When you head off on vacation this summer—whether it’s for a weekend camping trip or a week at the beach—chances are you will be in an automobile and you will be sharing the road with some 18-wheelers. But have you stopped to think about the people who drive the big-rigs?
While smoking in United States has dropped to 15 percent overall, half of truckers continue to smoke. Roughly 70 percent of truckers are obese, and the rate of diabetes in truckers is twice that of the general population. Truckers commonly experience high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and sleep apnea, and being on the road all the time increases their risk of loneliness, depression, and anxiety. Each of these conditions increases the likelihood of a crash.
What’s being done about it? Nurse practitioners have been stepping up to keep truckers healthy and our roads safe.
Charting Nursing’s Future has been exploring this topic. Reporter Jennifer L.W. Fink, has authored two articles, Nurse Practitioners Help Truckers Keep on Trucking and Nurse Practitioners Help Keep the Roads Safe–Why Not the Rails and Skies?
This podcast was produced and hosted by Jennifer L.W. Fink, and by Charting Nursing’s Future, Nicole Fauteux, project director and senior editor. Charting Nursing’s Future is a publication of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, a national initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
You can listen to the podcast here:
To learn more about the Campaign or today’s topic, visit campaignforaction.org and look for “Charting Nursing’s Future” under the “News” tab.
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