Ad Campaign promotes nursing careers online

By Carol Lindsay, RN
March 29, 2002

ohnson & Johnson has launched a campaign to address the nursing shortage and bring more people into nursing. Working with health care leaders and nursing organizations, Johnson & Johnson is running a "Discover Nursing" ad campaign and associated Web site [www.discovernursing.com].

The site has several sections, which include answers to the question of "Why nursing?" Also included on the site are details on the nursing market, benefits and salaries and nursing specialties. Under the "How" section, information is available on nursing basics, a nursing program search with links to nursing programs throughout the country, a scholarship search and an additional funding search.

The site also lists profiles of nurses who share their stories of why they became nurses and what they find rewarding about their chosen career.

Journey through the heart

The impressive cardiac site [www.fi.edu/biosci/] explores all aspects of the heart. It offers learning opportunities by doing, seeing and hearing.

The heart is explored through its development and structure. You can follow the blood through blood vessels and wander through other body systems. In-depth information is included about the circulatory, respiratory and excretory systems. You can listen to heartbeats and murmurs, and find out about blood typing and blood transfusion.

There is even a section where you can read healthy heart menus and add your own. The site contains information about how the heart is monitored with details about vital statistics, images of heart X-rays, electrocardiography and exploratory procedure such as cardiac catheterization and angioplasty.

You can view a video of coronary bypass surgery that was filmed using a camera worn on the surgeon's head during the procedure.

Every page you visit on this site links to even more information. If you don't find a reason to use this site for career purposes, bookmark it for the next time one of your kids needs to write a paper on health.

Endoscopy education

The University of Missouri-Kansas City offers a sigmoidoscopy learning center site [www.med.umkc.edu/sigmoid/default.html] that includes sigmoidoscopy case studies and an image library, whichhas a selection of sigmoidoscopy pictures arranged alphabetically by diagnosis. The case studies provide a detailed description of patients' symptoms, pictures from the endoscopic procedure and then ask the viewer for a diagnosis and treatment plan.

This site would be beneficial to nurses working in endoscopy or to patients suffering from gastric problems.

Pediatric AIDS

The Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative site [www.bayloraids.org] is a comprehensive resource for information about pediatric AIDS. The site provides information about programs in Houston, Romania, Southern Africa and Mexico. An HIV nursing curriculum is available to download or it can be ordered in paper form.

Other materials include a booklet, "Options for Treatment: A Guide to Antiretroviral Therapy," a curriculum for prenatal clinic workers and an online video on teaching children how to swallow pills.

Another video called "Kids to Kids" can be ordered for free. This video is designed for peer support and features six HIV-infected children and adolescents who share their experiences with the disease.

The site also contains a pictorial atlas of common manifestations of pediatric HIV infections, a case of the month and nursing questions and answers.