MORE ABOUT MEASLES
The 2019 measles outbreak across the United States has roused discussion and dissension about vaccination. One recent quandary has been whether minors whose parents have refused vaccination can decide on their own to be vaccinated. Laws vary among states. In some states, a patient must be 18 before making his or her own healthcare decisions. Other states give physicians the opportunity to decide whether a minor patient is mature enough to make healthcare choices.
In April 2019, the American Medical Association Young Physicians Section Reference Committee resolved to develop model legislation to help states that are developing policies about "mature minors" to self-consent for vaccinations. A mature minor is defined as a person old enough to understand and appreciate the consequences of a medical procedure, as determined by his/her physician.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new Measles Outbreak Toolkit for Healthcare Providers in May 2019, to inform and equip healthcare workers for effective vaccination conversations with parents. Ideas for how to speak with parents, preparing for their questions, and various fact sheets, printable infographics, and posters are included. The toolkit is available online at https://www.cdc.gov/measles/toolkit/healthcare-providers.html. For an informed response to the outbreak, see "Measles and Vaccination: A Resurrected Disease, A Conflicted Response" in this issue of JCN.
STRONG HEALTHCARE JOB MARKET
The healthcare job sector is on track to create more than a million new jobs by 2026 (TheKnowledgeAcademy, 2019). A Pew Research Center (2017) study revealed that 48% of Americans are somewhat worried that their job could be taken over by a robot, and 25% are very worried.
Those in healthcare professions should see strong growth. TheKnowledgeAcademy (2019) noted projected growth by 2026:
* The healthcare sector in America is predicted to have the largest growth, generating more than 1.1 million new jobs.
* The demand for RNs is set to increase, creating 437,000 new positions.
* Predictions for nursing assistant positions (164,000) and medical assistant careers (184,600) are strong.
Those in other American industries may not fare as well. Indicators for the following job markets are the lowest for the number of new jobs by 2020: landscapers (123,300 new jobs), truck drivers (113,800), and maintenance and repair workers (112,700) (TheKnowledgeAcademy, 2019).
Pew Research Center. (2017). Americans' attitudes toward a future in which robots and computers can do many human jobs. Retrieved from https://www.pewinternet.org/2017/10/04/americans-attitudes-toward-a-future-in-wh
TheKnowledgeAcademy. (2019). Health care set to create more than 1.1 million new jobs by 2026 [Press release]. Retrieved from https://www.hitechanswers.net/health-care-sector-to-create-more-than-1-1-million
GOD IS
"God absolutely is! Let us believe and cherish this. God is. It is a wildly untamable, explosively uncontainable, electrically future-creating reality-that God is. And it is a cosmic outrage billions of times over that he is ignored, treated as negligible, questioned, criticized, and given less consideration than the carpet in some people's homes. With God being the most significant reality, nothing is rightly known apart from its relationship to him. He is the source and goal and definer of all beings and all things. Let us, therefore, be a God-besotted people. To know him, to admire him, to make him known as glorious should be our driving passion. Let him be simply and overwhelmingly dominant in our consciousness. If we exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God, then everything must start and end with him, everything must be related to him" (p. 18).-From Piper, J. (2018). Astonished by God: Ten truths to turn the world upside down. Hudson, OH: Cruciform Press.
PulseBeats compiled by Karen Schmidt and Cathy Walker