Nurses are often the first to detect a health threat. Closest to patients, communities, and emerging risks, they hear what is said, notice what is not said, and recognize, contain, and respond to the earliest signals of an outbreak. Their frontline intelligence can help identify threats, strengthen preparedness, and reveal both where health systems and processes fail and how to improve them. Protecting nurses also means protecting the knowledge that keeps communities safe. In this episode, guest host Susan Michaels-Strasser, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, of ICAP at Columbia University talks with Amanda McClelland, RN, MPH, MBA, chief program officer at Resolve to Save Lives, and Trish Newport, RN, MPH, Program Manager Emergency Operations, Doctors Without Borders, about turning frontline knowledge into system-wide change.
For high-consequence situations, why is the voice of the nurse so important? They’re the ones that are the most exposed. They’re the ones that are most in touch with the population.
The 2026 Ebola outbreak in the DRC offers a powerful example of what is at stake: some nurses there are confident that they can work to contain the virus, while others avoid even naming the disease because doing so puts their lives and their clinics at risk. The guests make the case that protecting health workers is a systems responsibility, from water and supplies to safe triage and clear escalation criteria, and not only a matter of individual training. “If nurses identify cases, notify them quickly, protect themselves and protect their facilities,” Amanda says, “we stop outbreaks before they even start.” These lessons apply well beyond the DRC; as Amanda points out, the same scenario could unfold in a triage unit in Texas. The guests also discuss learning from outbreaks that were stopped early, nurse-led innovations such as MSF’s ventilated Smart PPE and redesigned workflows, and how nursing associations and leaders can give nurses a platform to speak up.
Guests
- Amanda McClelland, RN, MPH, MBA, Chief Program Officer, Resolve to Save Lives
- Trish Newport, RN, MPH, Program Manager Emergency Operations, Doctors Without Borders
Guest host
- Susan Michaels-Strasser, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology (in ICAP), Columbia University Irving Medical Center; Senior Director, Human Resources for Health Development, ICAP at Columbia University
