Anniversary
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My absence has a fabulous explanation. The cop and I celebrated our first anniversary on May 2. He gave me a beautiful Tiffany necklace and flowers (roses and calla lilies). We dropped the puppies off at their respective sitters and headed out to a great seafood restaurant downtown where we could eat on the patio filled with spring flowers and people watch the freaks on the street. Very reminiscent of The Grand Cafe in Key West (also a great restaurant, we ate there on our honeymoon). After dinner and a great bottle of Va sparkling wine we went home so we could get up at the ass-crack of dawn to go on vacation. For our ann...
Source: thoughts from the night shift - May 9, 2008 Category: Nurses Source Type: blogs
Homebirths and the merry midwives of kent
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A debate has been raging over at NHS blog Doctor on the question of home deliveries and independent midwives or “madwives” as some like them to be known. So far the number of comments is at 187 but the steam appears to be going out of the debate so they might not reach the 200 unless Dr C can dig up some more shit on the Independent Midwives of Kent to fuel the debate. The debate has of course degenerated into a slanging match between the “We all have the right to go to hell in the manner of our own choosing nah nah nah can’t hear you” brigade and the “Doctor knows best you are a fucking brainless numpty and on...
Source: Mental Nurse - May 9, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: E Tags: Passing Connection To Work midwives Source Type: blogs
National nurse's week
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In recognition of National Nurses' Week (officially May 6th to May 12th), I want to take a moment to honor the approximately 2.9 million registered nurses who provide skilled and compassionate care to millions of Americans day in and day out. Nurses are an essential component of the healthcare system, and this week is simply an opportunity for recognition of a body of individuals whose work is essential to the health and well-being of so many.Expanding that notion, I would also like to recognize nurses worldwide, my professional brethren with whom I am connected through our mutual dedication to service and nursing care. Al...
Source: Digital Doorway - May 9, 2008 Category: Nurses Source Type: blogs
--childbirth class mixer
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Taken from an idea at Janelle Durham's Transition to Parenthood site, I created this to be used as an ice breaker on week two of my class. It was a big success! Childbirth Class MixerFind someone nearest your due date: _________________________________Find someone who has never changed a diaper: ________________________Find someone who has been having some back pain: ____________________Find someone who is planning to breastfeed their baby: __________________Find someone who is having the same gender baby (or who is also having a “mystery baby”): ____________________________Find someone who is sees the same physician o...
Source: Milliner's Dream - May 8, 2008 Category: Nurses Source Type: blogs
--pleasant boring-ness
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After the spelling lesson, I have decided to do a lesson in vocabulary. Boring-ness--meaning quiet, but not painfully so, and unbusy--without being dull.Work: We had an inservice on Peritoneal Dialysis on Tuesday. Fascinating~! We have a patient coming post-tko (total knee replacement) surgery who is a PD patient in a few weeks. Personal: Manboy #2, and I, went to see a movie together last night. Afterwards we shopped here, and got all the ingredients for his favorite salsa. (It's actually probably more accurately pico de gallo, the recipe a friend of mine, Tami, gave me years ago.) We then ate some of the fruits of my lab...
Source: Milliner's Dream - May 8, 2008 Category: Nurses Source Type: blogs
Come to eat the billy goats gruff
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Wow, we’ve never really been much bothered by trolls before (the occasional un-Buddha-like Buddhist aside). Today was a very rare occurence on this blog.
We at Mental Nurse would like to thank the anonymous “CC” for such witty insights as “Shut your face E you fucking idiot” and “This blog is so shit.” Not to mention the hilarious one-liner that is “IT’S A FREE FUCKING COUNTRY YOU DICKHEAD”.
Still, CC is entitled to freedom of expression, and it is in the same spirit of freedom of expression that we choose to henceforth affectionately refer to CC as a total wibbling p...
