Sarah C. Smith

Non proliferative diabetic retinopathy and macular edema

As previously noted, although visual loss usually does not fall below 20/200 in the presence of ME, it may nevertheless be a significant disability. Additional interventions may include referral to low vision clinics, home health agencies, visual loss support groups, and local or regional blindness agencies to aid the patients occupational rehabilitation, coping mechanisms, and adaptation responses in the presence of this potentially debilitating process. Control of blood sugar, blood pressure, and the intervention of focal/grid laser treatments to seal leaks and prevent further edema provide the best chance of maintaining useful vision throughout life. Patient education is paramount to improve comprehension of the condition, recommended treatment modalities, and compliance with prescribed regimens. Assessments and interventions related to knowledge and sensory deficits, anxiety, discomfort, ineffective coping mechanisms, and health maintenance behaviors add a quality link in the multidisciplinary approach surrounding the delivery of care to patients with NPDR and clinically significant ME.

ASORN member Von Best Whitaker elected to American Academy of Nursing

Abstract With this issue of Insight we bring back a special column on People created by former editor, Kay McCoy. We hope you enjoy and find positive motivation in reading about ASORNs collegues.

We do know what nurses do— now we must promulgate it

Abstract We have volumes of scientific evidence that patients get better faster when we give them the best technology, the most appropriate medical treatment plan, and the necessary supports through nursing care. Why then are nurses being targeted by restructuring? Although on paper the business algorithm may look good to organizations, we need to tell our patients and Congress that health services are in jeopardy.

Resources and our future

Abstract We cannot continue to permit the scientific and economic components of health care to have leverage over the aesthetic mastery of nursing interventions and the moral soundness of our duty to assist human beings in achieving good health. Nurses must continue the fight to ensure that each of these components supports but does not replace the other, because they are all interrelated.