In Nursing, Experiencing Trauma And The Resulting PTSD Is A Fact Of Life

As many as one in four nurses experience PTSD at some point in their careers. The stressful environment of nursing can support many the “triggers and traumas of PTSD,” Meredith Mealer, an associate professor at the Anschutz Medical Campus at the University of Colorado, Denver, tells The New York Times. “Nurses see people die. They work on resuscitating patients. They try to control bleeding. They have end-of-life discussions. And sometimes they are verbally or physically abused by patients or visiting family members.”

The New York Times: For Nurses, Trauma Can Come With The Job

In 1945, Dorothy Still, a nurse in the United States Navy, met with a Navy psychiatrist to discuss disturbing symptoms she had been experiencing. Miss Still was one of 12 Navy nurses who had been held prisoner of war by the Japanese military in the occupied Philippines during World War II. For more than three years, Miss Still and the other nurses had provided care to diseased, starving and destitute civilian inmates in a makeshift infirmary at the P.O.W. camp. In the months after liberation, Miss Still found she often cried without provocation and had trouble stopping her tears. She most likely suffered from what today we could call post-traumatic stress disorder, but the Navy psychiatrist offered no support or solutions. Instead, he called her a “fake” and a “liar.” Nurses, he claimed could not suffer the kind of shell shock from war that sailors or soldiers could. (Lucchesi, 5/7)

CNN: National Nurses Week Recognizes The Professionals Americans Trust Most

Nurses consistently rank at the top of the country's most trusted professionals. And this week, America celebrates them. National Nurses Week begins on National Nurses Day, May 6, and concludes on May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale. Here are some facts about the nurses that tend to you when you're sick -- and the week that celebrates them. (Novak, 5/7)

KCUR: As Nurse Practitioners Try To Shake Free Of Doctors, Kansas Physicians Resist

Kansas makes advanced practice nurses ink deals with doctors that physicians say protect patients by ensuring those nurses will collaborate with their more educated colleagues. Nurses disagree. They insist the contracts do little more than limit patient options, allow doctors to fend off unwanted competition, and, in some cases, give them a cut of nurses’ earnings for little to no work. (Llopis-Jepsen, 5/6)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

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