Source: Mental Nurse - May 8, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: zarathustra Tags: Passing Connection To Work stupidity Source Type: blogs
Martha stewart loves nurses
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Martha Stewart is a funny lady. She’s the poster child of OCD. Martha tells her readers all kinds of weird stuff in her magazine. I about peed my pants when she wrote that homemakers should rotate their lampshades as part of their household duties, and I poked fun at her in this post. I can’t make fun of Martha today. I was channel surfing when I noticed that Martha was wearing a pair of scrubs, so settled back in my chair and I watched her show. Martha honored nurses during Nurses Week.Martha invited many interesting guests to her show. Johnson & Johnson nurse Kathy Fallon told viewers how to get the most out of thei...
Source: Nurse Ratched's Place - May 8, 2008 Category: Nurses Source Type: blogs
Mindfulness journal: notes on the mind
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My mind—an undisciplined animal running amok---brings me little comfort. I need to lose my mind. I need to be set loose from my mind. I need to realize that I am not my mind. Not my mind? Lose my mind? Or perhaps loosen my mind?I feel sad that my mind has its way with me so much of the time. It roams freely—perhaps too freely---dragging me violently along, the way a child will pull a puppy down the sidewalk against its will.Sitting for five or ten minutes at a time is enough to give me pause, to realize the wild untamed nature of my mind.I need a retreat. (Source: Digital Doorway)
Source: Digital Doorway - May 8, 2008 Category: Nurses Tags: mindfulness journal Source Type: blogs
No home for tears
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LTD's mother is in the hospital. After entering the hospital to have a hysterectomy, she ended up getting the gamet of post-op complications and has been in ICU for eight days. She has tubes going in and out everywhere, is not breathing on her own and has been sedated into unconsciousness since after surgery. The doctors have given her a poor prognosis and she remains in critical condition.
LTD and her mother are very close and this has put LTD under an incredible amount of stress. She has cried in her supervisor's office. She has cried with her co-workers. She has cried in her mother's room in front of the nurses there. ...
Source: Time for Your Meds - May 8, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: tracy at crazytracy.com Tags: MUSINGS Source Type: blogs
Holidays gone impactednurse.
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impactednurseは、祝日！彼は日本の旅行に出発する2週間です。彼は非常に失われ、混乱doesntの知って、 1つの単語として彼は日本のです。
彼は相撲を訪ねて試合を期待し、キャッチで野球の試合を、多くの寺院を訪問します。
彼は考えていないが、緊急事態局です。
今すぐ別れを告げるためです。
イアンです
To decode the above message….. cut and paste into Google Translator. I think my original message has gained a little extra flavour in the translation.
Anyway… you will get the grist of it.
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Source: impactEDnurse - May 7, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: impactEDnurse Tags: ectopics Source Type: blogs
Please, don't stop needling me
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I’ve been really stressed out since my former patient, Mr. Jackass, came over the desk at the nurses station and tried stabbing me to death. Something like that is hard to forget, and quite frankly, the experience has affected my health. So, I did what every nurse in my position should do. I told my employer that I needed help. The Greatest Hospital In The World has a wellness center. It’s where patients with excellent health insurance, or deep pockets, can go for their alternative health care needs. It’s posh, so needless to say, I’ve never had the money to partake of their services. I’ve always been curious abo...
Source: Nurse Ratched's Place - May 7, 2008 Category: Nurses Source Type: blogs
What else do i need?
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(Guest post by Poppylover)
Hi, Ive finished NVQ level 2 Health and Social Care..and have almost finished NVQ level 3 Health and Social Care.. I’m just wondering what else i need to be able to apply for Adult Nursing? I’m really confused, don’t no if i need to do an Access course or Key Skills? Let me no please. Thank you. (Source: Mental Nurse)
Source: Mental Nurse - May 7, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: poppylover Tags: Help Wanted education nvq training Source Type: blogs
Caption competition (2)
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We haven’t done a caption competition for a while, so let’s do one.
The theme of this caption competition is…substance misuse.
