1. The 10 Most Popular Posts in 2013 on the
Human Capital Blog
Presented by the RWJF Human Capital Network

2. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Human Capital Blog is a
forum for sharing the work and ideas of the portfolio’s leaders and
grantees, and for stimulating discussion about the challenges of
building a diverse, well-trained health care workforce that meets
the nation’s current and emerging needs.
This presentation features the 10 most-read posts from 2013.

3. The 10 Most-Read Blog Posts
A Closer, More Dispassionate Look at Obesity
A Chief Nursing Officer Who Does Not Have a BSN-Only Hiring Policy in Place
“Of All the Forms of Inequality, Injustice in Health Care is the Most Shocking and Inhumane”
The Affordable Care Act and Physician Supply
Physician Turnover at Highest Rate Since 2005
Alcohol and Life Expectancy: Unraveling the Mystery of Why Nondrinkers Have Higher Risk of Premature Death
“It’s a Lil’ Colored Girl to See You”
Heroic Nurse—The Last Surviving ‘Angel of Bataan and Corregidor’—Passes Away
Tootsie’s Story: Medical Error Takes a Life (Part I and II)

4. A Closer, More Dispassionate Look at Obesity
RWJF Scholar in Health Policy Research alumna
Abigail Saguy, PhD, discusses how fatness went from
being considered a fashion problem to a social problem,
a medical problem, and finally the public health crisis
we see it as today. She says social perceptions of weight
have affected medical interpretations, and shares her
concern that some efforts to promote healthy lifestyles
will exacerbate weight-based discrimination.

5. A Chief Nursing Officer Who Does Not Have a
BSN-Only Hiring Policy in Place
In a blog that is both personal and provocative, RWJF
Executive Nurse Fellow alumnus Jerry Mansfield,
PhD, RN, shares his journey to become a nurse, the
setbacks he overcame, and how he has fulfilled his
commitment to lifelong learning. He also addresses how
he reconciled his support for the Institute of Medicine’s
future of nursing education recommendations with the
steps he had to take to meet demand for nurses at his
institution.

6. “Of All the Forms of Inequality, Injustice in Health
Care is the Most Shocking and Inhumane”
This Martin Luther King, Jr. Day blog, by RWJF Nurse
Faculty Scholars Nalo Hamilton, PhD, RN, WHNP/ANPBC, and Cheryl Woods Giscombé, PhD, RN, PMHNP-BC,
provides a close look at the staggering cost of ethnic health
disparities to the nation—and a plea to end those disparities.
The headline is a quote from Dr. King himself.

7. The Affordable Care Act and Physician Supply
This blog post reports on findings from a Congressional
Research Service study that examined how the Affordable
Care Act is likely to affect the nation’s supply of
physicians, with a particular focus on its size,
composition, and geographic distribution.

8. Physician Turnover at Highest Rate Since 2005
This post reports on results from the annual Physician Retention
Survey, from the American Medical Group Association and
Cejka Search. It found health systems struggling to recruit and
retain physicians, as the improving economy (a recovering
housing market and higher stock prices) led more physicians to
consider retiring or switching jobs.

9. Alcohol and Life Expectancy: Unraveling the
Mystery of Why Nondrinkers Have Higher Risk of
Premature Death
For years, experts have reported that people who drink in
moderation live longer than those who do not consume
alcohol at all. Patrick M. Krueger, PhD, an alumnus of
the RWJF Health & Society Scholars program, blogged
about his study examining the reasons. One answer, Krueger
found, is that nondrinkers include adults who quit drinking
because they had problems with alcohol—and that group has
a relatively high rate of premature death.

10. “It’s a Lil’ Colored Girl to See You”
This deeply personal post by RWJF Nurse Faculty
Scholar alumna Angela Amar, PhD, RN, FAAN, recounts an
experience that occurred when she was a young nurse, and a
patient’s wife referred to her in that way. Amar, a professor, also
notes that students sometimes comment that she is intelligent—a
comment her majority faculty member colleagues tell her they do
not hear. Amar’s blog is a salute to the benefits of diversity. She
concludes: “Diversity is not a one-way glass that only directs light
in one direction. ... Diversity benefits us individually and
collectively and allows the light to shine everywhere.”

11. Heroic Nurse—The Last Surviving ‘Angel of Bataan
and Corregidor’—Passes Away
This tribute to Mildred Dalton Manning, who passed away in
March at age 98, touched a nerve with readers who made it
the third most-read post on this Blog in 2013. A volunteer
with the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, Dalton was part of the first
unit of American women serving near the front lines of battle
in the Philippines at the start of World War II. Despite being
taken prisoner, Manning and her colleagues treated the
wounded at a makeshift outdoor clinic in the jungles of
Bataan, caring night and day for 6,000 patients as bombs fell
all around them. To many, they came to symbolize the
dedication, strength, and heroism of nurses.
Photo Credit: US Army Photo; Source: The Washington Post

12. Tootsie’s Story: Medical Error Takes a Life
In this two-part blog, RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholar Jennifer
Bellot, PhD, RN, MHSA, shares the circumstances that caused
the death of her beloved grandmother, Tootsie. After a
medication error severely overtaxed her heart, Tootsie lost her
independence, her health, and ultimately her life. She suffered
terribly during her last months as a result of what Bellot describes
as a “textbook case of error, difficult transitions in care,
unnecessary intervention, missed opportunities, and conflicting
opinions and prognoses.” Part Two of the piece, in which Bellot
considers how nurse-led care coordination might have helped
Tootsie, was also among the ten most-read posts on the RWJF
Human Capital Blog in 2013.