On Nursing and Health Care Reform

Longtime reader of MH Blog Annie has an excellent post up at her (group) blog challenging what she perceives as the tendency to discuss health care reform and policy without any mention of nursing and the role of nurses in a new health care regime.  Some excerpts:

Some of the wittiest and most insightful policy thinkers and writers have been discussing where to begin on US healthcare system reform in light of the economy and likely future.

I’ve been reading and doing my routine hair-pulling exercise of having the Google search feature looking for for any mention of nurses or nursing.  As always, the result is zero across all authors, commenters and media venues.

With almost three million registered nurses in the US providing about 95% of all reimbursed health services, how can anyone argue for healthcare system reform while ignoring the largest stakeholder and the profession which directly impacts patient outcomes? 

Indeed.

Her post is chock-a-block with links and is a must-read. 

(Navel-gazing Moment: Admittedly, we do not nearly do justice to the import and role of nursing within the medical humanities here on MH Blog, though, as a somewhat feeble defense, I will note that a great many topics of relevance to the MH receive short shrift on this blog.  Such is an opportunity cost of devoting oneself to interdisciplinary work, which is why I have always tried to note the importance of guest-bloggers to MH Blog). 

Comments

[Paul Maurice Martin]

I think nurses and school teachers may be the most valuable yet undervalued of all professions.

It's a measure of how misplaced America's priorities have become: it's not about children and their future, it's not about our responsibilities to the sick and old, it's about money first, last and always.

[Annie]

Thanks so much for giving nursing issues attention. Maybe someday, but I fear that it's tipped too far over as a failing profession....