Hello members,
We received an email from a member who shared a opinion letter that was sent to the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle in 2010. Read the full article here.
Though this article was originally published nearly 13 years ago, the lessons contained are still relevant to health-care practice today. As we know, there are many factors that contribute to the life story and experiences of our patients and clients. Understanding how these pieces of the puzzle fit together to create a complete client picture is a key skill of nursing.
An excerpt from the article: "In Jeremy's case, I had diagnosed 'abdominal pain' when the real problem was hunger; I confused social issues with medical problems in other patients, too. I mislabeled the hopelessness of long-term unemployment as depression and the poverty that causes patients to miss pills or appointments as noncompliance. In one older patient, I mistook the inability to read for dementia. My medical training had not prepared me for this ambush of social circumstance."
If you have any articles, op-eds, events, or opportunities that you want to share with the membership, please don't hesitate to reach out. Contact us at mentalhealthnursingRNAO@gmail.com
Thank you!