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I had the talk with my son

Charmaine Ruddock

This post is written by Senior Fellow, Charmaine Ruddock MS. She directs Bronx Health REACH, a coalition of 50 community and faith-based organizations, funded by the Centers for Disease Control’s REACH 2010 Initiative to address racial and ethnic health disparities.

Last night, I finally had the talk with my 19 year old son. I had to tell him that as a young black man his life isn’t worth much to the people who should protect him and to a system that should hold the people accountable if they hurt or killed him. No mother or father should ever have to have that talk with their son. The son they have raised to be an honorable man, an ambitious man, a generous and thoughtful man. But I had to. And I listened to many callers on the radio station who had to do the same with their sons. I listened to one of the most successful radio and TV personalities and best-selling authors today tell his radio listeners that they must realize that they are not invited to this party, called the United States of America. He told them that they must recognize that the line of the Constitution that speaks of ‘justice and liberty for all’ does not pertain to them. He said he has been a black man for 57 years and that’s what he knows for sure—and that’s what he has to teach his three sons.

I had the talk with my son. I told him if he gets stopped by the police when he is driving he must wind down all the windows, and if it is at night, turn on the roof light, then put his hands, fingers splayed at the very top of the steering wheel. When he is asked for his driver’s license and registration, he should indicate by the turning of his head where it is and then ask the policeman’s permission to go and get it. It was advice I had heard one of the call-in radio listeners tell of the drill practice he does with his college son.

I had the talk with my son. And I felt dirty. I had told this young man whom I have taught—it seems as soon as he came out my womb—about being honorable and what manhood means, to ignore all that I had taught him because, as I told him, I want him to grow old.

So, yes, I had the talk with my son. And it felt like I had emasculated him and desecrated my spirit.

written by Charmaine Ruddock

December 5, 2014

author: Editorial Staff

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[caption id="attachment_5424" align="alignleft" width="100"] Charmaine Ruddock[/caption] This post

Health, Policy

Choosing Wisely: Policy or Professional and Patient Responsibility?

My latest blog post on JAMA News Forum is on the Choosing Wisely initiative that was started by the ABIM (American Board of Internal Medicine) Foundation. The initiative identifies unnecessary and sometimes harmful and costly tests and procedures that should be eliminated or seldom done. The aim is to have physicians and patients use the lists (developed by various professional societies) to have conversations about testing and treating that can reduce unnecessary care. My JAMA blog discusses whether we need policy changes to be able to move more quickly on incorporating these discussions into care, whether through penalizing their use or incentivizing the crucial conversations about what care is necessary and safe and what care is not.

As of October, the initiative now includes the first-five list of nursing-identified unnecessary care, through work being led by the American Academy of Nursing (disclosure: I’m the Academy’s president). That list includes:

“1. Don’t automatically initiate continuous electronic fetal heart rate monitoring during labor for women without risk factors; consider intermittent auscultation first.

2. Don’t let older adults lay in bed or only get up to a chair during their hospital stay.

3. Don’t use physician restraints with an older hospitalized patient.

4. Don’t wake the patient for routine care unless the patient’s condition or care specifically requires it.

5. Don’t place or maintain a urinary catheter in a patient unless there is a specific indication to do so.”

I hope that all health care professionals and organizations will share the Choosing Wisely work with colleagues, health care organizations, and the public.

Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN, Rudin Professor of Nursing

December 5, 2014

author: Diana J. Mason

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My latest blog post on JAMA News

Health, Media Engagement, Policy

Healthstyles on December 4th

In 2011, Vermont became the first state in the nation to commit to a single payer system. It’s to convert to this system by 2017. And while Vermont is a small unique state, proponents of single payer systems will point out that Canada’s national health plan started by one province–Saskatchewan–reforming how it paid for care. So a lot of people are paying attention to what is going on in Vermont. This week’s Healthstyles program opens with co-producer and host Diana Mason, PhD, RN, interviewing Betty Rambur, PhD, RN, professor of Nursing and Health Policy at the University of Vermont approach to a single payer system. Dr. Rambur is one of five members of Vermont’s Green Mountain Care board, a new independent agency that will oversee the development and implementation of the single payer system. Vermont’s success or failure can inform proposals in other states that are considering adoption of a single payer system, including in New York. As you’ll see, it’s not an easy challenge.

Then Healthstyles co-producer Kenya Beard, EdD, RN, joins Diana in talking about health disparities and hypertension with Dr. Carla Boutin Foster, associate professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical Cllege and the Principal Investigator for the Center for Excellence in Health Disparities Research. Her research has focused on reducing health disparities in cardiovascular disease and cancer, with particular attention to the Harlem community of African Americans.

So tune into Healthstyles on Thursday, December 4, 2014, on WBAI, 99.5 FM or online at wbai.org. Or listen to the interview here: