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The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a 501(c)(6) professional organization to advance and protect the profession of nursing. It started in 1896 as the Nurses Associated Alumnae and was renamed the American Nurses Association in 1911. It is based in Silver Spring, Maryland and Jennifer Mensik Kennedy is the current president.
A needlestick injury is the penetration of the skin by a hypodermic needle or other sharp object that has been in contact with blood, tissue or other body fluids before the exposure. Even though the acute physiological effects of a needlestick injury are generally negligible, these injuries can lead to transmission of blood-borne diseases, placing those exposed at increased risk of infection from disease-causing pathogens, such as the hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Among healthcare workers and laboratory personnel worldwide, more than 25 blood-borne virus infections have been reported to have been caused by needlestick injuries. In addition to needlestick injuries, transmission of these viruses can also occur as a result of contamination of the mucous membranes, such as those of the eyes, with blood or body fluids, but needlestick injuries make up more than 80% of all percutaneous exposure incidents in the United States. Various other occupations are also at increased risk of needlestick injury, including law enforcement, laborers, tattoo artists, food preparers, and agricultural workers.
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Health advocacy or health activism encompasses direct service to the individual or family as well as activities that promote health and access to health care in communities and the larger public. Advocates support and promote the rights of the patient in the health care arena, help build capacity to improve community health and enhance health policy initiatives focused on available, safe and quality care. Health advocates are best suited to address the challenge of patient-centered care in our complex healthcare system. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) defines patient-centered care as: Health care that establishes a partnership among practitioners, patients, and their families to ensure that decisions respect patients’ wants, needs, and preferences and that patients have the education and support they need to make decisions and participate in their own care. Patient-centered care is also one of the overreaching goals of health advocacy, in addition to safer medical systems, and greater patient involvement in healthcare delivery and design.
Founded in 1891, Lowell General Hospital is an independent, not-for-profit community hospital serving the Greater Lowell area and surrounding communities. With two primary campuses located in Lowell, Massachusetts, Lowell General Hospital offers a full range of medical and surgical services for patients. Lowell General Hospital is a member of the Voluntary Hospitals of America. Lowell General is affiliated with Tufts Children's Hospital in Boston.
Nursing is a profession within the healthcare sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other healthcare providers by their approach to patient care, training, and scope of practice. Nurses practice in many specialties with differing levels of prescription authority. Nurses comprise the largest component of most healthcare environments; but there is evidence of international shortages of qualified nurses. Nurses collaborate with other healthcare providers such as physicians, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, and psychologists. There is a distinction between nurses and nurse practitioners; in the U.S., the latter are nurses with a graduate degree in advanced practice nursing, and are permitted to prescribe medications unlike the former. They practice independently in a variety of settings in more than half of the United States. Since the postwar period, nurse education has undergone a process of diversification towards advanced and specialized credentials, and many of the traditional regulations and provider roles are changing.
Margretta (Gretta) Madden Styles, EdD, RN, FAAN was an American nurse, author, educator and nursing school dean who conceived and helped establish national standards for certifying nurses in pediatrics, cardiology and other medical specialties. Dr. Styles was the president of the American Nurses Association from 1986 to 1988, and wrote five books and many articles published in medical journals.
Teresa Thomas "Terry" Fulmer, is the current president of The John A. Hartford Foundation. Earlier positions include distinguished professor and dean of the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University and dean of the College of Nursing at New York University. She is known for her extensive research in geriatrics and elder abuse. She has received funding from the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Nursing Research and other foundations for her research regarding elder abuse.
Ebola virus disease in the United Kingdom has occurred rarely in four cases to date, namely three health workers returning from treating victims of the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa in 2014 and 2015, and a single case in 1976, when a laboratory technician contracted the disease in a needlestick injury while handling samples from Africa. All cases recovered. As of 2022, no domestic transmission of Ebola has occurred in the United Kingdom.
Patient-initiated violence is a specific form of workplace violence that affects healthcare workers that is the result of verbal, physical, or emotional abuse from a patient or family members of whom they have assumed care. Nurses represent the highest percentage of affected workers; however, other roles include physicians, therapists, technicians, home care workers, and social workers. Non clinical workers are also assaulted, for example, security guards, cleaners, clerks, technicians. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration used 2013 Bureau of Labor Statistics and reported that healthcare workplace violence requiring days absent from work from patients represented 80% of cases. In 2014, a survey by the American Nurses Association of 3,765 21% of nurses and nursing students reported physical abuse and over 50% reported verbal abuse within a 12-month period. Causes for patient outbursts vary, including psychiatric diagnosis, under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or subject to a long wait time. Certain areas are more at risk for this kind of violence including healthcare workers in psychiatric settings, emergency or critical care, or long-term care and dementia units.
Linda Burnes Bolton is an American nurse and healthcare administrator. She is the vice president and chief nursing officer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and has served as president of the American Academy of Nursing, the American Organization of Nurse Executives and the National Black Nurses Association. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Barbara Thoman Curtis, RN was an American nurse and activist. She received several awards for her work in nursing and healthcare, including induction into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame in 2014.
Christine I. Mitchell is an American filmmaker and bioethicist and until her retirement in September 2022, the executive director of the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School (HMS).
Joanne Disch is an American professor ad honorem of nursing at University of Minnesota School of Nursing. She is best known for her contributions improving patient safety, health administration, and nurse-physician relationships.
Ida Maud Cannon was an American social worker, who was Chief of Social Service at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1914 to 1945.
Joyce Catherine Clifford was a founder of the primary nursing model which was later applied to many hospitals because it reduced medical errors and improved survival rates.
Margaret Frances "Peggy" Ferro was an American healthcare activist and nurse's aide. Her efforts led to laws requiring the use safety syringes in hospitals and other medical settings.
References
- ↑ Mitiguy, Judith S. (April 2000). "Karen Daley - an emergency nurse advocate for other nurses". Journal of Emergency Nursing . 26 (2): 190–192. doi:10.1016/S0099-1767(00)90071-0. PMID 10748401 . Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- ↑ "Nursing advocate Karen Daley of Cotuit to give commencement speech at Curry College".
- ↑ Rasicot, Julie. "Sharp lookout". Bethesda Magazine . No. May–June 2011. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- 1 2 3 Friedel, Linda (July 3, 2012). "ANA re-elects Karen Daley as president". The Kansas City Nursing News. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- ↑ "Delegates re-elect Daley as president, elect nurses for other ANA posts". American Nurses Association. August 6, 2012. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- 1 2 "Karen Daley | SPH | Boston University". School of Public Health. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- ↑ "ANF Board of Trustees". American Nurses Foundation. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- ↑ "Top 25 Women in Healthcare - 2013". Modern Healthcare. 6 April 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2014.