Nursing Articles

“I Promised Myself That It Would Happen” What happens when a will the size of Texas faces off with the great state itself.

American Journal of Nursing [Vol. 102, No. 10, pp. 106-7], October 1, 2002

It would be difficult to say where Sister Angela Murdaugh, MSN, RN, CNM, FACNM, has made a more profound difference: advancing the profession of nurse […]

Read more...

So you want to be a CRNA …

NurseWeek, May 13, 2002

A 17-year-old boy went into full cardiac arrest 27 years ago in the emergency room of a rural hospital in Missouri. Respiratory therapist Sally Bass […]

Read more...

5 Minutes with Nancy McDonald: On serving in the Texas legislature

NurseWeek, March 18, 2002

How did you become involved in politics?

Part of our professional code of ethics tells us that we’ll strive to “improve standards of nursing practice and promote … efforts to meet health needs of the public.” I’ve always taken that aspect of the code very seriously.

During the 12 years that I was a hospital staff and head nurse, I was also involved in local politics. During that time, an influx of foreign nurses pointed to the need for a clearer definition of nursing responsibilities in the Nursing Practice Act. After joining the Governmental Affairs Committee of the Texas Nurses Association, we set to work to rewrite parts of the act and then to lobby the Legislature for its passage.

Read more...

Nancy McDonald: Icon of Texas Nursing

Texas Nursing [Vol. 84, No. 10, pp. 3-7], December 1, 2001

[This article was also published in the March 18, 2002 NurseWeek, p. 10-11.] About a year ago, I worked in the same NICU bay at […]

Read more...

Seeking magnet hospital status: a TNA member’s account of the arduous application process

Texas Nursing [Vol. 74, No. 9, pp. 7-12], October 1, 2000

Let’s face it.  The current healthcare environment is not conducive to optimal nurse staffing.  A synergy of factors works to exacerbate the staffing problem:  a […]

Read more...

AISD must retain its registered nurse staff

Austin American-Statesman, June 6, 1996

On the heels of a stunning victory for Austin schoolchildren – the citizen vote approving $370 million in bonds for school improvements – comes an […]

Read more...

U.S. Medical Needs Extend Past Physicans

Austin American-Statesman, January 17, 1994

With the above-the-fold Dec. 26 editorial entitled “Health care reform should draw doctors toward primary care”, the Austin American-Statesman joined the national chorus of plaintive […]

Read more...

Nursing not the place for hospitals to cut costs

Austin American-Statesman, November 16, 1993

The lead article in the Statesman’s Oct. 31 Business section about the problems facing Seton and its new CEO, Charles Barnett, really hit home. The […]

Read more...

Nursing is nursing, not doctoring

The Wall Street Journal, September 23, 1993

Having practiced neonatal nursing for the past 13 years, I am continuously frustrated by this nation’s ability to cure 500-gram infants vis-à-vis its glaring inability […]

Read more...

Empowerment of Advanced Practice Nurses: Regulation Reform Needed to Increase Access to Care

The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics [Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 193-205], February 1, 1993

[This policy article appeared in this law journal the same year that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Task Force on National Health Care Reform met. Task force […]

Read more...