When One Door (or Window) Closes…

After quite a bit of thought about threads that tie the themes and articles of this issue together … it hit me. I mean the top glass panel of an ancient storm window at the back of my 1860s rowhouse. There was, for instance, the idea of teamwork raised by my furious wife, who reminded me that when working with heavy and notoriously balky objects above one’s head, it is good to have a backup.

A more worthy example might be the leadership and teamwork displayed during a first-of-its-kind Nursing Ethics Summit led by Cynda Rushton, PhD, RN, fast becoming a national figure on matters crucial to nursing and healthcare (“Ethics in the Time of Ebola”). Or the school simulations team that, in a time of hard-to-find clinical placements, teaches student nurses the footwork and the teamwork they’ll need in real life (“Playing a Bigger Part”). It is in Howard County General Hospital bidding farewell to Kathy Herman, part of the surgical team’s “ballet” for so many years (“Operation Last Dance”).

We could also talk about hope: There’s the effort at JHH to help terminal patients embrace the time left (“A Time to Refocus”); nurses who have served as living organ donors to strangers (“To Give and Receive”); or a tireless effort to gather supplies for nurses fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone (“A Package Deal”).

With a clear head and conscience—my wife held the homicidal frame aloft while I inserted the screw and the storm is thus no longer a danger to those below—I can tell you that this is a rich issue of Johns Hopkins Nursing magazine, so much so that we’ve had to hold a few articles back for Spring 2015. They’ll serve as a head start … or a starting place for the next person, should your friendly neighborhood editor get any more smart ideas about hanging out windows.

Steve St. Angelo