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Nurses Play Increased Role in Health Care Design

With the surge in new health care facility construction nationwide, nurses are realizing more opportunities to contribute to the overall design process. Thousands of medical facilities were built nearly half a century ago and have not been modernized to keep up with current demands, often creating inefficient and cumbersome work environments.

Previously, as a principal at NTDStichler Architects, Inc., Jaynelle Stichler, DNSc, RN, FACHE was instrumental in the strategic planning, design and development of several large women's hospitals, including Mary Birch Women's Hospital at Sharp Hospital in San Diego, Calif. and the Prentice Women's Hospital at Northwestern University in Chicago.

"Interest among nurses about health care design, and their roles in influencing designs that enhance the work environment and ensure patient safety is one of the most explosive growth areas in nursing right now," said Stichler, associate professor at the San Diego State University School of Nursing. "Evidence-based design is an emerging science that touches many disciplines, and who better than nurses to provide direction in the design of patient care environments?"

Stichler also works with the Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design (NIHD) to research the effect of using learning modules to enhance nurses' understanding of the design process and promote their role in it. Dr. Stichler also provides strategic planning, organizational assessment and improvement, and evidence-based design services to health care systems through her own consulting firm.

A well-designed health care environment can positively impact the performance of staff as well as the morale of patients and their families. Extensive research has shown a strong link between facility design and improved patient outcomes, such as patient safety and satisfaction, lower infection rates and noise levels, and better quality of care.

By using evidence-based design, collaborators--such as architects, engineers, designers, project managers, doctors and nurses--can work together to determine how various design elements such as space, lighting, and color will affect the human experience in a particular environment.

"Nursing is a very diverse profession that gives us the opportunity to influence many different areas of health care," says Stichler. By gaining a firm understanding of evidence-based research and design, nurses will be able to help mold the future of health care for the next generation.

For more information on health care design, visit http://www.nursingihd.com/ or http://www.healthdesign.org/.


Affairs of the Heart Drive Nurse Scientists

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death for women and men in the United States. Now, a recent study by the American Heart Association shows that preventing and treating the disease in women requires different approaches than those used for men. In fact, this new evidence has led the organization to update prevention guidelines, published in its Circulation journal, for how women should guard against heart disease and stroke.

In the nursing profession, nurses are increasingly involved in conducting ground breaking medical research and developing guidelines for disease prevention and health maintenance.

Presently, nurse scientists working with the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) continue to play an integral role in cardiac research.

In addition, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing are leading studies to improve cardiac and circulatory health, as well as evaluate the overall health of at-risk communities.

While research-based strategies that emphasize lifestyle changes have contributed to a decline in heart disease deaths, more work must be done to gain a deeper understanding of gender-related risks, heart attack symptoms, management and recovery, and related cardiovascular conditions.

"Nurses are on the frontline of health care," said Andrea Higham, director, The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing's Future. "It makes sense for them to be involved in cutting-edge research that will ultimately lead to better quality of care for patients as well as advancements in the health care industry."

The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing's Future has developed a video on nurse scientists that features real life nurse scientists, who share their own experiences and offer insight into this nursing specialty. A copy of the video, which can also be viewed on Google (click here), can be ordered for free online at discovernursing.com.

For more information on nurse scientists/researchers, visit http://www.ninr.nih.gov/ or discovernursing.com.



Ann K., RN
Pulmonary/Critical Care and Research
Bethesda, MD

I wanted to be a nurse from the time I was a child. In fact, at the age of five, I was so committed to learning the things a nurse needs to know that I tricked my sister into letting me poke her with a sewing needle! Nursing is everything I expected and more. There is nothing more satisfying than being able to say that you've helped a person who is suffering or lonely. One patient in particular sticks in my mind--an elderly man who required ventilatory support following surgery. Because he had emphysema he could not be weaned from the ventilator. For three months, I took care of him during every shift and got to know him and his family very well. We tried everything we could to help him breathe without the ventilator. Finally, he and his family decided that it was time to take the ventilator away and let nature take its course. I kept him as comfortable as possible while he died, and the experience spurred me to specialize in pulmonary nursing so that I could help prevent others from suffering the same fate.



Promise of Nursing Gala for Massachusetts

Date: March 14, 2007
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: The Westin Copley Place

For additional information or to reserve media credentials, please contact Lorie Kraynak at 732-524-1716 or lkraynak@corus.jnj.com.

Nursing Shortage

KHUF, Houston Public Radio
Thursday, February 1, 2007
By Capella Tucker

A national effort to increase the number of nurses is coming to Houston. The   Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing's Future is raising money here to help those interested in going into the nursing field.

To view a transcript of this story in its entirety, click here.