse:
     New York Daily News on abuse of
     Pakistani nurses

Our hearts are wrong:
     New Zealand Herald
on the moral
     distress nurses face

Help plan the Truth's 2014 conference
     Join our planning committee!

See Sandy Summers speak to
      Wisconsin APRNs in Madison in May

Saving Lives is back in print! Get a copy
      with every $30 donation!

Get Truth posters and place them at your school or workplace!

Can you donate today to help support our work?

 

The mythbuster

Anne Pohnert NPJanuary 6, 2013 – Today the Richmond (VA) CBS television affiliate WTVR (Channel 6) ran a short segment in which CVS Minute Clinic nurse practitioner Anne Pohnert debunked common myths about the flu in a friendly exchange with one of the channel's news anchors. The channel conveyed respect for Pohnert as a health expert, identifying her as a nurse practitioner. And Pohnert came off as professional and articulate, explaining in a direct, clear way that you can't get the flu from the flu shot, that there are no serious side effects from the shot, that it's important to get the vaccine every year, and that it's not too late to get the shot this year, particularly since the early incidence of flu suggests it will be a bad year for the disease. The short text matching the online video adds a fifth myth, namely that "natural immunity or living a healthy lifestyle is better than getting immunity from the flu shot"; we assume there was no time to discuss that one on the air. (Speaking of living a healthy lifestyle, recall that the Heart Attack Grill's first spokesman died of the flu at age 29. He weighed 575 pounds.) Pohnert's appearance is remarkable not just because it represents an appearance by a nurse as a health expert on broadcast television--still a rarity even on local affiliates--but because the station makes a point of mentioning that Pohnert practices at CVS Minute Clinics. In the early days of quick clinics, the major players almost seemed to apologize for staffing their clinics with NPs. But the explicit references to CVS here suggest that the company may now actually be promoting its clinics through the expertise of their nurse practitioners, at least in this case. We commend WTVR for this segment. more...

  

Thanking the nurse

Protesting Pakistani nursesAugust 5, 2012 -- Today a New York Daily News piece (based on one in the Dawn (Pakistan)) reported that research showed Pakistani hospitals had made little progress in reducing the violence and sexual abuse that nurses suffer, despite a 2010 law aimed at curbing sexual harassment of women in the workplace. The short article was based mostly on two recent studies conducted by instructors at Karachi nursing schools. A survey by Shanila Jalaluddin of the Liaquat College of Nursing reportedly found that more than 31 percent of nurses at three Karachi hospitals had experienced "physical violence, and verbal and sexual harassment" in the preceding year, but only three percent reported the incidents, because they "feared retaliation and lack of support." Similarly, a study of Karachi hospitals by Rozina Somani of the Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery found that nurses tended to suffer violence and bullying at public hospitals, while verbal abuse "dominated" at private hospitals. According to that study, the perpetrators of the violence were patients, families, and other staff. But the incidents were "under-reported due to fear, shame and guilt." The Daily News commendably names both lead researchers, although the report does not explore possible reasons for the abuse or the atmosphere of impunity, such as gender bias and the low level of respect for nurses in particular. Even so, we thank those responsible for this troubling piece, which suggests that abuse of hospital nurses is common and that the nurses reasonably believe reporting it would result only in retaliation against the nurses themselves. more...

 

Our hearts are wrong

Emotional distressAugust 14, 2012 -- Today the New Zealand Herald ran a fairly good report by Hayden Donnell about a new Massey University study that found high rates of serious "moral distress" among Kiwi nurses. The study of more than 400 nurses nationwide found that 48 percent had considered leaving a job, and 16 percent were considering leaving their current job, because of issues "beyond their control." These included delivering poor care because of management pressure to cut costs; doing things that "unnecessarily prolonged the dying process"; and carrying out "physician's orders" for what the nurses believed were unnecessary treatments and tests. The use of the word "orders" in this context is always unfortunate since it wrongly suggests that nurses report to physicians and must do whatever they want. In fact, nurses are ethically bound to decline to carry out physician prescriptions if the nurses believe they are not in a patient's interest. Of course physicians do (wrongly) have more power, so this is a factor in the distress under consideration. Fight the powerOn the upside, the piece quotes lead researcher Martin Woods, identifying him as "a nursing ethics and education expert," though oddly not as the lead researcher. It does refer to him as "Dr. Woods," and we hope that readers will understand that refers to his PhD in nursing rather than a medical doctorate. In any case, Dr. Woods explains that some nurses consider leaving not just one job but the entire profession, and he does a good job of emphasizing the gravity of the findings, which can lead to "depression, burnout and stress." The piece rightly (if minimally) notes that "results were similar to overseas studies." The article might have benefited from a little more detail on that, as well as from some information about the causes of and potential solutions to the nurses' moral distress. On the whole, though, the piece provides a helpful look at serious issues in New Zealand nursing today. more...

