Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

40 NURSING SPOTLIGHT Viewpoint: White House COVID-19 task force needs a nurse By Gabrielle Masson T he White House coronavirus task force should include a nurse to help make the best pub- lic health decisions, according to an op-ed penned by Anna Dermenchyan, RN, PhD, and Kristen Choi, RN, PhD. Dr. Dermenchyan, a critical care nurse and director in the Department of Medicine Quality at University of California, Los Angeles Health, along with Dr. Choi, a psychiatric nurse and assistant professor at the UCLA School of Nursing, authored the piece published by The Hill. Amid the pandemic, working as a nurse has become more hazardous and stressful, the authors wrote. ough many nurses have died from virus-related com- plications, nurses across the U.S. continue to show up every day and serve on the front line of the pandemic. Nurses, the largest healthcare profession in the U.S., are oen le out of important decision-making that affects their lives and work. To respond adequately to the pandemic, nurses should be added to all health-related commissions, panels and task forces, according to Drs. Dermenchyan and Choi. e authors detailed numerous reasons nurses should be included in COVID-19 response teams, including: • e public trusts nurses. e public has selected nurses as the most honest and ethical profession for 18 consecutive years. • Nurses' work is diverse. Nurses care for in- dividuals, families, groups, communities and populations of all ages. ese unique insights can benefit public health planning, public education, resource allocation decisions and community infection prevention measures. • Nurses promote and protect patient health and safety using evidence-based practice. Nurses across the nation are urging policymakers to properly supply healthcare workers with personal protective equipment to protect patients and staff. • Nurses are committed to patient health, not cost, politics, shareholders, profits, appearances or other competing incentives. n Virginia nurse creates free pantry for colleagues By Mackenzie Bean A Virginia hospital nurse created a free pantry to help col- leagues struggling to buy food or other household items during the pandemic, reported CNN. Stacy Mason has worked as an intensive care unit nurse at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg more than seven years. She created the pantry in May after hearing that some healthcare workers in the ICU were having a hard time finding such items as diapers and sanitary wipes. The initiative started in the ICU but quickly expanded to the whole health system. "Our ICU is truly like a family, especially now more than ever. When this started happening, we began looking after one another," Ms. Mason told CNN. "So I thought, if we can do this as an ICU, why can't we do this for the hospital and the whole health care system?" The health system has since opened three permanent donation and pick-up locations across its facilities stocked with nonperishable food, baby products and toiletries donated by the local community. Ms. Mason said she plans to keep the pantry open even after the pandemic ends. n Sinai Health, DePaul University to target health disparities in Chicago By Kelly Gooch S inai Health System and DePaul University, both based in Chica- go, will create a research institute to address health and social inequities in the city, the institutions announced Aug. 31. Sinai and DePaul said the institute will conduct research based on input from local community members, leaders and organizations. They also will collaborate on educational, clinical and community programs to address inequities. "Sinai and DePaul both share more than a century of commitment to serving Chicago," Sinai President and CEO Karen Teitelbaum said in a news release. "This collaboration is an extension of our shared mission to understand the needs of our communities and develop people and programs that will offer real solutions to ad- dress inequity and move the needle for social justice." Sinai Health System's research arm, Sinai Urban Health Institute, and DePaul also will offer DePaul students research opportunities and job-shadowing clinical internships, according to Salma Gha- nem, DePaul's interim provost. DePaul faculty will provide expertise and new research opportu- nities to Sinai, officials said. Sinai Health and DePaul also will work together on research and grant applications and share public health data, online resources and technical expertise. n

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