Nurses Can Address ‘Diseases of Despair’
Today’s centralized, medicalized system of care is unequipped to handle the surge of patients with “diseases of despair,” such as substance abuse, a recent report states.
Given nursing’s history, it makes sense to arm nurses with the tools they need to step in and address the unmet public health crisis of diseases of despair in the 21st century, according to Patricia Pittman, PhD, FAAN, author of the report and co-director of the George Washington University Health Workforce Institute.
Pittman analyzed the literature and interviewed nurse leaders, policymakers and others to write the report, “Activating Nursing to Address Unmet Needs in the 21st Century,” released March 12, 2019, by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