As we’ve commented before, the the BBC website always uses Check Shirt Bloke for any story about mental health issues, but for this news story about employees turning up drunk or hungover for work, they’ve decided to go with this guy:
So, submit your caption suggestions in the comments thread. The best will go into a poll to decide the winner, and that winner will receive a Mental Nurse mug at the end of the month when I get paid. (Source: Mental Nurse)
Source: Mental Nurse - May 7, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: zarathustra Tags: Passing Connection To Work alcohol caption competition Source Type: blogs
Building a more resilient disaster response capability.
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A paper published today by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute raises more than a few concerns regarding Australia’s ability to manage a large scale disaster.
Since September 2001, 10 billion dollars has been poured into our counter terrorism preparedness, while only 500 million has been spent on disaster preparedness.
The authors of this paper outline both the psychological and structural complacency now effecting our ability to prevent, respond and recover from large scale man-made or natural disasters.
As far as our health system is concerned, the report shows we have a lot of room for improvement:
Two ...
Source: impactEDnurse - May 7, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: impactEDnurse Tags: reflective practice. Source Type: blogs
Why can't we just give them a beer?
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This weekend we had a patient who had come in with chest pain. He was taken to the cath lab and was stented.
Normally this kind of patient would go home in a day or two if there were no complications. Unfortunately this patient had a big complication - he was an alcoholic. So by the time he was ready for discharge for his heart problem, his alcohol withdrawal had kicked in.
He is now on day 5 of his stay at the hospital. He spent at least 4 of those days in ICU which costs many thousands of dollars a day. He was still there Sunday afternoon when I left, and still on his Ativan drip. He was nowhere near getting transferred ...
Source: code blog: tales of a nurse - May 7, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: codeblogrn at gmail.com Tags: Tales from the CCU Source Type: blogs
Happy nurses week
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Isn't this soooo cute! Woofy Nurse sends you greetings. She is saying, "Happy Nurses Week." Of course, it sounds more like, "bark-bark." I wonder how her hospital is celebrating Nurses Week. Here, at the Greatest Hospital In The World, nurses are being treated like, well, nurses. We are receiving cheap trinkets in addition to being served fine cafeteria cuisine. As I recall, the physicians were served steak and lobster for National Doctor's Day. We also can buy tickets for the chance to win the opportunity to throw a pie in our boss' face. The money raised will go to buy equipment for the hospital's forensic nurse. It's s...
Source: Nurse Ratched's Place - May 6, 2008 Category: Nurses Source Type: blogs
International midwives and nurses week.
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This week is international midwives and nurses week.
Our hospital is celebrating with awards and foyer displays recognizing the significant achievements of these very special people.
Flying in front of the hospital entrance, large flags proclaim the event.
Unfortunately someone has accidentally hung them upside down.
Now, hanging a flag upside down is an internationally recognised distress symbol.
A picture pregnant with metaphor? Ill let you be the judge.
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Source: impactEDnurse - May 6, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: impactEDnurse Tags: the funnybone. Source Type: blogs
Missing my mac
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Do you remember Timmy and Lassie? Lassie had an annoying habit of running off, and Timmy was always waiting for her to come home. I feel like Timmy today. I’m waiting for my Mac to come home. I feel my pulse returning to my body, and more importantly, to my fingertips. The delivery company just called me, and my Mac will be back home in just a few more hours. As you might recall, my computer broke down again last week, and I had to send it back to the Mac Mother Ship for repairs. Damn you, Steven Jobs! This is no way to treat a lady. Not having a computer has been tough. I’m a creature of habit, and I have a hard time ...
Source: Nurse Ratched's Place - May 5, 2008 Category: Nurses Source Type: blogs
New addition to my blogroll
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Via Mental Patient About Town, I’ve come across Dumped by a Hallucination, a blog by a young lady describing her experiences with psychosis.
It’s slightly different from the other blogs we regularly feature in our weekly round-ups, for one reason.
She’s 14.
I think I’ll keep reading this one. (Source: Mental Nurse)
Source: Mental Nurse - May 5, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: zarathustra Tags: Passing Connection To Work Blogs camhs Source Type: blogs
Battle of the bulge.
