“Nursing’s contributions to improving the public’s health during times of crisis dates back to the days of [Florence] Nightingale, modern nursing’s founder,” AONL member Janice Phillips, PhD, RN, and Cathy Catrambone, PhD, RN, wrote this month in Scientific American. Reflecting on the current pandemic during National Nurses Week, the authors, both of the Rush University College of Nursing in Chicago, noted nurses in acute care settings are contributing to public health by applying “evidence-informed public health principles to prevent disease and care for some of the world’s sickest hospitalized patients.” Whether leading response teams, engaging in predictive modeling, setting up hospital field operations, managing scarce human resources, or providing direct patient care, the authors wrote, nurses are “front and center” in addressing the current crisis. (Scientific American editorial, 5/4/20)
