Remembering the Nurse-Patient Relationship

A therapeutic nurse-patient relationship revolves around the unique needs of the patient and is built upon essential ingredients such as assistance, trust, respect, sensitivity, and nurturance of the client's physiological and emotional needs. However, nurse-patient relationships are under tremendous strain in today's hastily fast-paced healthcare settings.

The nurse-patient relationship carries great significance because it is the ultimate foundation upon which all nursing care is provided, regardless of the patient population, specialty, practice setting, or the circumstances that brought the patient and clinician together. Read More

Certification Question

I am a current NICU nurse in the US, hoping to do international work in the future. Does anyone know if the RNC-NIC and/or CCRN are recognized internationally? Is one better to have when working in other countries? Read More

[Toon] Ugghhh, another new nurse...

We've all run into a "new nurse". What's the most memorable experience you ever had with a new nurse? Maybe it was something they said ??? Or, something they did? Good or bad share your story... Read More

Private Duty Nursing vs. Agency Nursing

How can we affordably go about getting a private duty job without handing over the majority of our wages with an agency? As an agency nurse, I’m still working for a middleman that takes more than half my pay because they connect me with clients that need my services. Read More

ICU Video Training?

I think the best way to learn critical care would be through video demonstrations. Does anyone know any dvds that go over critical care procedures? I would like it to be in depth like I would like to see almost everything that's done in the ICU. Read More

Top 10 reasons we get fired!-Medication Errors

Medication Errors in nursing are common place, it is estimated that only 25% of medication errors are ever reported. Medication errors can kill patients. What can we do to prevent them from occurring?

Making mistakes in health care tends to be frowned upon more than any other career, the general public simply do not tolerate any form of mistakes which could threaten the life of their love one, or anything which could disfigure or cause pain and discomfort.

We are only human, and humans make mistakes, this is not taken into consideration when you make a mistake in the hospital. Upper management will act swiftly. Read More

Free Standing Emergency Rooms

I am curious what your opinions are of free standing emergency rooms? They seem to be popping up on every corner. And they always appear empty....not a car or person in sight. Have you ever worked in one or been to one as a patient? How do they differ from ERs at the hospital? Read More

For the Bowel Obsessed

Remember, fellow nurses, talking about bowel movement (BM) should not be a "touchy" subject anymore!! The general public has been readied!! They know ALL about their bums!! They know all about how interesting areas of pooping places can be cute--and taken care of with bleach!!

I would tell you that this is meant to be a cheeky article, however, that would just add to the fray. Here's a question...Why is it now oh so appropriate to talk about people's bowel habits and bottoms in just about every arena imaginable? Read More

Why are we still using the R word?

Every week I see a new post about someone "having a mentally retarded patient," or " I don't know if he was retarded, but he might have been." I've even seen a recent nursing resume that listed "worked with mentally retarded patients" under job experience.

Why, as a nursing profession, would we still be using outdated and offensive words? Read More

The Infamous Cab-ulance

I'm curious to know some of the things your patients call the ambulance for. Just recently we've had patients who present to the ED via EMS and c/o ripped cuticle, or a med refill, along with many more complaints that, in my opinion, absolutely do not justify the need for emergency medical services. The worst one lately, though, was a patient who presented to the ED and when getting off the stretcher, stated that they just needed a ride to this side of town to get to their friend's house and simply walked out the EMS bay doors. I was flabbergasted. What inane EMS runs have you experienced? Read More

Does Preferring to Work Night Shift mean you're lazy?

I prefer to work night shift. I prefer a little bit more seclusion to the hustle and bustle of the day shift experience. If I HAVE to work days, I would prefer for it to be weekends. I just can't take all the doctors, hospital rounds, discharge rounds, meetings, all of that. It's exhausting for me and it takes a toll on my health. I've been told that it just means you're lazy and don't want to do the work. Read More