Caring and witnessing in an urban poor community through engaged ethnography amidst the COVID19 pandemic

@#In this paper, I reflect on caring and witnessing through engaged ethnography of an urban poor community during the onset of the COVID19 pandemic. The urban poor are individuals and families who live below the poverty line in metropolitan areas, many of whom have little or no political voice and are insufficiently protected by social networks and other institutions. In March 2020, the government placed Metro Manila under Enhanced Community Quarantine to control the spread of COVID19. This left many an urban poor community in Metro Manila to struggle even more against an already precarious existence. By standard, nurses render different levels of care for urban poor clients in almost all health care settings. In public health nursing, we come in close contact to the realities of our clients when we see them in health centers, in the community, or whenever we do our home visits. Now, caring for vulnerable and marginalized groups such as the urban poor has changed due to minimum public health standards of wearing masks, physical distancing, handwashing, and enforcement of lockdowns. As a nurse, an academic, and as a student of anthropology, I came up for self-review while doing an article for a popular social news network derived from a virtually engaged ethnography. While this novel method requires you to see the world through the eyes of the “other,” and generates bioethical dialogue and awareness of personal biases in addressing ethical considerations and challenges, it gives voice and fulfills our roles as client advocates. In May 2020, the article was published with the urban poor organization and its partners as my coauthors. I borrowed from anthropology to arrive at a greater understanding of the socio-cultural effects and political implications of COVID19 to one of the most vulnerable nursing clientele – the urban poor.

Normalizing advanced practice in public health nursing in The Philippines: A foucauldian analysis

@#<p style="text-align: justify;">This study provides a closer look to the possibility of having advanced practice in public health nursing by analyzing the power relations between nursing practice and social structures. Representatives from the public health sector, national authorities, and the private sector were invited in a round table discussion. Transcriptions were coded and later on categorized and analyzed drawing upon the concepts of Foucault. Foucauldian analysis hands an important insight on how social structures and institutions can steer the creation of an advanced practice in public health nursing in the Philippines. Various social institutions view the relevance of a master's prepared nurse according to their societal roles and functions. Requisite competencies of a master's prepared nurse in public health nursing include fulfilling the role of a clinician, leader and manager, supervisor, and a researcher. PRBON, CHED, DOH, and nursing schools need to work together to define the knowledge of an advanced practice in public health nursing, to implement appropriate surveillance mechanisms, and to establish a compliant practice.</p>