Nurses’ Weekapalooza!!

May 7, 2012 By 2 Comments

Ah, the week of free food begins…at least, that’s what I remember most about Nurses’ Week.

(Currently, I celebrate by buying more scrapbooking stuff. Which means technically I celebrate Nurses’ Week every week. Ha!)

Every year, Nurses’ Week lasts from the official Nurses’ Day, May 6th, through May 12th, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. I have traditionally been on the receiving end of the gifts, food, and random swag passed out to staff nurses during this week. This year, I find myself on the GIVING end of things, and I think I like it! [Read more...]

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MI Symptom Management

May 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Nursing CEU of the Week: MI Symptom Management

Contact Hours: 1.1

“I enjoyed this course and it made you think. It was interesting to learn about the signs and symptoms of MI’s and how these may differ depending on the location of the infarct, plus how these are treated. MONA is mnemonic to remember in relation to treatment of an MI.” [Read more...]

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Walking a Mile

March 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

My current nursing specialty is in the field of simulation. However, like many other nurses today, I wear many hats. One of my other primary responsibilities is to coordinate all nursing continuing education for my facility. Today I am the facilitator/moderator at our first full-day program of 2012, called Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Diversity of Careers in Nursing. This is the first in a series of programs that will highlight various nursing specialties. Today’s program includes registered nurses from home care/visiting nurses, obstetrics, quality assurance, long term care/gerontology, infection control, case management, and clinical applied research.

This is a series I have wanted to implement for many years. We are all experts in our fields; however, it’s so easy to get tunnel-vision in this profession. [Read more...]

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Birth of a Blogger

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Greetings! This is my first foray into the world of blogging. I hope in the coming weeks and months I will be able to offer some insight on various topics, from work to family life, hobbies to education, and everything in between.

I’d like for you to know a little more about me in the hopes that we will develop a relationship as time goes by. I live in western Massachusetts… when people hear Massachusetts they automatically think of Boston, but I’m truly almost as far from Boston as you can get without leaving the state. I’ve been an RN for nearly 24 years, having graduated in 1988 from St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH. Funny… for a girl who was trying to avoid going to a small Catholic college in New England, [Read more...]

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Dreams of Nursing

January 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I never knew I was an entrepreneur…and I certainly never dreamt of being both a nurse and entrepreneur!

Looking back, it is much more clear to me but during my 20s, I was so lost – could never seem to find my “niche”. I generally lasted only a couple of years at any one place – med-surg, then CCU, then Addictions, then NNICU, then Flight Nursing, then Education…ahhh. I actually loved all of them but I didn’t know why I got that itch to move on after only a few years.

I was 12 years old when I applied to be a volunteer at our local hospital..always knew I wanted to be a nurse. Unfortunately, they told me I had to be 13. My birthday was in November and I had applied the summer before by teen years began. After being rejected, [Read more...]

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The Golden Key

December 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I had never aspired to be a Nurse Manager because I felt it was a no-win position. Had seen co-workers move ‘up’ to this position and change. Everyone seemed to stop liking them as they turned cranky…sqeezed tightly between the bedside nurse as advocate and upper management who had pre-existing agendas.

Funny how we view things before having lived similar experiences. Most in healthcare are thrust into these roles without any support – whether PD, mentorship, or experience outside of “the institution”.

Don’t wait for your organization to hand you the golden key. Read, ask questions, then read some more. Do some volunteer work around your own unit, your child’s school, or another local organization where expectations are not as great or time-sensitive. This work will eventually pay off in spades!

Let us never be betrayed into saying we have finished our education; because that would mean we had stopped growing. – Julia H. Gulliver

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Education vs. “Mad Skillz”

November 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s the age-old debate….experience over education, education over experience.  Which one is better?  When do they both become equally valuable or do they?  Countless times, I’ve heard nurses say they’d rather have an experienced licensed practical nurse (LPN) care for them than a bachelor degree-holding nurse (BSN) with a year of experience or less under the belt.  In some ways, I agree.  So, if that’s the case, when does education become just as valuable as experience?  Does it even matter?

It’s almost like we nurses look at one other through critical eyes, weighing each other in the balance before we decide to trust.  Let’s face it…when you work closely with other people in a stressful environment, you want to be surrounded by people you can trust. We feel we have to conduct our own personal interview of sorts when we encounter a new co-worker to find out on what basis we will trust them.  [Read more...]

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Blogging

November 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

So I thought I should start blogging since my life is already so crazy. Wanted some time to myself and I used to love writing as a child…although I feel like I write a lot in the context of my career, it’s generally ‘professional’. My world as a “nurse” has been somewhat non-traditional, but that’s why I’m writing…nurses don’t have to be traditional any longer.

I’ve been on a pretty wild journey throughout my nursing career from working in ICUs hogging the code beeper, to flying sick neonates, to being a clinical instructor for nursing students; all of which I loved. About 6 years ago, I left the hospital to take my entrepreneurial journey…OMG – what was I thinking? Only 30 years old, working in healthcare since my volunteer days at 12 yrs old, and absolutely no idea about business, finance, blah blah.

What a learning curve to pick up all of this stuff on the fly…talk about fake it ’til ya make it! I remember on day 1 after crafting a stellar mission statement and printing it on blue-colored paper, I headed off to our local biz support organization. [Read more...]

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Lab Values, Spinal Fluid

November 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

SPINAL FLUID

NORMALS

SI UNITS

Pressure

75-200 mmH2O

 

Cell Count

0-5 cells

 

Differential

No RBCs or granulocytes

 

Protein

15-45 mg/dl

0.15-0.45 g/L

A:G Ratio

8:1

 

IgG

3-12% of total protein

 

Glucose

40-80 mg/dl

2.22-4.44 mmol/L

Lactate

10-20 mg/dl

1.1-2.2 mmol/L

Urea

10-15 mg/dl

3.6-5.3 mmol/L

Glutamine

< 20 mg/dl

< 1370 µmol/L
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