Nurse participation in legal executions: An ethics round-table discussion.

A paper was published in 2003 discussing the ethics of nurses participating in executions by inserting the intravenous line for lethal injections and providing care until death. This paper was circulated on an international email list of senior nurses and academics to engender discussion. From that discussion, several people agreed to contribute to a paper expressing their own thoughts and feelings about the ethics of nurses participating in executions in countries where capital punishment is legal. While a range of opinions were presented, these opinions fell into two main themes. The first of these included reflections on the philosophical obligations of nurses as caregivers who support those in times of great need, including condemned prisoners at the end of life. The second theme encompassed the notion that no nurse ever should participate in the active taking of life, in line with the codes of ethics of various nursing organisations. This range of opinions suggests the complexity of this issue and the need for further public discussion.

Courage under Adversity: Luba Bielicka-Blum (1906-1973) and the Nursing School of the Warsaw Ghetto.

The Warsaw Ghetto was a place where Jews were kept until deportation to Nazi death camps. It contained a nursing school, run by Luba Bielicka-Blum. We explore the contribution of Luba Bielicka-Blum to nursing and specifically, the nursing school of the Warsaw Ghetto by using primary sources of Bielicka-Blum's daughter's archive held by Yad Veshem, supported by secondary sources. We conclude that, despite extreme hardship and abject horror, the nursing school in the Warsaw Ghetto continued to provide the highest level of nursing education possible. The relatively unknown story of Luba Bielicka-Blum and her determination to continue the education of nurses in the Warsaw Ghetto demonstrates the courage of a nursing leader during dreadful times.

The childhood obesity pandemic: Promoting knowledge for undergraduate nursing students.

The rise in childhood obesity is acknowledged as a major health problem in many countries. Health issues directly related to the childhood obesity pandemic are numerous as are the risk factors in its development. No single strategy is likely to be effective in reversing this alarming trend, rather, nurses need to work with children and families by providing education, guidance, and support to promote a change in the many lifestyle factors that have helped to create this health problem. Curriculum, teaching practices and assignment topics based on contemporary health issues of relevance to nursing practice support the importance of educating nursing students on this worrying health issue. The use of a creative strategy to help students learn about the childhood obesity problem can also be utilised to encourage lateral thinking in students. Thus, an assignment can have two significant goals in the development of knowledge and understanding of childhood obesity but also personal discovery of creative ability to design a method that engages children in learning about this health problem and what they can do to avoid its development.

Lessons from the past for contemporary Australian nursing students: The Nazi euthanasia program.

The euthanasia program instituted in Nazi Germany resulted in the murder of 70,000 developmentally disabled adults and children. These murders were sanctioned by physicians but often carried out by nurses. This paper discusses how by utilising this event, contemporary nursing students became aware of historical incidents relevant to the developmentally disabled. They were also able to identify and confront their own values and relate them to their nursing practice. The paper presents an educational strategy that has been employed with undergraduate nursing students and includes reflections from the academic staff on this exercise. Their reactions indicate that they found reviewing this painful episode of history pertinent to them and a classroom exercise of value to both teaching staff and students.