GAMECOCK
The CONnection News and Views from the University of South Carolina COLLEGE OF NURSING
NOVEMBER 2014
Theresa Brown, a clinical nurse and author, recently wrote in a CNN blog, “the Ebola epidemic…..brought nurses fully into the national conversation about how to handle this potential public health threat. For the overall good of our health care system, we need to stay there.” Nurses historically have been on the front line of an epidemic, first to recognize public health and patient health issues, and the first to rise to the challenge of healing others regardless of the circumstance. We have many historic exemplars, dating back to Florence Nightingale’s insight, courage, and valor to address and improve the imposing environmental and public health threats of the soldiers in the Crimean War. Since then, nurses have been on the front lines with cholera, smallpox, hepatitis C, and other similar health threats in past decades. Most of us over 40 years of age remember the initial HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 80’s, that in many ways, mimics the global fear and public panic that we are seeing today with Ebola.
Dean Jeannette Andrews
Inside This Issue Students Corner..................2-3 Faculty & Staff Notes.........4-7 Alumni & Development......8-9 NO LIMITS............................10
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This recent health care crisis has positioned nursing’s centrality to successful health care, and as a result, health care will be better off because of it. Nurses are critical members of healthcare teams in hospital settings around the globe. Nurses are partners in care with other health providers, and patients depend on nursing care for their healing and recovery. Why do people get admitted to the hospital in the first place? Patients come to the hospital because they need, at a minimum, round the clock nursing care. As a front line care provider, nurses’ role in patient care is unrivaled. Because of the level of patient engagement, nurses are often the first to assess changes in a patient’s condition, serve as a navigator between the patient and the health care delivery system, and serve as a guardian for patient’s safety, rights, and privacy. At the College of Nursing, we are thinking about the patients, nurses, and other health care workers and their families from Atlanta to Africa who are personally touched by the Ebola crisis. Our hearts and prayers go out to all. Our nursing education communities and clinical partners around the state are preparing to care for and communicate with the public about Ebola. Our faculty, students, and clinical educators are receiving updates on the latest recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding the safety of healthcare personnel, including the use of Personal Protective Equipment. We are partnering with local and state authorities to increase our efforts to expand public awareness about appropriate measures to take related to Ebola prevention and response. Hopefully, one day soon, we will have conquered the Ebola crisis. However, as history has shown, new and even more dangerous epidemics will emerge over time. Whatever comes, nurses will be there, at the front lines, at the bedside and in the community, caring for our patients and population health. This is who we are and what we do. Jeannette O. Andrews PhD, RN, FAAN Dean & Professor j.andrews@sc.edu
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