Tag: nursing

DUQUE DE CAXIAS,(BRAZIL),MAY,20,2020: doctors take care of patients with covid-19 and an intensive care unit (ICU) at hospital são josé specialized in the treatment of covid-19.

From Pain to Progress: Nursing After the Pandemic

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Victoria L. Tiase and William M. Sage

America’s nurses are a powerful force for good — four million strong, universally trusted, increasingly diverse, serving every community across the country, with an overall economic impact greater than the total output of the median American state. However, the pain of pandemic nursing is real and widespread. Urgent attention to nursing’s vulnerabilities is required for the profession to help the U.S. emerge from the confluence of the worst public health crisis in over a century and the most severe economic decline since the Great Depression.

Read More

hospital equipment

How COVID-19 Has Widened the Experience-Complexity Gap in Nursing

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Julie Miller

I am a Clinical Practice Specialist for the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), and I have noticed the experience-complexity gap widening during the pandemic. As increasing numbers of nurses retire due to the stress of serving on the front lines, novice nurses are tasked with complex caseloads.

Hospital-based educators tell me they do not have enough experienced nurses to oversee and mentor the novice nurses due to attrition, as experienced nurses are taking advantage of high paying travel contracts, or are leaving the ICU/PCU specialty due to burnout, moral injury, and post-traumatic stress.

Post-pandemic, the experience-complexity gap for progressive and critical care nurses will continue to widen and affect intensive care unit (ICU) and progressive care unit (PCU) orientation and ongoing education.

Read More

Sisaket,Thailand,09 April 2019;Medical staff wearing face shield and medical mask for protect coronavirus covid-19 virus in CT scan room,Sisaket province,Thailand,ASIA.

The Future of Acute and Critical Care Nursing

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Sarah A. Delgado

We need to change the future for nurses. Even before the pandemic, nurses suffered high rates of burnout and a disproportionate risk of suicide. But the pandemic could be a tipping point that leads many nurses to change careers, leave their jobs, or retire early.

Moral distress, the consequence of feeling constrained from taking ethical action, was well-documented before the pandemic, particularly among critical care nurses providing end-of-life care. Additional research conducted before 2020 demonstrates that nurses were experiencing post-traumatic stress due to the suffering they witnessed and the demands of their work.

During the pandemic, surges in critically ill patients have led to untenable workloads. The distress of end-of-life care is heightened by restrictions on visitation and increased mortality rates. In addition, shortages of basic personal protective equipment contribute to fear and a sense of betrayal.

While the pre-pandemic state of the nursing profession was concerning, the pandemic creates imminent peril.

Read More

Healthcare workers carrying signs protest for improved Covid-19 testing and workplace safety policies outside of UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles,Dec. 9, 2020.

Beyond 20/20: The Post-COVID Future of Health Care

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Cynthia Orofo

There are two experiences I will never forget as a nurse: the first time I had to withdraw care from a patient and the first day working on a COVID ICU.

Both were unforgiving reminders that the ICU is a demanding place of work that will stress you in every way. But the latter experience was unique for a few particular reasons. Before the end of that first shift, I had overheard several staff members on the floor speak about their fears, thoughts of the unknown, and their version of the “new normal.” As I realized that life would almost certainly not be the same, I developed my own vision of the “new normal” of health care.

Read More

Health care workers in personal protective equipment attend to a patient.

Preparing to Go Back to the Bedside During COVID-19: A Nurse-Turned-Bioethicist Reflects

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Emily Largent

Alarms are going off. They are loud and insistent, demanding the attention of doctors and nurses. I hear them, too.

Roughly a decade ago, I was a cardiothoracic ICU nurse in Los Angeles, California. Working with patients was deeply satisfying, but I regularly encountered ethical challenges that I wanted to address. Therefore, I stepped away from the bedside to go to law school and pursue my PhD in health policy. Now, I live in Philadelphia and work on ethical issues in medical policy and practice.

Recently, though, I renewed my California nursing license and began the process of pursuing a Temporary Practice Permit in Pennsylvania. The COVID-19 pandemic requires us all to sacrifice, to serve in ways that advance the greater good. So, I located the clogs I had pushed to the back of the closet and (literally) dusted them off. My parents sorted through the boxes I’d left in their garage when I moved east for grad school; they found my stethoscope and a few pairs of scrubs and shipped them to me. The box arrived this weekend.

Read More