Dear Colleagues,
I am honored to be following in the steps of some esteemed colleagues as I assume the editorship of Home Healthcare Nurse. I will do my best to build on the foundation before me and emulate the body of work to date. And-what an auspicious beginning-November is traditionally when we annually celebrate National Hospice Month and National Home Care Month!!
Every month, the banner across the front of Home Healthcare Nurse reads, "The Journal for the Home Care and Hospice Professional." To that end, the editorial themes will be enhanced to focus on those defined areas and others that support interdisciplinary evidence-based practice, and seek to result in improved care for patients.
Just recently we lost one of the leaders and best advocates for hospice care, Dame Cicely Saunders. Not surprisingly, Dame Cicely died in London at that world-famous hospice that she founded back in 1967-what we think of now as the birthplace of the modern hospice movement. Think how far we have come in the past 38 years and what hospice will look like and be in the coming decades. Not that long ago, while I was the director of a hospice and home care organization, folks could not bring themselves to say or spell the word hospice, let alone define what it is and most importantly, what it means to patients and their loved ones.
As we look to the future, Home Health-care Nurse will provide an interdisciplinary calendar of items that encompasses the varying scope of modern home care and hospice practice. Because of the long time-line between submission and publication in the journal, we ask that if you have any 2006 items that you believe should be listed in the new Calendar section, please e-mail those items to me at [email protected]. And so you can plan on reading about your areas of interest and expertise, the sidebar lists the themes for the 2006 issues.
If you have an interesting performance improvement that worked, have a specialized orientation program that team members loved, or otherwise have a topic you would like to write about, I invite you to consider writing for Home Healthcare Nurse. We welcome submissions from readers like you, and the complete author guidelines can be accessed at HHN 's Web site by visiting http://www.homehealthcarenurseonline.com. Think of that unique patient you cared for and thought, "If I only knew then what I know now"-these case studies or commentaries are how we can all learn from your experience. And, if it seems daunting to start writing, review the literature, meet a deadline, and submit a manuscript, identify a colleague or mentor who can be the other half of the goal-together you can do it!!
I look forward to hearing from you about ways that Home Healthcare Nurse can meet your needs and interests!!