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Every year at about this time the workload on our emergency departments begins its annual crescendo to a crisis. Public demand climbs as we enter the winter months.
Our emergency departments begin to list as we take on the cold winter wash of snotty sneezes, and ice-slip fractures, of croups and pneumonias and truculent viral spread.
Our corridors ring to grand overtures of aromatic baritone vomiting and exaggerated re-telling of sports collisions.
The very young and the very old lay skittled in our waiting rooms.
Hospitals have little capacity to meet the surge, and patients pile up in our emergency departments. They wa...
Source: impactEDnurse - May 5, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: impactEDnurse Tags: reflective practice. Source Type: blogs
Weekly handover (6)
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Time for our Sunday round-up of the week’s nursing blogs.
It’s a bit of a brief one this week. I think I need to find more nurse blogs to add to my list. So far most of the blogs I’ve been reading have been either student nurses (Didn’t Want to Be a Doctor, The Oracle, and my new find Northern Nurse) or bloggers in senior nurse posts…charge nurses (Mouse Thinks), nurse practitioners (It Shouldn’t Happen in Health Care, News from Unscheduled Care), nurse managers (Life in the NHS). Where’s the blogs by staff nurses? So far I’ve got Crazy Nurse, who I variously include under ei...
Source: Mental Nurse - May 4, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: zarathustra Tags: Passing Connection To Work weekly handover Source Type: blogs
A partial victory for dementia patients
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…in their court battle against NICE, who earlier banned the use of drugs such as Aricept for people in the early stages of dementia. The court decided that the process used by NICE to estimate the cost-effectiveness of the drug was unfair. This is one small step forward, and doesn’t mean NICE has to lift the restrictions, but one of the judges said it would be ‘eminently sensible’ for NICE to make a redetermination.
Neil Hunt, chief exec of the Alzheimer’s Society had this to say: -
“The ruling is a vindication of this campaign as the way NICE made this decision was ruled to be unfair.
...
Source: Mental Nurse - May 4, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: beakie Tags: Passing Connection To Work Source Type: blogs
Pain and the seeds of compassion
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There comes a time in life when one decides to surrender to what is, to acknowledge that one has hit a wall. I have arrived at just such an impasse, and while it's not an easy thing to do, I finally have to admit that I feel powerless over my pain.Having worked with patients with chronic illness----including chronic pain---for years, I never saw myself as someone with chronic illness. People with intractable pain and multiple diagnoses were always separate from me, living in a world which I did not inhabit.Now, having quit my job due to the ravages of stress and chronic illness, I admit that I am---at least for the moment-...
Source: Digital Doorway - May 4, 2008 Category: Nurses Tags: personal pain chronic illness Source Type: blogs
Pleasant!
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I had a pleasant surprise today. Apparently patient census and acuity is extremely low in the ICU tonight. So, because of the large excess of labor recourses (i.e. registered nurses), I was offered the night off. I gladly accepted the offer!
That definitely goes under the list of things that would never happen in med/surg nursing!
Speaking of that list, another thing that would go there is my experience last night. They did a bedside gastroscopy on the patient next to mine. They hooked up a really neat plasma television-on-wheels to the scope so everyone around can see what they’re doing.
I watched the video screen a...
Source: Nurse Sean - May 4, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: Sean Tags: Musings Source Type: blogs
Change of shift is up!
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I am a little remiss in posting the link to the wonderful Change of Shift at Life in the NHS. She did a wonderful and very informative COS. (Source: The Nurse Practitioner's Place)
Source: The Nurse Practitioner's Place - May 4, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: Nurse Practitioners Save Lives Source Type: blogs
The welcomed intruder
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With the swipe of a card the outnumbered enter a brightly lit world filled with the forlorn and the foreboding. Both freedom and hope linger to eagerly strike from behind every corner. Lined in a row, numbered not named, the faces tell it all as they wait for their turn. Four long walls hide the pain as hope walks the floor day and night. Like prizefighters, the young and the old unwillingly step into the ring to battle it out. Battered and sore all but a few fail to go the full distance. One would hope the only trophy here is life. Although outnumbered the willing stand strong center stage. Moving out to join forces wi...
