Perspectives
The Public Health Role in Nursing Photos © background: Macie J. Noskowski, nurse: Fuse Collection / both from thinkstockphotos.com
MARY C. BRUCKER
O Mary C. Brucker, PhD, CNM, FACNM, is an assistant professor, adjunct, at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and she is the editor of Nursing for Women’s Health. DOI:10.1111/1751-486X.12156
http://nwh.awhonn.org
One of the challenges of writing an editorial addressing current events is that it may no longer be current by the time the editorial is printed. However, I suspect Ebola will continue to be a topic in the news for a long time. As I write this, I’m sitting approximately 15 miles away from the hospital where they announced this morning the death of Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who was the first individual with a confirmed case of Ebola in the United States. It was not a surprise that Ebola has come to the North American shores, but the furor was dramatic. What was most pleasing to me was how nursing responded in the Dallas area. While national news telecasted physicians and public health officers, who were acknowledged experts in the field, it was local nurses who took to social media, identified themselves as nurses, and corrected the wild rumors. They helped dispel
the myth that Ebola is spread through mosquitos, and affirm that proper hand washing is still the best single action against any infection. Nurses were among those who helped quell fears that simply being in the same airport that Duncan traveled through automatically gives you the disease; this is important information given that the Dallas-Fort Worth airport has approximately 160,000 passengers every day. I’ve also chatted with nurses who work in offices, who say they were besieged with similar questions and concerns, which they answered with professional explanations about basic infections. And social media was extremely active when it was implied that a nurse who first saw Duncan in the emergency department didn’t convey the information that he had come from an Ebola hot zone. That suggestion caused a flurry
© 2014, AWHONN
447
Perspectives
Ebola is here. But, fortunately, so are nurses
of comments supportive of the nurse, clarifying the role of nursing in an emergency department, as well as comments not only from fellow nurses but also general consumers essentially saying, “Don’t throw the nurse under the Ebola bus.” I should note that the entire story on this chain of events has not yet emerged as I write this. So what are the lessons learned at this point? One is that as funding for health departments and other similar agencies has decreased, nursing has once again assumed the frontline role of education about public health. Nursing organizations, including AWHONN (2014), promptly released evidence-based guidance to guide
nurses’ practice. And as people express suspicion about government agencies, the role of the community nurse, be it in a neighborhood, office or social community, remains strong in the public trust. Ebola is here. But, fortunately, so are nurses. NWH
Reference AWHONN. (2014). Ebola: Caring for pregnant and postpartum women in the United States [Practice Brief]. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from www.awhonn.org/awhonn/content. do?name=02_PracticeResources/02_PracticeResources_landing.htm
Today we know more than ever about preventing disease and promoting health. For the very latest, read “Well Woman,” a clinical practice column appearing three times a year in Nursing for Women’s Health. READ IT TO KEEP YOUR PATIENTS—AND YOURSELF—FEELING HEALTHY, ACTIVE AND VIBRANT.
448
Nursing for Women’s Health
Volume 18
Issue 6
Photo © Fuse Collection / thinkstockphotos.com
H e l p i n g Wo m e n S t a y We l l
The Public Health Role in Nursing Photos © background: Macie J. Noskowski, nurse: Fuse Collection / both from thinkstockphotos.com
MARY C. BRUCKER
O Mary C. Brucker, PhD, CNM, FACNM, is an assistant professor, adjunct, at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and she is the editor of Nursing for Women’s Health. DOI:10.1111/1751-486X.12156
http://nwh.awhonn.org
One of the challenges of writing an editorial addressing current events is that it may no longer be current by the time the editorial is printed. However, I suspect Ebola will continue to be a topic in the news for a long time. As I write this, I’m sitting approximately 15 miles away from the hospital where they announced this morning the death of Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who was the first individual with a confirmed case of Ebola in the United States. It was not a surprise that Ebola has come to the North American shores, but the furor was dramatic. What was most pleasing to me was how nursing responded in the Dallas area. While national news telecasted physicians and public health officers, who were acknowledged experts in the field, it was local nurses who took to social media, identified themselves as nurses, and corrected the wild rumors. They helped dispel
the myth that Ebola is spread through mosquitos, and affirm that proper hand washing is still the best single action against any infection. Nurses were among those who helped quell fears that simply being in the same airport that Duncan traveled through automatically gives you the disease; this is important information given that the Dallas-Fort Worth airport has approximately 160,000 passengers every day. I’ve also chatted with nurses who work in offices, who say they were besieged with similar questions and concerns, which they answered with professional explanations about basic infections. And social media was extremely active when it was implied that a nurse who first saw Duncan in the emergency department didn’t convey the information that he had come from an Ebola hot zone. That suggestion caused a flurry
© 2014, AWHONN
447
Perspectives
Ebola is here. But, fortunately, so are nurses
of comments supportive of the nurse, clarifying the role of nursing in an emergency department, as well as comments not only from fellow nurses but also general consumers essentially saying, “Don’t throw the nurse under the Ebola bus.” I should note that the entire story on this chain of events has not yet emerged as I write this. So what are the lessons learned at this point? One is that as funding for health departments and other similar agencies has decreased, nursing has once again assumed the frontline role of education about public health. Nursing organizations, including AWHONN (2014), promptly released evidence-based guidance to guide
nurses’ practice. And as people express suspicion about government agencies, the role of the community nurse, be it in a neighborhood, office or social community, remains strong in the public trust. Ebola is here. But, fortunately, so are nurses. NWH
Reference AWHONN. (2014). Ebola: Caring for pregnant and postpartum women in the United States [Practice Brief]. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from www.awhonn.org/awhonn/content. do?name=02_PracticeResources/02_PracticeResources_landing.htm
Today we know more than ever about preventing disease and promoting health. For the very latest, read “Well Woman,” a clinical practice column appearing three times a year in Nursing for Women’s Health. READ IT TO KEEP YOUR PATIENTS—AND YOURSELF—FEELING HEALTHY, ACTIVE AND VIBRANT.
448
Nursing for Women’s Health
Volume 18
Issue 6
Photo © Fuse Collection / thinkstockphotos.com
H e l p i n g Wo m e n S t a y We l l
