The collage on this month's cover shows five of the most significant public health-related news stories from the past year, as chosen by AJN's staff and editorial board. While we typically highlight just one noteworthy story from the previous year on our cover each January, we felt that the abundance of major headlines in 2017 made for an exception.
This past year has seen two massive and ongoing epidemics in the United States-opioid addiction and gun violence-continue to be associated with numerous deaths, underscoring the urgent need to address both crises. Meanwhile, legislation intended to repeal or significantly weaken the Affordable Care Act sparked protests across the country. Exceptionally powerful storms like hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria left behind widespread devastation from which many regions have yet to recover. And a video showing nurse Alex Wubbels being arrested-after refusing to allow a detective to draw blood from a patient-went viral, pulling her into the national spotlight along with the issue of workplace violence against nurses.
These topics and many others are discussed in "The Year in Review," as well as in this month's editorial.-Diane Szulecki, editor