Writing Letters to the Editor, Editorials, and Op-Ed Essays (Part I)

Nurses have indispensable observations and views about health care, but their voices are often under-represented in the mainstream media. One reason for this is that nurses are busy people with many competing commitments. Taking the time to craft a written response to a current issue in a timely fashion may seem a daunting task. This …

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Writing Letters to the Editor, Editorials, and Op-Ed Essays (Part II)

Template for a Letter to the Editor Establish the context for your letter (the issue, article, report, editorial, op-ed essay that you are responding to). Example: Your April 30 article by Jane Smith (“Physician Shortage Ahead”) ignored a vital healthcare profession that is already filling primary care gaps. Establish your credibility (credentials or experience). Example: …

Writing Letters to the Editor, Editorials, and Op-Ed Essays (Part III)

Template for an Editorial or Op-Ed Essay The op-ed essay is longer than a letter to the editor, so you can devote more space to the introductory paragraph and develop your points in greater detail. It may be less time sensitive, though it still focuses on issues in the news. Establish the context for your …

Times Articles–Your Response?

Two articles in today's New York Times cry out for a response from nurses. "Doctor Shortage Likely to Worsen with Health Law" mentions the word "nurse" once but fails to discuss the role of the APRN http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/health/policy/too-few-doctors-in-many-us-communities.html "What Can Mississippi Learn from Iran" begins with an extended anecdote of a visiting nurse in Mississippi's HealthConnect …

CFS: JAMA

Journal of the American Medical Association seeks essays and creative writing, as well as original research. Categories include: Commentary. These papers may address virtually any important topic in medicine, public health, research, ethics, health policy, or health law and generally are not linked to a specific article. Commentaries should be well focused, scholarly, and clearly …

Nurse in the House?

Writing in today's New York Times op-ed pages, Theresa Brown calls for federal action to increase hiring of nurses: Doctors can indeed be heroes. But when a patient takes a sudden turn for the worse, it’s the nurses who are usually the first to respond. Each patient has a specific nurse assigned to watch over …