Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Health Policy

Got a health policy question? Check out: Understanding Health Policy: A Clinical Approach, by Thomas Bodenheimer and Kevin Grumbach. This is an excellent reference for anyone interested in health policy or working in the health care field. It provides a decent foundation for understanding the complexities of the US health care system. It gives a great explanation of the evolution of insurance and health care financing in this country and the authors sprinkle the text with interesting case studies. In fact, it's so readable, I could barely put it down long enough to blog about it.

Nursing PhD Student Invited to Lunch With Former President

One of my dearest friends, Andrea, has been invited to a luncheon with former President Jimmy Carter. This is part of a celebration of the 100th anniverary of Emory University's School of Nursing. Andrea was chosen with seven of her nursing colleagues to attend the luncheon. Andrea states she's looking forward to cracking peanuts with the former pres.

Johnson and Johnson's Campaign for Nurses: Dare to Care

Check out Johnson and Johnson's Campaign for Nursing's Future. www.choosenursing.com
Johnson and Johnson launched a massive campaign in 2002 to enhance the image of nursing and to recruit and retain nurses. The campaign features television and print advertisements intended to depict positive images of nurses. The campaign has raised over 3 million dollars in nursing scholarships and grants for nursing schools. All the products on the web site are free, including a scrub top, promotional videos, pins, etc. I ordered my kit and am about to embark on a new adventure: nurse ambassador!

Broken Heart Syndrome

A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine gives further evidence for the effects of stress on the body. According to doctors at Johns Hopkins, sudden emotional stress, such as a traumatic break up or the death of a loved one, can cause a "surge" of adrenaline and stress hormones that "stun" the heart, causing a loss of ventricular function. This sudden stress results in typical heart attack symptoms, including chest pain and shortness of breath. Interestingly, most of the patients studied did not have a prior history of heart problems and the majority of them recovered without sustaining permanent heart damage. Also, most of the patients were women; further evidence that there are real differences in how men and women react to and process stressful events.

Food for Thought

When you are outraged by somebody's impudence, ask yourself at once, 'Can the world exist without impudent people?' It cannot; so do not ask for impossibilities. That man is simply one of the impudent whose existence is necessary to the world. Keep the same thought present, whenever you come across roguery, double-dealing or any other form of obliquity. You have only to remind yourself that the type is indispensable, and at once you will feel kindlier towards the individual. It is also helpful if you promptly recall what special quality Nature has given us to counter such particular faults. For there are antidotes with which she has provided us: gentleness to meet brutality, for example, and other correctives for other ills. Generally speaking, too, you have the opportunity of showing the culprit his blunder--for everyone who does wrong is failing of his proper objective, and is thereby a blunderer. Besides, what harm have you suffered? Nothing has been done by any of these victims of your irritation that could hurtfully affect your own mind; and it is in the mind alone that anything evil or damaging to the self can have reality. What is there wrong or surprising, after all, in a boor behaving boorishly? See then if it is not rather yourself you ought to blame, for not foreseeing that he would offend in this way. You, in virtue of your reason, have every means for thinking it probable that he would do so; you forgot this, and now his offence takes you by surprise. When you are indignant with anyone for his perfidy or ingratitude, turn your thoughts first and foremost upon yourself. For the error is clearly your own, if you have put any faith in the good faith of a man of that stamp, or, when you have done him a kindness, if it was not done unreservedly and in the belief that the action would be its own full reward. Once you have done a man a service, what more would you have? Is it not enough to have obeyed the laws of your own nature, without expecting to be paid for it? That is like the eye demanding a reward for seeing, or the feet for walking. It is for that very purpose that they exist; and they have their due in doing what they were created to do. Similarly, man is born for deeds of kindness; and when he has done a kindly action, or otherwise served the common welfare, he has done what he was made for, and has received his quittance.

From a Meditation by Marcus Aurelius

Question for My Readers

Should hospitals be for-profit enterprises? Does this increase or decrease quality of care?

Quote of the Week

My ever-wise older brother, Edward, was quoted in the Health Section of the Washington Post this past week by saying," if you really want to get in shape, look for solutions, not excuses," Described as a "succinct morsel of inspiration," by the Post, the quote was in response to the previous week's query on how people are measuring up to the government's recent recommendation for adults to engage in 60-90 minutes of daily exercise.

Highlight of My Week

Delivering meals to the elderly/home-bound yesterday with the Junior League was one of the highlights of my week. We do this in conjunction with Iona Senior Services, an organization that administers a variety of great programs to seniors in the District. As part of my work with this committee, I am expected to do 16 Saturday meal deliveries per year. I am assigned a partner and we meet at St. Mary's Court, a seniors' building in Foggy Bottom. We are given a route, with a list of names and addresses and a hot and cold meal for each senior. We can even request a particular route ahead of time. I've ended up by chance with the same route for most of my deliveries; a seniors' building on Conneticut Avenue. Though our contact with each client is brief, I enjoy the short interaction, and the bright smiles that greet us.

Become a Nursing Advocate

Check out this great site: www.nursingadvocacy.org

The Center for Nursing Advocacy was founded by seven nurses to promote the professional image of nursing. One of the Center's goals is to create an accurate portrayal of nurses in the media. The group monitors shows, such as "ER" to ensure that nurses are portrayed fairly, and lets the producers know when we are not. Their excellent form letter on the web site reminds the producers that nurses are not merely handmaids to physicians and that it is unacceptable to cast nurses in this light, as well as to give physicians credit for the work that nurses perform. The media's inaccurate portrayal of nurses does a great disservice to the profession and ultimately contributes to the nursing shortage by casting nurses in undesirable and inaccurate stereotypical roles. After all, who could forget the line from "Meet the Parents"-"is triage better than being a nurse?" Ouch.

Buresh and Gordon Champion Nurses

Feeling that you don't have much say or control over your work? Check out From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public," by Bernice Buresh and Suzanne Gordon. Written by two journalists, this book champions the important work of nurses. The authors give sound strategies on how nurses can foster greater respect and authority in the workplace. Often, the strategies are simple: use your full name when introducing yourself to a patient; the theory behind this: being on a first name basis with a patient not only puts us on par with non-professionals, it puts us on uneven ground with physicians, who routinely use their last name and title. Another: let's stop asking physicians and start confering with them; the theory: we work collobratively with them; our input, knowledge, and experience is just as valuable; our work is equally important.
The authors also advocate the importance of reaching out to the media and speaking out about health care issues: through letters to the editor, OpEds, and articles. It's time for the 2.7 million of us to use our collective voice to speak out. After all, who knows more about health care issues than those of us who have actually worked in the field?