Sir Isaac Newton has been quoted as saying, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Since this is my first official Editorial for the Journal of Emergency Nursing, I thought I might take this opportunity to acknowledge some of the “giants” and others that I have been allowed to “stand on.”
In 1980, I received a call from ENA that my case study about a patient who had taken an overdose of copper sulfate was to be published in the Journal of Emergency Nursing. Dr. Mary Jo McMullen had encouraged me to write and submit this unusual case. Gail Lenehan, the editor of JEN, worked closely with me to get the paper prepared for publication.
Once you see your name and the emergency department where you work in print, you begin to wonder whether there are other things to write about and other ways to become involved in emergency nursing. In 1986, I was given the opportunity to write questions for the CEN exam under the direction of Dr. Pamela Stinson Kidd. Pam also offered me an opportunity to write and publish in her book about trauma care. While working on that book, I met Janet Neff who taught me the nuances of good editing, further enhancing lessons that began in high school. (There is truth that some teachers will change your life, particularly ones who spend their mornings correcting the spelling and grammar in the New York Times before they edit their students' work.)
In 1990, I was elected to the ENA Board and completed my doctoral work. Dissertation writing can assist one with improving writing skills, especially when you are trying to please a committee. In 1993, the dreams of the ENA Pediatric Committee chaired by Donna Thomas and guided by Pam Baker came true when we wrote the first ENPC course. In 1996, when I became president of ENA, Gail worked with me again to develop and write the President's Message that appears in each JEN.
During the 1990s I published several books, including Prehospital Nursing: A Collaborative Approach, which won an American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award in 1994; a review book for CEN and CFRN examinations; and Air and Surface Patient Transport: Principles and Practice. Dawn Drennan Nahlen and the other editors and staff at Mosby, now a part of Elsevier, have provided me numerous opportunities to write and publish.
In 1996, Cheryl Wraa, then president of the National Flight Nurses (now the Air and Surface Transport Nurses Association), offered me the opportunity to become the Co-Editor of the Air Medical Journal with Dr. David Dries. Dr. Dries showed me how clinical based practitioners, whether physicians or nurses, can work together and produce a multidisciplinary journal.
Since beginning my practice in emergency nursing in 1977, I have been fortunate to be a staff nurse, a clinical specialist, and a manager. Throughout all these transitions, I have been able to continue writing. Each new position has brought new giants on whose shoulders I could stand and get a broader view of emergency nursing and emergency care.
As I set off on this new journey as editor of JEN, I ponder on whose shoulders I will now stand. It is the shoulders of the emergency nurses of today who are working as staff, clinical specialists, and managers. It is also on the shoulders of those who provide care in the prehospital environment and transport patients. I will be looking to anyone who is involved in the emergency care of patients, who looks for answers through research, and who works collaboratively with us.
I encourage you to become familiar with the Institute of Medicine's report The Future of Emergency Care in the United States Health System (it can be found at www.ena.org) to find the current and future challenges we all will be facing in order to improve emergency care in this country. I know many of you are doing great things, have magnificent ideas, and have solutions to some of those challenges. The Journal can offer a place to publish your insights, so everyone can share in your experiences.
So, as I begin my new role as editor, I look to stand upon your shoulders for different views on emergency nursing and emergency care. We at the Journal of Emergency Nursing are here to help you publish and share those views.
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