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Why you should use more nurses as sources and tools to get you started

AHCJ Staff

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By Tara Haelle

Patricia Stinchfield, R.N., M.S., C.P.N.P., has just broken a glass ceiling, but it’s probably not the usual one you’re thinking of. As the president-elect of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), she’s not the first woman to lead the NFID. That would be Susan J. Rehm, M.D., from 2001-2004. But Stinchfield is the first nurse or nurse practitioner to lead the organization. Except George C. Hill, PhD, from 2008-2010, every past president of the NFID has been an MD.

Stinchfield’s barrier-breaking position is the sign of another shift that has been occurring in healthcare that needs to happen in health journalism as well: Nurses are finally beginning to get the attention and respect they deserve for work that is very distinct from, but just as important as, that of physicians. Journalists have long relied on doctors as sources for stories, whether it’s for general service health stories, investigative stories, or outside opinions during coverage of medical studies.

But doctors aren’t the only healthcare providers with important insights into patient care or medical research, and they shouldn’t be the only ones journalists turn to in reporting their stories, as evidenced by the #ANursesVoice hashtag on Twitter in January. Yet nurses have been underrepresented in news coverage for years, as noted in a 2018 blog post by AHCJ member Barbara Glickstein, M.P.H., M.S., R.N., and Diana J. Mason, R.N., Ph.D., co-director of the Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement at George Washington University School of Nursing.

“Nurses are the kids in the background jumping up and down and saying ‘Ask us! Ask us! Ask us!’” Stinchfield told me during a recent interview about what a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) would mean. Typically, I would talk to infectious disease doctors, respiratory virologists, and vaccine developers for a story about the RSV vaccine, but Stinchfield, also the first nurse to be a voting member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, offered valuable insights from a nurse’s perspective. It’s a perspective that the COVID pandemic has shown to be more important than ever, but nurses have been there all along, eager to share their knowledge, experience, and perspectives with journalists. All we needed to do was ask.

Since my mother worked as a registered nurse for more than 40 years, you would think I’d have already realized myself how valuable nurses can be as sources, but it wasn’t until this past December that I really recognized what I and other journalists have been missing out on. Along with AHCJ Aging Core Topic Leader Liz Seegert and Naseem Miller of The Journalist’s Resource, I spoke on a panel at the Nurses Media Summit sponsored by the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Nurses from the whole spectrum of specialties were present and expressed their eagerness to be a part of the national conversation on the healthcare issues they have expertise in.

I included nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants as one of the four types of sources journalists probably haven’t been using enough in a previous post, but I only included a handful of organizations in that post. Here is a much more comprehensive list of nursing organizations you can contact to enhance your reporting. Some of this information was gathered from Naseem Miller’s excellent post at The Journalist’s Resource on using nursing sources.

And here is a nursing organizations Twitter list that includes the handles of all these organizations.

Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses

American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nurses

American Academy of Nursing

American Association of Colleges of Nursing

American Association of Critical-Care Nurses

American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants

American Association of Neuroscience Nurses —experts in a variety of neuro sub-specialties including stroke, concussion, epilepsy, brain tumors, spinal trauma, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury

American Association of Nurse Practitioners

American Nephrology Nurses Association — care for patients and families with or at risk for kidney disease, including expertise in dialysis, continuous renal replacement therapies, transplantation and regulation

American Nurses Association

American Psychiatric Nurses Association — experts in substance use, child & adolescent populations, geriatric populations, and serious mental illness in settings that include hospitals, community mental health centers, and private practice; specific initiatives include suicide prevention, opioid use disorders, mental health recovery, nurse well-being, and increasing access to psychiatric-mental health care in underserved areas.

Association of Public Health Nurses — the voice of practicing public health nurses in governmental public health and community organizations, specializing on prevention in communities.

Emergency Nurses Association — includes a government relations advocacy team in DC and a philanthropic arm; conducts original research and publishes the Journal of Emergency Nursing.

Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association — geriatric care, including primary care, acute care, home care and long-term care.

Hospice & Palliative Nurses Association

International Council of Nurses — a federation of 130 national nurse associations, headquartered in Geneva.

National Association of Hispanic Nurses

National Association of Indian Nurses of America

National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP)—the best acronym in medical organizations and feature experts in anything related to infant, child, adolescent, young adult or family health.

National Black Nurses Association

National League for Nursing — for faculty nurses and nurses in education.

Oncology Nursing Society

Society of Gynecologic Nurse Oncologists

Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates

Sigma Theta Tau

Check out a collection of California Health Care Foundation Resources tailored for journalists

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