Ann Womens Health | Volume 1, Issue 1 | Commentary | Open Access
Pascal J Goldschmidt-Clermont1* and William A Haseltine2
1Department of Medicine and Cardiology, Leonard M Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, USA
2Access Health International, USA
*Correspondance to: Pascal J Goldschmidt-Clermont
Fulltext PDFFlorence Nightingale invented the intensive care concept during wartime, in 1854, thus reducing the death rate for injured and sickened soldiers by more than one order of magnitude. The uniqueness of her discovery resided in four formidable pillars of successful healthcare: organization, prioritization, teamwork and consistency. Now-a-days, nurses constitute the dominant sector of all health professions, yet continue to struggle with issues like barebones staffing ratios, mandatory overtime, and safety on the job. Could the solution be that nurses take control of population health worldwide? Well, in China as an example, the Government will need to fundamentally reorganize its approach to population health management to fulfill its goal of a “Healthy China” by 2030. Not unique to China though, such healthcare overhaul will require the development of Health Systems that are community anchored, from primary and home care to tertiary hospitals, the creation of multidisciplinary care teams capable of assuming lives from cradle to grave, and a country wide, real time, comprehensive, integrated, portable, transparent data management system. A key question in this context is, who should lead and manage population health with such scale. With this paper, we argue that nurses, and preferably nurses with advanced degrees, should be selected to manage population health, and do so across the world.
Goldschmidt-Clermont PJ, Haseltine WA. Evolving the Role of Nursing in the 21st Century: Leading the Team. Ann Womens Health. 2017; 1(1): 1001.