President-elect Joe Biden unveiled a task force of 13 physicians, public health experts, academics and commissioners Nov. 9 to help guide COVID-19 response. In an opinion piece published by CNN Nov. 15, two nurse practitioners in the New York City area argue nurses can provide valuable expertise and should also be included in the group.
"Biden stated that the team will assist in translating his Covid-19 plan into action, advising him on every detail of a complex, multifaceted framework 'built on a bedrock of science... that keeps compassion, empathy and care for every American at its core,'" begins the opinion piece, written by Lauren Ghazal, a PhD candidate at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing and Caroline Dorsen, PhD, associate dean of advanced practice and clinical partnerships at Rutgers University School of Nursing.
But nurses are missing from the task force, they wrote.
Moving forward, the nurse practitioners called on the incoming administration "to recognize and acknowledge nurses as public health experts who will add a unique and important perspective to this critical work."
Dr. Dorsen and Ms. Ghazal also noted the front-line perspectives and communication nurses bring to the table and said nurses on the Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board will provide insight on why more nurses are needed during the pandemic, and will understand the staffing problems healthcare facilities are facing.
Read the full piece here.
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