"If the health system falters because we don't have enough nurses to care for patients, lives will continue to be lost long after this pandemic and that's a message we really want the public to understand." — Beth Wathen, president, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses The extreme demands of caring for hospitalized, largely unvaccinated, patients are taking a toll on healthcare systems and providers, so the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has launched "Hear Us Out," a nationwide effort to show the COVID-19 pandemic from frontline nurses' perspective and urge those who have yet to be vaccinated to reconsider. For this week's lead story, I spoke with Beth Wathen, AACN president, about how the Hear Us Out campaign plans to help Americans understand the consequences of what is now a preventable disease. | 