Newswise — The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the healthcare system and front-line professionals in ways that were not expected, catapulting the nursing profession into a global spotlight, according to the editorial in the current issue of Critical Care Nurse (CCN).

In “A Tribute to Frontline Health Care Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” editor Annette Bourgault, PhD, RN, CNL, FAAN, offers her personal and professional appreciation for the dedicated clinicians in acute and critical care.

“The world has watched as nurses have struggled under the demands of the pandemic and provided lifesaving interventions; the world has seen and heard how much you care,” she wrote. “People have watched how you have kept up your spirits, how you have persevered and how you have returned to work each day, exhausted, scared, and ready to save more lives and provide supportive care.”

Bourgault writes from the perspective of a critical care nurse with 30-plus years of experience, with family, friends, former nursing students and colleagues who are on the front lines of the pandemic.

She is a tenure-track assistant professor of nursing at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando and a research scientist at Orlando Health. She joined CCN as associate editor in July 2018 and was named editor in April 2019, when she succeeded Grif Alspach after the latter’s 34 years at the helm. A frequent AACN volunteer and manuscript reviewer, Bourgault has been a contributing editor for the CCN Evidence-Based Practice column since January 2017.

A widely published researcher and frequent presenter, Bourgault focuses her research on the areas of critical care, evidence-based practice and verification of feeding tube placement. Her work has been published in many peer-reviewed journals, including CCN and the American Journal of Critical Care.

Prior to her academic career, Bourgault practiced critical care nursing in the United States and Canada in roles as staff nurse, clinical educator and clinical nurse specialist.

“AACN is my primary association, and I’m deeply familiar with its mission, programs and initiatives. I’ve always had a passion for bringing evidence-based practice and research to the bedside and consider CCN to be a valuable resource for nurses across the spectrum of care,” she said.

As the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ bimonthly clinical practice journal for acute and critical care nurses, CCN is a trusted source of information related to the bedside care of critically and acutely ill patients.

Access the article abstract and full-text PDF by visiting the CCN website at http://ccn.aacnjournals.org.

About Critical Care Nurse: Critical Care Nurse (CCN), a bimonthly clinical practice journal published by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, provides current, relevant and useful information about the bedside care of critically and acutely ill patients. The award-winning journal also offers columns on traditional and emerging issues across the spectrum of critical care, keeping critical care nurses informed on topics that affect their practice in acute, progressive and critical care settings. CCN enjoys a circulation of more than 120,000 and can be accessed at http://ccn.aacnjournals.org/.

About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: For more than 50 years, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has been dedicated to acute and critical care nursing excellence. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. AACN is the world's largest specialty nursing organization, with more than 120,000 members and over 200 chapters in the United States.

American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 27071 Aliso Creek Road, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656; 949-362-2000; www.aacn.org; facebook.com/aacnface; twitter.com/aacnme

 

Journal Link: Critical Care Nurse, June 2020