 

Help plan the Truth's 2014 conference!

We are beginning to plan our next conference for June 2014 and need volunteers! If you would like to join our conference planning committee, please email us at conference@truthaboutnursing.org. Thank you!

  

See Sandy Summers speak to the Wisconsin Advanced Practice Nurses in Madison in May 2013

Truth executive director Sandy Summers will deliver the keynote speech at the 27th Annual Wisconsin Nurses Association Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Forum Pharmacology & Clinical Update, to be held at the Monona Terrace and Convention Center in Madison. Sandy will speak on the morning of Friday, May 3, 2013. See you there!

       

Saving Lives is back in print!

Saving Lives paperback coverOur book Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nurses Puts Us All at Risk is available again! If you donate now, we will send you a copy. Saving Lives continues to influence nurses, the media, and members of the public around the world. You can also get the paperback from Amazon. Saving Lives is also available in digital form through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and iTunes. Saving Lives has won an American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award and an award from the international nursing honor society, Sigma Theta Tau. Many nursing professors use the book as a text to discuss nursing in society. You can get a free copy--hard copy or digital--with every $30 donation to the Truth About Nursing!

 

Place Truth About Nursing posters at your school or workplace -- it's good fun and good for you!

I am your RN poster Tell colleagues and patients the truth! Our "I Am Your Registered Nurse" poster presents nurses as autonomous professionals on whom patients can rely. The poster explains that nurses are modern science professionals who protect and advocate for patients and empowers nurses to meet those challenges. Designed for the bedside, the poster comforts patients by educating them about the care environment and assuring them that nurses are there to fend for them.

Short dresses posterOr consider the Truth's "Can Short Dresses Cause Short Staffing?" poster. This one takes humorous aim at the naughty nurse image that continues to haunt advertisements and other media, especially those aimed at males. The poster connects the naughty nurse image with the broader undervaluation that leads to gross underfunding of nursing education, research, and practice, ultimately threatening patients.

For every dollar that you donate, we'll send you up to 4 posters to hang at your school or workplace. Just email us at info@truthaboutnursing.org to tell us how many you'd like and where to send them. Thank you!

 

Get involved!

Get involved in helping us change how the world thinks about nursing. Check out our action page or start a chapter of the Truth in your home town. Or join us on Facebook!

 

Planning speakers? Let Sandy Summers empower your nurses!

Media images of health care--like the ones on ABC's popular Grey's Anatomy-- have an important effect on the nursing profession. Many nurses and nursing students feel frustrated when influential media products undervalue nurses. But how can we change what the media tells the public about nursing? Sandy Summers has led high-profile efforts to promote more accurate and robust depictions of nursing since 2001. She has shared her insights in dynamic presentations to groups across North America. She empowers nurses and teaches them how to shape their image into one that reflects the profession's true value. When nurses get the respect they deserve, they will attract more resources for nursing practice, education, and research, so we can resolve the nursing shortage. Sign Sandy up for your next conference, nurses' week celebration, or gala event! Click here for more details.

 

Please support The Truth About Nursing

We need your help so we can pursue this mission together. We would be very grateful if you could make a donation--even if it is $5, $10 or $25. Any amount would be so helpful. Please click here to donate. Thank you!

 

The Truth About Nursing is an international non-profit organization based in Baltimore that seeks to help the public understand the central role nurses play in health care. The Truth promotes more accurate media portrayals of nurses and greater use of nurses as expert sources. The group is led by Sandy Summers, co-author of Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nurses Puts Us All At Risk.

Thank you for supporting the Truth About Nursing's work!

Sandy Summers, RN, MSN, MPH
Founder and 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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