Category: Nursing
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Book review: Florence Nightingale’s Rivals: Nursing Through the Crimea
Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, England Florence Nightingale is best remembered as the founder of modern nursing. She opened her famous nursing school at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, in 1860. Her principles of nurse training were based on her experiences in the Crimean War a few years earlier. In this interesting and well-written book, the author, herself a…
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Alice Fisher: A Nightingale in Philadelphia
Karen EgenesCentennial, Colorado, United States In 1883, the board of the Guardians of the Poor, the administrators of the Philadelphia almshouse, faced a dilemma. The institution, founded in 1732 and often referred to as “Old Blockley,” was a combination of an almshouse for paupers, workhouse for vagrants, jail for criminals, asylum for the insane, and…
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Fibromuscular dysplasia
Victoria TillerGlenview, Illinois, United States Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is a disorder of the arteries, most often affecting the carotid, vertebral, and renal arteries. The interior arterial lining grows abnormally to create intermittent narrowing within the vessel, resulting in “arterial beading” or a “string of beads” on imaging studies. Historically, the condition has often been overlooked…
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Can a nurse ensure a legacy?
Karen EgenesCentennial, Colorado, United States The value of nurses is recognized most often during times of crisis, such as a pandemic or natural disaster. At other times, the work of nurses is unknown to the general public. Nurses who served in World War II describe their work in battle zones, then add the comment that…
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Brigadier General Clara Adams-Ender: A transformational nurse leader
LaTonya JonesChicago, Illinois, United States One of the most coveted military awards is the Army Expert Field Medical Badge (EFMB). It is awarded to soldiers who demonstrate excellent performance of common military tasks while simultaneously exhibiting an expert level of proficiency in applying basic medical care in the field.1 All branches of the military medical…
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Agatha Christie, nurse
Linda CarterCarpinteria, California, United States It is not well known that Agatha Christie (1890–1976), the most published author of all time,1 served as a Red Cross nurse volunteer in World War I. Beginning in 1914, she logged 3,400 hours of supportive care in a temporary hometown hospital. That same year, twenty-four-year-old Agatha Miller married first…
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Working abroad
Julius MontuertoLobogon, Duero, Bohol, Philippines Nursing school in the Philippines is among the most expensive undergraduate programs anyone can pursue. Having the opportunity to enroll in this program is a privilege and earning that nursing diploma guarantees financial stability—but only if we work abroad. Nurses in the Philippines are not well compensated. Every year, thousands…
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Book review: The Woman Who Revolutionised Nurses’ Training: The Life and Career of Rebecca Strong
Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, England When asked to name a famous nurse from the past, the most common name that rolls off people’s lips is nearly always Florence Nightingale. Sadly, many other pioneering nurses from yesteryear remain forgotten in spite of major contributions to their profession. In this new biography, the life of the pioneering nurse…
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Nurse Helen Repa takes charge in a disaster
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “It would not be possible to praise nurses too highly.”– Stephen Ambrose, American historian On July 24, 1915, the Western Electric Company, a technology and engineering giant, had arranged an excursion and picnic for several thousand of its employees. Five Great Lakes excursion boats had been chartered to take them to a…