Johnson & Johnson Notes on Nursing

When Hiyam Nadel, RN, MBA, CGC, gives lectures to nurses, she often begins by showing a roll of tape and asking a simple question: “How many things have you done with a piece of tape - making modifications to equipment that wasn’t working quite right?” Image

Rebecca S. Koszalinski, PhD, RN, CRRN, CMSRN, was inspired to become a nurse after experiencing a nurse’s care during her own health journey.

Show your support for nurse innovators who are #ChangingHumanHealth with our custom “Nurses Change Lives” Facebook frame.

Many parents across the U.S. struggle with behavioral issues in their young children, and they are often unaware of the many factors that can influence such issues. What if some of these behavioral issues are caused in part by disparities found in their communities? This question led three nurse researchers – Deborah Gross, DNSc, RN, FAAN, Christine Garvey, PhD, RN, and Wrenetha Julion, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN – to develop the Chicago Parent Program at the Rush University College of Nursing in Chicago, Ill.

There are many factors that influence the path nurses take not only as professionals, but also as individuals, in pursuit of a way to make a difference in the things they believe in. As a nurse researcher, educator, and leader of the recent National League for Nursing (NLN) "Diversity & Inclusion: Facilitating Race-Related Discourse that Matters" workshop, Kenya V. Beard, EdD, AGACNP-BC, NP-C, CNE, ANEF, FAAN, demonstrates the many reasons why nurses should work to influence and inspire change in policy and practice.

As the healthcare system in the United States continues to evolve, nurses are continuing to play a larger role in providing comprehensive healthcare to patients in vulnerable areas. Not only are organizations like Family Practice and Counseling Network (FPCN) working to make care available to those in low-income and underserved communities, they’re also working to ensure that care takes into consideration a patient’s complete wellness and gives them access to knowledgeable experts so they can thrive.

Boasting a wide-ranging scope of practice and significant presence in patient care, nurses make up the largest percentage of the nation’s healthcare workforce. The demand for nurses continues to grow; however, an estimated 17.5 percent of nurses leave their first nursing job within the first year, often due to a lack of development programs in place to help recent nursing graduates navigate the transition between academic and clinical settings.

As an assistant professor at the Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON) and recipient of a 2017-18 Fulbright Global Scholar Award, Lori A. Spies, PhD, RN, exemplifies how a career in nursing can create additional opportunities to change the world at the global scale.

In November 2017, the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) School of Nursing Simulation Center introduced an addition to its inventory of cutting-edge technology: Robo-Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (RoboAPRN). The robot is part of the program’s “RoboAPRN: Telepresence Robots in Healthcare Education” project, which introduces student nurses to remote telehealth technology.

Imagine if Florence Nightingale hadn’t worked to improve the standard of the sanitary practices used in hospitals, or if Sister Jean Ward never discovered that sunlight helped treat jaundice in newborns. Throughout history, nurses have been on the front lines of care, profoundly transforming health through the creation of new innovations that ultimately changed the standard of care to this day. By caring for the sick when others won’t, identifying smarter and better ways to heal, and developing life-saving methods, nurses are important facilitators of health across the globe. Still, many people don’t recognize the role nurses play in changing the trajectory of human health.

On September 29, 2018, the Global Citizen Festival in New York, N.Y., brought together thousands of Global Citizens, advocates, activists, celebrities, policymakers, non-government organizations, and corporations who share one common goal: to end extreme global poverty, by taking action on key challenges around the world related to health, education, and equality. As a global leader focused on profoundly changing the trajectory of human health, Johnson & Johnson served as Global Citizen’s Major Health Partner for the third consecutive year to raise awareness of the critical importance of front line health workers, including nurses, in increasing access to essential care around the world.

Throughout history, nurses have played an outsized role in interacting with patients, with critical roles in prevention, education, treatment, and recovery. Supporting nurses has been at the heart of our work at Johnson & Johnson since 1897, from employment to platforms, partnerships, training, and scholarships. Today, we work to change the trajectory of human health and firmly believe that nurses — 3.2 million strong in the United States — are the backbone of our healthcare system.