NURSING
WISDOM DURING
CRISIS
The
72nd World
Health
Organization
(WHO) Assembly
designated the
200th
anniversary of
the birth of
Florence
Nightingale as
the “Year of the
Nurse and the
Midwife 2020.”
The designation
was intended to
be part of a
year-long effort
to celebrate the
work of nurses
and midwives,
highlight the
challenging
conditions they
often face, and
advocate for
increased
investments in
the nursing and
midwifery
workforce.
Instead, 2020
has been the
year in which
more than 1000
nurses have lost
their lives to
COVID-19.
The call now is
to address
nursing
infection rates
and occupational
exposure –
particularly
governmental and
employer failure
to collect data,
provide adequate
PPE, recognize
COVID-19 as an
occupational
disease, and
value nurses.
Nurses are not
fungible goods
and they cannot
be treated as
disposable. The
corona virus
will not be the
last emerging
pathogen that
results in a
pandemic in
which nurses
will play an
essential public
health role. As
the Frontline
Nurses
WikiWisdom
Report notes,
“Nurses are a
critical
national
resource. They
should be
supported,
respected, and
empowered to
ensure they will
be here for us
when the next
pandemic hits.”
The report
analyzes the
situation
through the
wisdom of
practicing
nurses and
provides
proposed
solutions:
Local Health
Care Solutions
• Adequately
staff all
departments
• Give nurses
the protective
equipment they
need
• Give nurses
emotional
support on the
job
• Ensure that
employee
benefits include
mental health
coverage
• Develop a
comprehensive
plan for crisis
care that
incudes input
from bedside
nurses
• Expand the
role of hospice
care in
hospitals
• Increase
administrative
transparency in
patient safety
• Give
bedside nurses a
place at the
table &
commit to
integrating
their
recommendations
• Require
administrators
and nurses to
“Walk a Day in
My Shoes”
National Level
Solutions
• Create a
pandemic
response team
empowered to
plan for and
oversee response
to the next
pandemic
• Ensure
adequate PPE
through domestic
production and
stockpiling
• Make
quality
healthcare
available to and
affordable for
all Americans
• Expand
access to and
use of
telehealth
• Support a
coordinated and
collaborative
public health
infrastructure
Please read the
report and
listen to these
nurses. As the
report
concludes,
“[H]ealthcare
organizations
cannot continue
to treat nurses
so cavalierly.
Unless nurses
are given the
support they
need and treated
with the respect
they deserve,
they may not be
there the next
time a virus
sends the county
into a
tailspin.”
References/Resources
ICN Press
Release, New ICN
Report Shows
Governments Are
Failing to
Prioritize
Nurses as Number
of Confirmed
COVID-19 Nurse
Deaths Passes
1000
https://www.icn.ch/news/new-icn-report-shows-governments-are-failing-prioritize-nurses-number-confirmed-covid-19-nurse
ICN Press
Release, 2020
International
Year of the
Nurse And
Midwife: A
Catalyst for a
Brighter Future
for Health
Around the Globe
https://www.icn.ch/sites/default/files/inline-files/PR_59_%202020%20International%20Year%20of%20the%20Nurse%20and%20Midwife.pdf
Quentin
Fottrell,
MarketWatch,
Nurses are
Wearing Garbage
Bags as they
Battle
Coronavirus:
“It’s like
something out of
the Twilight
Zone, 4/13/20,
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/nurse-at-brooklyn-hospital-on-coronavirus-protective-clothing-its-a-garbage-bag-its-like-something-out-of-the-twlight-zone-2020-04-07
Frontline Nurses
WikiWisdom
Report, Wisdom
from Nurses So
We Never Again
Mishandle a
National
Healthcare
Crisis
https://www.newvoicestrategies.com/
World Health
Organization,
State of the
World’s Nursing
Report 2020
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240003279
|