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News on Nursing in the Media

October 16, 2016 edition

HEADLINES

Just like a woman

New York Times op-ed urges broader scope for Nobels -- how about nursing?

Talk more

Sandy Summers asks Hopkins Nursing graduates to save world

Excessively skilled

Sherlock's Mary Watson is the anti-stereotype

Chronicle of a death foretold

Canadian reports show value of listening to nurses

She does very inappropriate things to kitten posters

The Middle toys with angel and battle-axe imagery

Press Coverage:

"Nurses Storm the U.S. Capitol to Demand Safe Staffing Ratios"

Daily Nurse covers rally with political and nursing leaders, including Truth director

Having an event? Book Sandy today!

Let Sandy help your nurses and students to fully embrace their autonomy to better protect patients

Sandy just got back from speaking in Washington DC, Houston, New York, Iowa and Vancouver and speaks widely to a variety of international nursing groups. Click here to see details and book her today!

Nursing Professors: Get a video-chat guest lecture from Sandy Summers for just $100

Nursing professors who require their students to read Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nursing Puts Us All at Risk can Facetime their class with co-author Sandy Summers for just a $100 donation to the Truth

Please help the Truth help nursing!

It has taken us many months to transition our website to its new mobile format. We hope you enjoy the new look! After this long transition, we will be working hard to catch up on different fronts, and we would really appreciate your help. Here are just a few ways you can help us improve global health through better understanding of nursing:

We rely on your help to move forward on our mission. Thank you!

NEWS SUMMARIES

Just like a woman

New York Times op-ed urges broader scope for Nobels - how about nursing?

pullout quoteOctober 3, 2016 - Today the New York Times ran an op-ed by science writer Gabriel Popkin arguing that the Nobel Prize Committee should expand the scope of scientific endeavors eligible for the prestigious Prizes beyond the traditional chemistry, physics, and "physiology or medicine." The op-ed was published to coincide with this year's Prize announcements, starting with today's award of the Prize in medicine to yet another cellular-level researcher. Today's op-ed makes some of the same points as one Truth About Nursing director Sandy Summers made 10 years ago in a an op-ed advocating a Nobel Prize for Nursing written with nursing professor Kristine Gebbie. "Nurses' achievements merit international recognition," which appeared in the Baltimore Sun on December 8, 2006, argued that there should be a Nobel or equivalent prize in nursing, since nurses' contributions to global health were as valuable as those made in medicine, although they tend to involve broader social and health systems rather than advances at the cellular level...more...

Talk more

Sandy Summers asks Hopkins Nursing graduates to save world

July 22, 2016 - Today Truth About Nursing director Sandy Summers delivered the graduation speech to recipients of Nursing degrees at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing's commencement ceremony in Baltimore. Sandy described her vision of where nursing can go in the future, some of the global health problems the new nurses should consider tackling, and the inspirational value of some of her own nurse heroes! ...more...

Excessively skilled

Sherlock's Mary Watson is the anti-stereotype

mary_abominable2January 1, 2016 - Tonight's special episode of the BBC's Sherlock featured appearances from Mary Morstan / Watson, the formidable nurse and former spy married to physician John Watson, sidekick of legendary sleuth Sherlock Holmes. "The Abominable Bride" consists mainly of dreams the modern-day Holmes has about a case he and Watson confront back in their original Victorian setting. (Spoiler alert below!) The case focuses on the ghost of a wronged bride who seems to commit suicide but then returns to kill the guilty husbands of other women. At one point, it is revealed that Mary has been conducting a parallel investigation for Holmes' older brother Mycroft. She summons Holmes and Watson to a remote deconsecrated church, where those really responsible for the murders are to be found. There, the following exchange occurs: ...more...

Chronicle of a death foretold

Canadian reports show value of listening to nurses

pullout_quote1February 7, 2015 - A short piece in today's Toronto Sun highlighted an admirable initiative by the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) to ensure that nurses play a role in creating new laws related to "physician-assisted" suicide, which the Canadian Supreme Court recently ruled must be permitted. The QMI Agency item features extensive quotes from RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun. She stresses the critical roles that nurses play in end-of-life care and how much they have to "offer to the development of the new legal framework," including ensuring that patients' best interests and wishes are protected. And what happens when nurses' special expertise is ignored in the creation of important health policies? In a January 7, 2014 Canadian Press piece, Chinta Puxley reported that a Winnipeg hospital nurse had warned that "people will die" as a result of a redesigned emergency department waiting room. Months later, a patient actually was discovered dead there, 34 hours after arriving to be seen for a "treatable bladder infection caused by a blocked catheter." Nurse Jan Kozubal reportedly told an inquest into the 2008 death of Brian Sinclair that nurses had voiced concerns to senior hospital staff in 2007 "that the redesign made it hard to see patients in the waiting room from the nurses' station." However, she said, "nobody was listened to." It appears that there were other factors in Sinclair's death, including nurse understaffing. And many hospital staff reportedly saw the man waiting and observed his deteriorating situation. But the sad story shows the harm that can occur when nurses' input is disregarded, in matters ranging from hospital design to broader health policies. We thank those responsible for both of these helpful pieces. ...more...