Source: St Vincent's Hospital Darlinghurst - Male Nurses - May 4, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: Peter Source Type: blogs
Things that really get up my nostrils. part 1.
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A) People who turn the steering wheel to change lanes and then flip the indicator as their hand passes by it.
So the first flash of their indicator occurs after they are at least 1/3 of the way across the lane. I really hate that.
B) Mothers who let their kids jump up and down on the front/back seat of their cars unrestrained, whilst they are driving along with their mobile phone glued to their ears. I really hate that.
C) People who combine A & B. I really hate that.
D) People who endlessly complain about things that get up their noses all the time. I mean, I really, really hate that.
OK then. In a collective effort t...
Source: impactEDnurse - May 3, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: impactEDnurse Tags: piss and vinegar Source Type: blogs
Younger women dying of heart disease
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Heart disease mortality among younger women is on the rise. With all that we know and all the accessible forms of information and treatment this is really a sad finding.
Smoking, obesity, prevalence of diabetes, lack of activity and negative lifestyle changes all contribute to increased cardiac disease and death in women below the age of 50.
We need to take charge of our lives and start living healthy so we will be around to see our grandkids and live life to the fullest!
Does this scare you? Do you feel like we can make the appropriate changes to turn these numbers around?
Tags: cardiac disease, diabetes, heart-disease, l...
Source: A Hearty Life - May 3, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: Kendra James, RN Tags: Heart Disease in Women cardiac disease diabetes heart-disease lack of exercise lifestyle mortality obesity Source Type: blogs
The language of the client.
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(Guest post by Bristab1)
Dear Readers
Having spent some forty years of my life as a mental health nurse, I earnestly believe that the principal therapeutic tool of the Nurse is the ‘Helping-Self ‘. The application of such help is conveyed by the modeling and interpersonal skills of the nurse, and his/her ability to form healthy interpersonal relationships.
The main vehicle of that ‘helping’ is the voice …… The Language.
At my Website you will find a section entitled: Nursing. Within is a professional debate. It is about the use of language in mental health nursing: That debate has been ...
Source: Mental Nurse - May 3, 2008 Category: Nurses Tags: Passing Connection To Work Source Type: blogs
Benefits of icd’s in children studied at length
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More and more children with congenital heart disease are receiving implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) to maintain proper heart rhythm. ICDs were first introduced for adults in the 1980s, but little is known about how well they work in children, who account for less than 1 percent of recipients. A report in the April 29 Journal of the American College of Cardiology summarizes the largest pediatric experience to date. It finds the devices to be life-saving, but also suggests that they tend to deliver more inappropriate shocks to children than to adults, making it important to watch children with ICDs closely.
Bot...
Source: A Hearty Life - May 3, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: Kendra James, RN Tags: Heart Conditions Hearty Blogging Hearty Healthcare Hearty Info Hearty Research children heart-disease icd implantable cardioverter defibrillators life saving Source Type: blogs
This week in mentalists (28)
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The clamouring in the live chat box must mean it’s Saturday and time for This Week in Mentalists.
To nominate a blog for future editions e-mail zarathustra at mentalnurse dot org dot uk
First off, Furious Seasons is getting hate mail from anti-psychiatrists.
Because I don’t bow down to the intellectual power of Michel Foucault and Thomas Szasz (and for all I know, L. Ron himself), then I am a “motherfucker,” a “cocksucker,” a “fence sitter,” a “fraud” and a “greed filled pig.” Those are just some of the highlights of unapproved comments in recent days...
Source: Mental Nurse - May 3, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: zarathustra Tags: Passing Connection To Work this week in mentalists Source Type: blogs
Gear247.
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Here at impactednurse.com we are happy to remain smugly add free in that holier than thou sort of way. But we will make an exception here to plug the site of a mate of mine. Mick the paramedic has recently set up Gear427.
