I've been excited about this issue since this past spring when I began thinking about what our first issue of 2000 should look like and be about. What if someone picked up this issue in 2050 and wanted to look back on the specialty of home care and hospice nursing? What if they wanted to see how their foremothers and forefathers who blazed the trail before them were practicing at this time? What would they want to know about how we provided care in the home back in the "good old days?" What would they think if they read this issue? Through all this creative thinking, the thought uppermost on my mind was, what if everyone practicing in home care and hospice now was to read in January of 2000? Although many feel the hoopla about Y2K and the new millennium has been overplayed and that it's not really the new millennium until 2001; whether we like it or not, it's more than just a new year. FIGURE
The year 2000 has become a time to reflect on where we've been, where we are now and where we're headed. This is true for all of us as citizens of the world, and very relevant for those practicing as home care and hospice professionals. As PPS and OBQI propel us to a new way to think and work, we need to take time to reflect on our future as well as learn from our past.
What you have in your hand has turned out to be even more than I hoped this issue would be. To publish a snapshot of our past, present and future I asked home care and hospice experts from across the country to share their thoughts on a variety of subjects. Who better to ask than the journal's editorial board and some others whose perspectives I also greatly respect?
I am excited about the important reflections that were written and how insightful the words are to every day practice and other work issues. Even though everyone had a different subject to reflect upon and no author saw the other's work prior to publication, many consistent themes emerged. Concepts such as individual and professional responsibility, expert clinical practice, creative thinking and independent clinical decision making were discussed from several vantage points. You'll also get to see what many of our experts look like as their photos accompany their articles.
So stop reading what I'm saying, and start reading the essays from your colleagues. Additionally, there are other wonderful articles: working with clients from different cultures, our first Innovations of the New Millennium article (look for more in future issues), a home care telephone technology program that really works, and the new Joint Commission standards for 2000.
As our cover so wonderfully reflects, if Florence Nightingale were alive today, she would surely toast this new millennium and all the nurses in home care hospice that practice their profession in the way she envisioned.