Life after the Boston Marathon Bombing - Coping with the Trauma

April the 15th has always been known as Tax Day for Americans. This year the 15th occurred on the third Monday of April, the date of one of America's great traditional events, the Boston Marathon. But now, that date will always remind us of the horrific events that transpired that sunny afternoon in Boston. Images of that day will be forever etched into the minds of not only doctors, nurses, first responders and participants but also the entire nation. Think about the doctors and nurses who were working in the Boston ER's that day. How did they feel when they were inundated with victims who were clinging to life? How are they coping today? How would you react in that situation? Read More

Get The Clinical Bottom Line.

Every minute with your patient counts. Maximize your time and effectiveness with reliable tools from AHRQ that support evidence-based medicine. The Effective Health Care Program creates free research summaries about the benefits and risks of different treatments for different health conditions. The summaries are based on comparative effectiveness reviews that cover health topics suggested by the public. View the Effective Health Care (EHC) Program's complete list of continuing education activities for all health care disciplines. Learn More

How do women feel about pts that only want female RN's?

Just had a pt (and her sister) who were astonished that I was assigned to the room. She middle aged. Not an OB or anything. She wasn't a little old lady and there were not cultural differences. It was more her sister (who was not medically inclined and constantly asked me questions that made no sense...she was citing articles on google and would ask me a question, wait for reply, and then would say she read something different. They said "I can't believe a male was put here. We only want female nurses." I said that we are capable of getting a female for bedpans and I wouldn't do any bed baths. Females nurses were walking by and they said "We want you, not him." The manager talked to them and they didn't have any problems with my competence. They actually liked how I cared for the pt and how I answered general questions. Then it came out...."Women are just more caring than men. Men don't really nurture." Read More

Design your best nursing shoes...

If you could design shoes for nursing how would they look like? How would they feel? What fabric would they be? Read More

What to know before your first day in NICU

I have just been offered a job in a NICU which I am so so excited about, but also very nervous! I am new grad with no experience in paeds or maternity so I will have a lot to learn but up for the challenge! There is a 4 week orientation programme when I first start but I don't want to start not having a clue about anything. I am just wondering if anybody could please give me advice on the most important basic things to know or very common conditions that I will come across? Read More

Am I a Good Candidate to Work in the ER?

Here is the crux of my question: I am a very type A person. The good points to that are that I am very organized and get my work done in a timely fashion. I am not lazy, and I can gauge the severity of a situation and respond accordingly. I also have good skills in dealing with families, largely due to my years of working in hospice nursing, and have received good feedback on patient surveys about my people skills and compassion.

The bad side to being this type A is that I am not super flexible in terms of not being able to complete a task that I am working on at the moment and I like things to run as planned. I can handle it if they don't, but my stress level goes up and I sometimes get frustrated. I like to think that this would be less of an issue in the ER due to patients understanding that there are going to be other patients coming in who trump them in level of triage, but honestly, I do get frustrated more often than I should when my routine gets turned upside down or I can't immediately meet a patient's needs. Read More

I hate LTC- How I want to fix it!

I recently commented… excessively commented on a post last night. This post was titled "What's wrong with working in a nursing home?" This topic lit a fire under my dear rear. I couldn't contain the animosity I had about LTC and my experiences with it. I have so many problems with LTC and so many other things. So I want to attempt and compile a list of rants and possible solutions to solve my rants ranging from staffing issues to regulation of scope of practice. Read More

Fake nursing/CNA licenses or what?

I was curious about how much experience some of the CNA's and nurses at my LTC had so I looked up their licenses at the state board site. I found most of them at this site. However, some of the nurses and CNA's I looked up had no information about these persons. Is this just a mistake that they are not listed or is it possible that they just have fake documents? What do you think? Read More

What didn't you do in school?

I'm getting close to graduation, and there's SO many things I've never done on a live patient! Stuff like, foley, IV's, injections, (all I really have done is some minor wound care and hygiene stuff) It makes me nervous, but hopefully I'll be blessed with a great orientation....SO.... What types of things had you never done on a live person til after you were licensed and working? Have you precepted a new grad and been surprised at the skills they hadn't had much practice with? Read More!

Just a "Little" Word

We all grow up learning colloquial phrases. Most of us carry them as moments in our hearts of those we love, while other words move along with us, creating subtle verbal idiosyncrasies in our lives. The words I grew up with were odd grammatical positioning of "yet", such as "Are they closed, yet?" or discussing a "schnutterhoontz" which I still believe is some bastardized German word that I can't find on Google for "someone who chatters on about nothing in particular". While both of these are more entertaining than not, one word I realized I use in abundance is "little".

Now, one might think this is a pretty harmless word. I thought so too until I came home from my honeymoon to work several years ago. Read More...

Questions on ACLS certification

After getting my RN license in 2010 I remained in my first career got married and started a family. FFWD 2013 I am now completing my BSN (2 more weeks at OU) and would like to get into nursing. I was thinking about getting my ACLS certification.

Has anyone taken the American Heart Association courses? I was thinking classroom because I would like the hands on experience. Any advice would be welcomed. Read More

Happy Unintentional Ignorance Awareness Week!

Ah, the joys of stress and the work environment. Everyone has their own unique brand of coping. Some smoke, some gamble, some cry. I laugh. A lot. And I make it a point to laugh at myself first, early, and often. Ever do something so completely....well....stupid, that it actually pulls you from your sleep in the middle of the night to leave you shaking your head at yourself in the dark? This is one of those moments. And remember: Please do not try this at home. Read More