You might say the pen is not only mightier than the sword but it is mightier than a pandemic too.
Words have power. The power to comfort and heal. Much like the role – or the power — of a nurse.
The words of Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) Jennifer Dorman’s poem titled “When The Masks Come Off” have that power too.
The poem, reproduced below, serves as an outlet to express the many feelings triggered by the pandemic while looking ahead to a brighter future.
“Horrifying” is how Judy Dusek DNP, M.Ed., APRN-CNS, CMSRN, ACNS-BC and NACNS board member describes her bout with COVID-19.
Just recently recovered, Dusek agreed to share her personal experience as one of the “90%” of COVID-19 sufferers we don’t hear about in the news. Dusek oversees eight units responsible for staff development, onboarding, education and being hands-on with the nurses at bedside for Ascension Via Christi, the largest provider of health care services throughout Wichita and central Kansas.
Here’s what she had to say from a nurse’s perspective on the impact of COVID-19 on the body.
The “how” of destressing is somewhat easy for many to understand. It is the putting into practice of stress-reducing techniques that is usually the most difficult part to master. Today, during the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing and eliminating stress has never been more important for the nursing community.
Few understand this better than Dr. Brenda Lyon, who has close to 40 years of experience in helping clients effectively deal with stress and stress-related physical illness. She is the author of the newly released #1 book Haven’t You Suffered Enough? Clinically Proven Methods To Conquer Stress. According to Dr. Lyon, it takes time to master the skills to conquer stress but the resulting benefits at work and home are enormous and life-changing.
The Nursing Infection Control Education Network (NICE Network) will host the seventh webinar in the Empowering Nurses to Protect Themselves and Their Patients series on May 15. The webinar, A Discussion of Current Infection Prevention and Control Challenges in Maternal and Child Health Settings, will feature the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses.
The Report to Congress on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration found that Medicare funding of graduate clinical education of APRNs, including clinical nurse specialists, would help meet national health care workforce needs similar to residency training for physicians.
Consider applying for HRSA’s Nurse Faculty Loan Program. The purpose of HRSA’s one-year funding opportunity is to increase the number of qualified nursing faculty by providing funding to accredited schools of nursing to offer loans to students in advanced education nursing degree programs who are committed to becoming nurse faculty.
As the winds and rains of Hurricane Harvey begin to taper off, news outlets are reporting on the destruction and equating the scope of the damage to Hurricane Katrina’s impact on New Orleans. Reports of up to 50 inches of rain in some areas of Texas underscore the intense flooding and destruction resulting from this storm. NACNS has reached out to our Texas Affiliate to learn more about what clinical nurse specialists and the APRN community is experiencing and to see if we can help in anyway. NACNS encourages our members to consider making a donation of time or money to the American Red Cross.
If you answered yes to any of these questions, be sure to check out the online self-study course, Developing Your Skills as a Clinical Nurse Preceptor, jointly provided by the Indiana University School of Nursing and the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists. Launched in 2016, this course provides 4 continuing nursing education contact hours specific to the role of a preceptor for clinical nurse specialist students. It is separated into 3 modules: Organizing the Learning Experience, Engaging the Student, and Providing Useful Feedback, and it aims to provide new and experienced preceptors with tools and tips to have a successful clinical experience for both the preceptor and the student.
The proliferation of clinical alarms poses one of healthcare technology’s most pressing patient safety challenges—“alarm fatigue.” While device alarms can improve medical care by arming clinicians with valuable information about their patient’s health, most are false or nonactionable, often resulting in a sensory clutter that overwhelms clinicians and caregivers, desensitizing them to the alerts. The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation’s spring 2017 issue of its award-winning, peer-reviewed publication, Horizons, focuses on clinical alarm management.
NACNS joined America’s leading nursing organizations and the more than 3.5 million nurses they represent, in calling on the Trump Administration and Congress to prioritize patient health and the patient-provider relationship in any health reform proposals.
As lawmakers consider legislation to repeal, replace or fundamentally alter the Affordable Care Act, nursing organizations affirmed their shared commitment to health care policies that reflect patients access to: health care with affordable coverage options; care delivered by providers of their choice, including CNSs and other APRNs; upholding essential health benefits; greater Medicare efficiency; and more.