She does very inappropriate things to kitten posters

The Middle toys with angel and battle-axe imagery

holly_the_middleOctober 2015 - Two recent episodes of the ABC sitcom The Middle included appearances by Holly, a nursing student who presented a mixed but ultimately damaging vision of the profession. In the episodes, the Heck family's hyper-cheerful daughter Sue was adjusting to her first year at college, and Holly was her roommate. Holly was assertive, articulate, and generally just about as far from the dimwitted and angel stereotypes of nursing as you could possibly get. She was also a junior getting her "nursing degree," which told viewers that nurses get bachelor's degrees in nursing. Unfortunately Holly was also a selfish, bitter jerk who admitted she did not like people and who seemed to have skipped ahead to battle-axe status before even getting out of school. Her sexual activity was not exactly naughty, but it didn't show much respect for other people. Viewers were likely to agree with Sue that Holly should not be a nurse and to applaud Sue's apparent success in getting Holly kicked out of the dorm. We realize that Holly's link to nursing was just a plot device designed to exploit the comic potential of a character who was so far from the angel image of the profession. In using that device, though, show creators Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline not only stumbled into the battle-axe, but may have implicitly reinforced the angel image after all. Holly is funny because she seems to be the opposite of everything a nurse should be. That could suggest that nurses should be not merely considerate but also unduly deferential, completely selfless, and traditionally virtuous in their personal lives. And that doesn't help nursing....more...

Press Coverage:

"Nurses Storm the U.S. Capitol to Demand Safe Staffing Ratios"

Daily Nurse covers rally with political and nursing leaders, including Truth director

Sandy Summers speaking at the National Rally for Nurse-to-Patient ratiosJune 2, 2016 - Today the Daily Nurse website posted a strong report by Lynda Lampert about the May 12 rally at the U.S. Capitol organized by Show Me Your Stethoscope and others in support of federal nurse staffing legislation. As the long piece noted, speakers at the rally included several Congresswomen and nursing leaders, including Truth About Nursing executive director Sandy Summers. The piece quoted Summers's remarks at the rally, particularly in explaining the need for ratios by educating the public about what nurses do: "Nurses need to speak about the value of their work [and say] 'I can't possibly take care of four ICU patients, someone is going to die. I can barely take care of two.' So working on safe staffing issues is ultimately joining our mission of working to educate the public about the value of nursing, the work that nurses do to save lives." We thank Lynda Lampert and Daily Nurse.

Having an event? Book Sandy today?

Let Sandy Summers help your nurses fully embrace their autonomy!

Sandy just got back from speaking in Boston, Washington DC, Houston, New York, Iowa and Vancouver and speaks widely to a variety of international nursing groups. Book her today!

Nursing Professors: Get a video-chat guest lecture from Sandy Summers for just $100

Saving Lives book coverNursing professors who assign Saving Lives to their students can Facetime with the Truth

For a limited time, if you teach at a school of nursing and assign the purchase of Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nursing Puts Us All at Risk by each student for required reading for your class, Sandy Summers would be happy do an online presentation / seminar / engagement with your students for only a $100 donation to the Truth About Nursing. Please conact Sandy at ssummers@truthaboutnursing.org to discuss. Thank you! Learn more about our curriculum ideas for professors here.

Please help the Truth help nursing!

It has taken us many months to transition our website to its new mobile format. We hope you enjoy the new look! After this long transition, we will be working hard to catch up on different fronts, and we would really appreciate your help. Here are just a few ways you can help us improve global health through better understanding of nursing:

We rely on your help to move forward on our mission. Thank you!


THE TRUTH ABOUT NURSING challenges stereotypes and educates the world about the value of nursing. Better understanding that nurses are autonomous, college-educated science professionals will strengthen nursing care, education and research, allowing nurses to save more lives.



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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.






book cover, Saving lives

Get a copy of Saving Lives with every $30 donation!

Donate $30 to the Truth now, and we will send you a copy of our leaders' newly released book Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nursing Puts Us All at Risk. Both editions have won American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Awards and Saving Lives has also won an award from the international nursing honor society, Sigma Theta Tau. The book was written for nurses, the media, and members of the public around the world. Many nursing professors use it as a text to discuss nursing in society. The authors donate all royalties to the Truth About Nursing. Order today--paperback or digital--and we will send a copy out to you!






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