Amanda Trujillo: Exposing the Truth

For those followers of this blog that are not yet aware of what has recently come to the attention of the nursing community, I wanted to make sure to promote awareness of the landmark case out of Arizona concerning Amanda Trujillo. This nurse has taken her case to the public nursing community in order to gain support for herself, and our profession as a whole.

The truth has been exposed. We who have been in the nursing profession know it, and now it is time to take the truth to the public. FACT: Nurses and the core of our profession–patient care–are at the mercy of the medical and political powers-that-be when we interfere with the revenue of hospitals, doctors, and the government, including the boards of nursing that govern our practice in each state. more»

Balancing Act: Thinking and Doing

We have the thinkers and the doers…in life and in our nursing profession.  I consider myself more of a thinker.  I admire those who can just jump in and DO, although sometimes not necessarily being able to describe the WHY of what they do; they just DO.  My husband, a paramedic, is a doer.  Case in point:  One evening I was attempting to cook taco shells in my toaster oven.  One fell down between the grate bars, landed on the red-hot burner coil, and promptly burst into flames…which then set the other nearby taco shells on fire.  So, I’m standing there debating the pros and cons of using either the fire extinguisher or water from the faucet to put out the flames (meanwhile making strangled screeching noises), when my husband calmly walks into the kitchen, closes the door of the toaster, yanks the cord to the toaster out of the wall, and carries the whole smoking contraption outside.  The fire died out, and the smoke dissipated without ado…and there wasn’t any mess from water or fire extinguisher residue in the house.  Ah-MAZ-ing.  Breathed a sigh of relief. more»

Hitting the Hole-In-One: A Patient’s Perspective on Great Nursing

Guest Post by Jim Hamlett

Several years ago, I experienced severe back pain. The neurosurgeon I saw diagnosed me with a textbook case of a herniated disc. L4 looked like the side wall of a tire that had blown out.

I woke up after surgery with little pain other than that inflicted by the scalpel. Shortly after I returned to full awareness, the nurse on duty, “Pat,” dropped by. She was 50ish, short, friendly, but definitely no nonsense. (If nurses had rank, I’d say she was like a sergeant.)

After a few questions about my general well-being, Sgt. Pat performed a kindness of great nurses everywhere: encouraging good post-surgical bladder habits. more»

Feeling Jaded: Ideals vs. Reality

Been cruising the other nursing blogs and Facebook pages this week to see what’s going on. What is it about a new year that makes everyone so introspective I wonder? I mean, I do it too…but I have little explanation for it. We always hope the new year, the new job, the new degree, etc. will be better.

I think we approach any new moment or change with hope and ideals. In perusing the comments on these blogs and pages, some nurses have lost their hope. I see the cynicism come out…the bitterness that spews out across the page. And I’ve been there too. more»

Robots Unite!

Ever feel like you’re just a robot, going through mechanical tasks in order to survive the shift and escape the ward with spirit, brain, and body *hopefully* intact? Even those in management can feel that way too…only the ones demanding their attention are the staff below AND the administration above. Wish you could feel more effective and less frustrated with the daily nursing grind?

Sure, you answer, but what sort of superhuman device will you utilize to grant this type of wish? more»

Surgeon General: Will A Nurse Change Army Medicine?

Well, I’ll preface this whole post with a happy dance!  The Army has chosen to promote a female as its Surgeon General.  Add to that the fact that this woman is a NURSE, and the happy dance gets a little happier!

Surgeon Generals (SGs, for purposes of this post) come in several forms.  The Army, Navy, and Air Force have these SG officers that oversee medical issues in each of their departments, and the US has a Surgeon General as well, one that functions in the Public Service Health Commissioned Corps (PSHCC) branch of the uniformed services.  The US SG is not that heavily involved in policy-making, but has a presence and a voice regarding health issues that affect those in the US and around the world.  Most of us should be familiar with the “Surgeon General’s Warning” on every box of cigarettes warning people of the hazards of smoking. more»

New Year’s Resolutions

Did you ever consider that those who make themselves a list of New Year’s resolutions each year are set up for failure before they even start? Yep, it’s true. See, I know this, because the wisdom of the day (or some random self-proclaimed time management professional, either way) states that multi-taskers are doomed to be completely frazzled and unproductive (read: unsuccessful) because none of their multiple simultaneous tasks will be completed as well as if they had focused on one thing at a time. I always seem to develop this annoying twitch in my right eye when I read that kind of information…because I am, unabashedly, a multi-tasker. Love me anyway… more»

Holidays: Guilt-ridden?

When it comes around to this time of year, one is always expected to appreciate family, show kindness to the less fortunate, and give generously to all, blah, blah, blah.  We have the bell ringers at store fronts, billboards for orphan children, and boxes for soldiers overseas.  I mean, we are guilted into a lot of the activities and the “giving” of the holidays.  We are overshadowed by constant reminders that the less fortunate will have nothing unless we, the fortunate ones, empty our proverbial pockets into coffers.  Now, before you close your computer thinking that this is a selfish, negative post….read on. more»

Being a Lifelong Learner: Don’t Forget to Care

Today I picked up my weekly magazine (that arrived last week…yes, I’m behind), and settled down with some confiscated Halloween candy to peruse the pundits’ views of last week’s news and give myself both a news and chocolate high.  When I hit the small section of compiled quotations in this edition, I smiled.  There, in beautiful black and white, was a quotation concerning one of my favorite topics:  LEARNING and continuing nursing education.

You see, I have this thing with learning.  Love affair, obsession, there’s-a-squirrel-head-jerk reaction…call it what you may, I’m interested in all things interesting.  (And some things not so interesting to others, apparently.  My friends tell me my volunteering to read and do multiple book reports on War and Peace in high school was/is pathogenic.)  Anyway, here’s the quotation:

“The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read.  It will be the person who does not know how to learn.”  ~Alvin Toffler~ more»

The Challenge of Change

Change.  Usually I’m a fan.  I like new adventures.  I like learning new things.  I like trying to make things better.  But sometimes I just want to put this spinning world on pause for a moment.  Enough just gets to be enough, right? 

I look back at the 14 years I’ve been in healthcare (12 of those as a nurse), and just say “wow.”  I can’t even imagine what those nurses say that have been in healthcare longer than I’ve been alive.  Many areas of the healthcare system have improved tremendously over the past few decades.  I am happy to see many more nursing blogs and online communities emerging;  more»