BOOK REVIEW
Sara Danielle Hill's book, Hope in the Darkness: A Medical Professional's Guide to Gospel-Centered Care (2019), provides a strong, biblical foundation for our faith. Hill relays the opportunities we have to care for and support others-not through our own strength and wisdom, but leaning on the truth of Scripture, the Holy Spirit's leading, and the reality of God's call on our lives. Scripture is woven throughout the book, enabling the reader to go back and meditate on passages providing hope and truth. The writing and content are sound, providing much to reflect on in our own practice and faith walk.
Hill brings her background and expertise as a pediatric nurse with more than 10 years of practice as well as formative years she spent in Jakarta, Indonesia, where her parents were missionaries. She addresses difficult topics: the reality of sin; the brokenness of our world; and the impact of spiritual forces seeking to steal, kill, and destroy not only our own lives but the lives of those in our care. Hill is honest about the challenges we face as believers and as men and women in healthcare. She is also unapologetic about the hope we have in Jesus Christ and the difference Jesus can make in the life of someone willing to follow him.
As believers in Jesus, we have been provided with spiritual disciplines that can equip and strengthen us. Hill provides insight and practical information on prayer, fasting, worship, memorizing Scripture, and being dependent on the Holy Spirit. We have connection to a source of strength much greater than our own. Hill reminds us of the reasons we have to hope and the promises we can hold onto as believers.
I especially appreciated the author's courage and vulnerability in sharing the challenges she faces in her own practice. She speaks truthfully about the obstacles and hurdles we can create within our practice. She is also candid about the struggles and complexity of what it means to be in a place of calling and the difficult choices we face as nurses. Hope in the Darkness is a book that would support and encourage nurses at any point in their careers.
Hope in the Darkness: A Medical Professional's Guide to Gospel-Centered Care. (2019).
-Christy Secor, DNP, RN, CDWF, NCF Professional Ministries Director
SUPPORT IN UNPLANNED PREGNANCY
Dozens of resources that nurses can share with pregnant patients are listed and described along with web links at the Standing with You website hosted by Students for Life of America, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to recruit, train, and mobilize the pro-life generation to abolish abortion. Resources include adoption, child care, emotional and social support, scholarships and funding for single parents, maternity housing, mental health care, and more. The website also offers information on identifying and managing grief due to miscarriage and abortion. Both pregnant women and single parents can find encouragement and empowerment to continue pregnancy and parent well through stories of others who have done so. Visit the website: https://www.standingwithyou.org/
INFECTION CONTROL EDUCATION
Tune in to Safe Healthcare is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) webinar series that addresses a variety of infection control and prevention topics. These webinars feature CDC and external experts and serve as tools to educate healthcare providers on best practices to improve patient safety. Webinars are free; some offer continuing education.
Examples of topics specifically for nurses:
* Early Sepsis Recognition
* Disaster Preparedness through the Seasons
* Protecting Yourself and Your Patients
* Enhancing Antibiotic Stewardship
* Reducing Infection in Outpatient Dialysis Facilities
The webinar series can be viewed on CDC's Safe Healthcare Webinar Playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvrp9iOILTQayOi5lgk08QDgv3GHROtCf)