Rest, recreation, rejuvenation, renewal, recycling, revival, rebirth, revitalization, reinvigoration, regeneration, restitution ... pick 2 R's and walk the talk about your own health and well-being like Dr Christina Jackson, Associate Editor of Holistic Nursing Practice, will do over the next year. For the past 3 years, Chris Jackson has contributed the regular feature "Through a Holistic Lens: Walking the Talk." Her articles on self-care, holistic modalities, the health care system, and holistic nursing practice are exemplars of Holistic Nursing Practice's philosophy of care. Furthermore, Chris Jackson was selected as the 2011 Holistic Nurse of the Year by the American Holistic Nursing Association.
Beginning with the next issue of Holistic Nursing Practice, January-February 2013, Chris will be taking a 1-year leave of absence from writing her regular feature. She is walking her own talk in pursuit of rest, renewal, and revitalization. Decisions such as this are difficult to make. Imagine going through the process of taking a similar step. How can they ever do without you at work? How can you abandon responsibility in the service of your health and well-being? After all, we are nurses-we serve others no matter what. We push ourselves to the edge no matter what, often at an unrelenting pace. So, let's take a tip from Chris and step back. It may be time for you to choose two of those R's and take that much needed break.
Enter Dr Jean MacFayden, a nurse with more than 13 years of experience as a nurse educator and entrepreneur, who will write a regular feature on "Innovation in Nursing" for at least the next year. For the last 10 years, Jean's major interest has been in gerontological nursing and innovation in nursing practice. She regularly teaches in the Innovation and Entrepreneur track in the master's program in nursing at Drexel University. In her role as a teacher and mentor, she guides graduate nursing students through the winding paths of bringing a nursing innovation to market in the service of patients and families. For many years, Jean worked in her own business, teaching homebound older adults how to use computers to stay in touch with the world. Jean's business is just one example of the emerging innovations designed by nurses to keep people healthy in place, home instead of institutions.
Innovation is society's and health care's new buzz word. Health care reform is more about behavior and lifestyle change that influences health rather than manipulating finances. Government and the private industry are in constant pursuit of innovations to improve health care processes and health outcomes. Jean understands the intricacies of making innovations a reality and will share her wisdom, stories, and business acumen with us throughout 2013.
-Gloria F. Donnelly, PhD, RN, FAAN, FPCP
Editor-in-Chief