May 12, 2020
Hello,
Today is the last day of Nurses Week and the birthday of Florence Nightingale (May 12, 1820-Aug. 13, 1910), the mother of modern-day nursing. Although nursing has evolved immensely since the 1800s, Florence Nightingale’s tenet to do no harm remains a foundation for all health care providers today. Moreover, she remains a beacon for all women aspiring to do important things with their lives and careers.
The best way to celebrate Nurses Week is to recognize how central nurses are to the care and well-being of patients and to the functioning of our health care teams. Their hard work, commitment to patients and families and colleagues is even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic.
I recently had the opportunity to talk with Diane M. Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, RN, PHNA-BC, FAAN, interim dean of the UTHealth Cizik School of Nursing, and Toni M. von Wenckstern, RN, MS, NE-BC, vice president and chief nursing officer at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center.
Dean Santa Maria started her career in nursing more than 20 years ago as a public health nurse and Peace Corps volunteer with a focus on disease prevention and detection. The public health side of nursing has never been as relevant as it is today. During the pandemic, Dean Santa Maria is leading faculty and students in an online curriculum, ensuring nursing students are well trained in all areas of patient care. “We are doing virtual simulation, which doesn’t replace hands-on patient care,” she said, adding that she expects virtual modalities will be here to stay. Nursing students are not only learning in a new environment but are also being prepared for a changing health care environment.
COVID-19 has put nursing and other health care workers in the spotlight, which may lead to increased interest in the profession and increased nursing school enrollment. “After something of this magnitude, people can see a career in health care that is purposeful and allows us to give back,” said Dean Santa Maria. “It is critical that we all work together as health care professionals. The more that students from across the health sciences train together now, the better they will practice together in the future.”
Toni von Wenckstern, who has more than 30 years of nursing experience and oversees 3,000 nurses at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, commented that in all of her career, she has never witnessed anything like this pandemic. “I’ve lived through many hurricanes, and the only thing I can compare this to is the early days of HIV AIDS. There was some of the same fear, but we didn’t have social media, we didn’t have the mixed messaging, and it didn’t affect everyone.” She noted that nurses come to work every day and have been very adaptable to change. “Every day, it’s something different – Where am I working? What PPE should I wear? How do I take care of the patients? How do I social distance?”
Touch and compassion are central to the daily work of nurses. With COVID-19, they must readjust, staying 6 feet away from COVID-19 patients. “We always thought of safety, but now safety is at the forefront of our minds,” said von Wenckstern. She added, “Our dedicated nurses keep coming back to care for patients day after day, despite personal worries and the many stresses of work and home. They show up to take care of our patients, our community, and each other. They show up because of their commitment to patients and families and because they believe it’s the right thing to do. I’m just so proud of them.”
Please join me in a heartfelt THANK YOU to all nurses. We are very proud of what you do every single day.
Warm regards,
Barbara
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