This editorial will be my last, after completing 25 years of stewardship of this successful Journal. During that time, I had the good fortune of having a front row seat from which to watch, and to help chronicle, an evolution of emergency nursing. During that time, the
Journal of Emergency Nursing has matured into one of the most well-respected specialty nursing journals in the country, and, with the help of global giant publisher, Elsevier, opened the door to its pages for nurses on every continent.
It is gratifying to be able to leave the Journal strongly positioned, with well thought out editorial procedures and processes to assist in the transition to total computerization of the Journal. An ENA national survey of Journal readers this past fall yielded exceptional results. Ninety eight percent of respondents indicated that JEN was somewhat, very, or extremely valuable, while almost 100% found articles to be sometimes, often, or always useful/relevant. Through the years, we have enthusiastically (some would say relentlessly) solicited manuscripts, and now countless ambassadors in the field also naturally say, “You should really write that up!”
The Journal now carries almost exclusively original material: real cases—reports of real programs, blemishes and all; and original research. No composite patients, no re-hashes of text chapters. Perhaps in this light, the Journal was just admitted into the ISI*, which attempts to measure the impact of articles in their field. The International Academy of Nurse Editors has lobbied for the inclusion of more nursing journal, as well as medical journals. And finally, in response to our request for a renewed look at nursing journals, JEN and two other prestigious nursing journals were added.
The Journal of Emergency Nursing has become known as a journal with outstanding narratives, and we are indebted to the authors who have set JEN apart in this way. Emergency nurses Farquharson and Baguley described their experience with the SARS outbreak in Toronto in an article (June 2003), and their article remains a touchstone for dealing with any respiratory epidemic. Barbara Fassbinder, an emergency nurse from a rural hospital in Iowa, described what happened after she was infected with HIV, in 1986, through a cut in her finger when she put pressure on her patient's arterial site. She spent the last years of her life telling her story to dispel myths and ignorance and to protect other nurses. With some authors, it was a pleasure to help shape their submissions, almost like editing Hemingway. Award-winning writer and former ED nurse, Cindy Wojtecki's narrative, “If You Stand Still for a Moment …” (February 2004) describing emergency nurses as “Keepers of the Story” comes to mind. And it always was the best gift when a colleague wrote one of those rare, genuinely funny Impressions columns like the one by Myka Clark: “Math Quiz for Emergency Nurses” (August 1995).
I would like to take this last opportunity to formally recognize and thank those who have served as crucial “lynchpins” of the Journal. Managing Editors Annie Kelly, Karen Halm, Marge Sabato, Camille Zumpano, and Deborah McBride. All were consummate, capable professionals who treated authors and members with dignity. The Journal's first three JEN editors—Barbara Herrick, Janet Barber, and Diann Anderson, with past president Millie Fincke in the background—set the stage for the Journal's success. One of the first things I did on becoming editor was to take the Journal from an in-house publication to a large, internationally respected publisher: Mosby, now part of Elsevier. In joining forces with Mosby, JEN had the singular good fortune to have two excellent publishers there: Cheryl Smart for 20 years, and Pat Nornhold for the last 5. They brought their wisdom and enthusiastic support to our Association, as well as our Journal, and invariably treated JEN as though it were the company's only journal.
My sincerest appreciation goes to those who pitched in behind the scenes: Associate Editors Iris Frank, Anne Marie Lewis, Linda Scheetz, and Polly Zimmermann; Assistant Editors Jane Koziol-McLain and Kathy Oman; and the more than 100 reviewers who raised the bar for JEN's content.
The most important job of any Journal is to recognize talent, and there has been so much to draw from within the Emergency Nurses Association, the life blood of the Journal, and beyond. We have “mined” the Association's committees and boards for promising colleagues, such as Jane McLain and Geri Allerman, who had served on the Research Committee and then helped strengthen our research content. We employed a “bottom up” strategy, gathering, first and foremost, a few good women and men, “stars,” to be Section Editors or Editors, and then gave them enough support, respect, and independence that they stayed. Valuable columns were created by colleagues such as Lisa Molitor, an ED nurse practitioner, who wrote the Triage column for 17 years, and Jim George, an ED physician and lawyer, who wrote JEN's legal column for 22 years. Like every Section Editor, they worked on all volunteer basis.
The list of Section Editors and Associate and Assistant Editors includes some of emergency nursing's best, people who came to write one article and then stayed, lucky for us! In 1983, Iris Frank wrote an Impressions column about a well-known police officer who died in her emergency department after a gunshot wound, and has been a part of the Journal ever since. Polly Zimmermann has written a busy column, almost "journal within a journal"—the Managers' column—for 10 years.
But above all, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank all those authors who “stuck with it” during the grinding work of writing, stepping up to the plate to work together with us on revisions, in order to make their articles as specific, clear, and helpful as they could be.
I am proud of the Journal's record of accessibility and of respect for authors. We have always been available for questions and suggestions, and have always treated authors as colleagues. For as long as I can remember, for example, when we had to reject a manuscript, we have always telephoned the authors personally. Often, during the course of that conversation, the article that they could have, and should have, written comes to light, and it has always engendered the best feeling when that second article finally does come in. And I am most proud of the fact that the Journal has advocated for emergency nurses, as well as emergency patients, raising consciousness about occupational illnesses and injuries, from the dangers of needlesticks or latex, to workplace violence.
We have worked diligently to reflect the most positive image of emergency nursing through the pages of the Journal. No initiative has been more fun than featuring the proud portraits of pairs of emergency nurses: a parent and their son or daughter in the “Journal of Emergency Nursing – Serving Generations of Emergency Nurses” campaign this past year. And no initiative has been more rewarding than the tradition of featuring military nurses on the cover of each December issue of the Journal, to remind us all, during the holidays, of their sacrifices.
My work with the Journal has connected me with other advocates and “crusaders” and made me understand and share their passions. Allan Platt shared his extensive experience to show us how to ease the pain of children in sickle cell crisis (August 2002). And Kathy Ribbens eloquently gave voice to a mother who needed to publicize the story of her 2-year-old son who died in Kathy's emergency department. He had choked on a small cheese cube from a commercially available bag of snacks for children (June 2000).
During the Anita Dorr lecture at ENA's Leadership Challenge Meeting 2 years ago, I said that nurses don't need mirrors because they see their reflections every day in the eyes of their patients, and that, at its best, the Journal has been a mirror for their important work. Most nurses do not think of themselves as extraordinary, but I know few emergency nurses who are not. It's been a great honor to hold up the mirror for emergency nurses.
To be honest, after 25 years, I won't miss carrying the burden of relentless deadlines, but will fondly remember the deadlines that were followed by sighs of relief, deadlines that represented minor miracles of team work. I will miss the arrival of each new issue and the excitement of the authors who see their work in print for the first time. And I will miss the humor and camaraderie of Managing Editors and ENA members like Gail Nicoll, past ENA president, Ben Melynkovitch, or Frank Cole, that helped to make the weight of the Journal's work a little lighter.
I leave with hope that my successors will religiously guard the editorial independence and integrity that the Journal has always enjoyed; I hope they will continue to ask, of each and every article, whether it really has the potential to change practice or improve the profession; I hope they will be advocates.
I will continue to be active with ENA on different levels. After attending virtually every ENA Annual Meeting and Leadership Meeting, as well as meetings of the ENA board, and state council meetings during my time as editor, and after working with friends and colleagues on the state level, the company is simply too good to give up.
A 25th anniversary is a fitting point at which to step down, with gratitude to ENA and its many years of support, and best wishes for success to those who follow. It has indeed been a privilege to serve!
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