Creative nursing
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University of California San Diego Health was set to launch its 13th annual Nursing and Inquiry Innovation Conference event in June 2020. However, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic placed a barrier to large gatherings throughout the world. Because the World Health Organization designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, the University committed to continuing the large-scale conference, converting to a virtual event. This article reviews the methodologies behind the delivery of the virtual event and implications for user engagement and learning on the blended electronic platform.
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Community health centers have withstood adversity for several decades. As health-care systems seek to reverse health inequities experienced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), learnings from community health centers demonstrate tangible ways to improve access and health for all. During the COVID-19 pandemic many community health centers have engaged in innovations in services to build on trust and to reach community members with testing and other needed services. Lessons around leading these efforts could support systemic change in the health-care system.
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Allyship is a term used to describe white people who support, defend, and protect people of color and Indigenous people. This article moves past the notion of "ally" as an identity and "allyship" as a course of action into "antiracism" as a lifelong journey. Addressing her fellow white people-and particularly white Americans-the author handles this subject in three parts: (1) admitting that we live in a world that centers whiteness constantly, (2) using reflection to neutralize our defensiveness and understand our own motives, and (3) understanding our responsibility to stay present even when our trauma has been triggered. The article culminates in a reflection on what it could mean to increase our emotional maturity-that is, to "grow up and grow out" of racist ways of thinking, being, and doing.
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The novel coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic is spread by respiratory transmission through droplets and contact. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) including a gown, gloves, and a surgical mask or N95 respirator plus a face shield and/or goggles for health-care workers who are in direct contact with COVID-19 patients. A study in China by Wang found that health-care workers on the front line of disease treatment had inadequate training in the use of PPE, particularly for respiratory infectious diseases. Instruction in the proper use of N95 respirators, with an emphasis on performing user seal checks, as well as donning and doffing, is recommended for everyone caring for COVID-19 patients.
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Mitigation is one approach to addressing climate change, which focuses on reducing carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions. Nurses play a critical role in mitigation to prevent the health impacts of climate change. Recommendations to mitigate climate change in higher education institutions reflect four themes: policy, people, process, and practice. This quality improvement project aimed to mitigate a metropolitan nursing school's impacts on climate change. ⋯ Nurses and higher education institutions play an important role in mitigating the human impacts on climate change through environmental sustainability initiatives. Barriers to adopting environmentally sustainable behaviors and incentives to support these behaviors also need to be examined and addressed in future projects.