Content we're consuming and recommending as editors of The Nurse Practitioner

SPRING 2023 EDITION

NPR: Parents raise concerns as Florida bans gender-affirming care for trans kids
In recent weeks, a slew of legislation has banned or sought to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors in various states throughout the nation. Although this NPR feature focuses primarily on Florida, which recently banned gender-affirming care through the power of its medical boards rather than the legislative process, it raises critical questions that are relevant to every place where bans on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures have been enacted or are under discussion. Despite the vote of Florida's medical boards, the vast majority of experts agree that gender-affirming care is medically necessary. Last year, NPs wrote in The Nurse Practitioner that culturally competent gender-affirming care is “essential" to work toward health disparity elimination, and this year, our friends at Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery published a study indicating that, of 1,989 individuals who received gender-affirming surgery, only 6 (0.3%) regretted it.

Nursing2023 Podcast: Advocacy: What is it good for?
Speaking of bans on provider- and science-backed care: let's move right along to advocacy. Our colleagues at Nursing2023 spoke with Amie Porcelli, an ED charge nurse at Penn Medicine, about nursing advocacy in its various forms. Activism isn't just intended for the benefit of patients, Porcelli says: it's for nurses, too. One area where Porcelli would really like to see change? Violence against nurses in their places of work. “It's this secret that nurses keep," Porcelli says, “that we go to work in fear that we're going to get injured. Every single nurse has a story about workplace violence." She's spent years trying to get workplace violence legislation passed: it is currently a felony to assault medical professionals in only 31 states.

The Washington Post: Why are nurses quitting? Ask the nurse [practitioner] no hospital will hire.
If you only have time to read one of the ubiquitous feature articles on ubiquitous nurse burnout, make it this one: it's an examination of the problem through the lens of NP-turned-social-media-influencer Katie Duke, who uses modern (unconventional) methods to break down why so many NPs are leaving the profession in search of greener (unconventional) pastures. Ask any of Duke's 144K followers on Instagram (@thekatieduke) or one of her podcast listeners, and they'll tell you that Duke leads a moment-inspired movement that encourages nurses to shed their idealized image as tireless, compliant caretakers and do what's best for themselves, whether that's advocating from within the system for fair working conditions and environments that prioritize both patient and provider safety or leaving the bedside altogether. Duke's embrace of the entrepreneurial spirit, among other attributes, captures the post-pandemic nursing zeitgeist. #NPLife #ThankYouNPs

The New England Journal of Medicine: Nirsevimab for Prevention of RSV in Healthy Late-Preterm and Term Infants
Earlier in 2023, the FDA accepted for consideration a biologics license application for nirsevimab, a long-acting monoclonal antibody developed jointly by AstraZeneca and Sanofi, for prevention of severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in babies. A leading cause of acute lower respiratory tract infection—and subsequent hospitalization—in infants and young children, RSV caused rampant sickness in the US amid these populations last year at a time much earlier in the season and with a hospital admission rate much higher than normal. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published these results of a phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of nirsevimab in healthy late-preterm and term infants at the beginning of their first RSV season, and the trial's promising outcome might pave the way for nirsevimab to become the first RSV shot indicated for use in the broad infant population in the near future. This depends, of course, on FDA approval of the previously submitted application.

NASA: DeskFit: 20 Essential Desk Exercises You Can Do Without Leaving Your Office or Home Workspace
We mean “on our desks" literally; we're office workers, after all! Our NP readership works in different segments of medicine and in all manner of settings, and some of that work requires sitting for long hours. For those of you who find yourselves at desks regularly, check out this guide to in-office exercises meant to neutralize the effects of long hours in front of a screen. Take care of yourselves, and better wellbeing—and better NP practice—will follow.

The New York Times Cooking: Beans and Greens Alla Vodka
We mean “consuming" literally as well. Here's a one-pot recipe for busy people that doesn't taste like a one-pot recipe for busy people. We're currently eating this on repeat, with oat milk substituted for the heavy cream to make us feel healthy.​

Image credit: Pexels.