Gear427 sells the sort of stuff that gets a hopeless gadget tragic such as myself all flustered and excitable.
From LED Lenser Tactical Focus Flashlights to Littman’s Classic II Stethoscopes to the ultimate Mother’s Day Gift of a Tick Removal Pen . This site has the goods.
Besides its my Birthday in a couple of days, and that flashlight sure looks cool.
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Source: impactEDnurse - May 3, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: impactEDnurse Tags: ectopics Source Type: blogs
Your very own pocket emergency cheat sheet.
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Having problems remembering all those values and formulae?
A little rusty with your Advanced Cardiac Life Support algorithm?
Child is fitting, dont know what to do?
Well look no further. Presenting the impactednurse Pocket Cheat Sheet. Simply download this pdf file and print it out.
Then….. following the included instructions, simply fold and snip yourself a nifty pocket reference guide. Be the envy of all your friends.
[ Alternatively, you can pop over to Pocket Mod and design your very own version. ]
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Source: impactEDnurse - May 2, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: impactEDnurse Tags: the nurses desk: Source Type: blogs
Does sex addiction exist
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I found this the other day.
“Lord Laidlaw of Rothiemay has admitted to receiving treatment for “sex addiction” at a private clinic, likening it to alcohol dependency. But is it really?
It’s a term that first came to widespread attention when actor Michael Douglas was admitted to rehab in 1990 and it was reported, inaccurately he later claimed, that he was a sex addict.
More recently, comedian Russell Brand admitted to spending a week at a centre for sexual addiction in Philadelphia.”
But are so called sex addicts really suffering from an illness or just making excuses for being excessively pro...
Source: Mental Nurse - May 2, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: E Tags: Mental Illness addiction sex Source Type: blogs
April’s health and wellness roundup… best posts from the bloggers
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Here is an April roundup from the Health and Wellness channel. Enjoy!
There is something for everyone (breastfeeding or not) in the mix of the Breastfeeding 1-2-3 highlights from April 2008:
Free Pattern for Sewing Your Own Crew Neck Over-the-Head Baby Bibs
Judge Denies FLDS Request to Keep Mothers with Nursing Babies
World Health Day 2008: Protecting Health from Climate Change
Breastfeeding Basics Checklist for a Good Breastfeeding Latch
Gentian Violet and Grapefruit Seed Extract as Thrush Remedies
Breastfeeding and International Travel
Top Five Breastfeeding Interviews
And from Kristen at Lively Women…
April is STD...
Source: A Hearty Life - May 2, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: Kendra James, RN Tags: Heart-to-Heart Hearty Blogging breastfeeding diabetes earth day green heart-disease kids health mens-health mental health pain management weight management weight-loss womens-health Source Type: blogs
Triple alarm
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All ICU nurses are aware of the dreaded “triple alarm.” At least I’m under the impression that this is something common to all ICUs.
The triple alarm is part of the cardiac monitor and is just one of many noises, beeps, and cries that it produces. It is three loud high pitched beeps in a row, and it repeats itself over and over.
Beep beep beep
Beep beep beep
Beep beep beep
And on and on….
The triple alarm signals to everyone within what seems like a three kilometer radius that it has detected either V.Fib, V.Tach, or Asystole. In other words, the cardiac monitor is shouting, “OH MY GOD, OH MY ...
Source: Nurse Sean - May 2, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: Sean Tags: Musings Source Type: blogs
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
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It is with poetry-reciting flamingos and UFOs piloted by Jesus that Mental Nurse notes the death this week of Albert Hoffman, discoverer of LSD, at the age of 102.
This goes to show, once again, that if you mess with drugs you’ll wind up dead. (Source: Mental Nurse)
Source: Mental Nurse - May 2, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: zarathustra Tags: Passing Connection To Work drugs Source Type: blogs
Change of shift: volume 2, number 22
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Change of Shift is up over at life in the NHS!
I must say, the pagan theme certainly appealed to my spiritual senses. The focus is May Day, or as pagans would call it, Beltain. Yes, I actually have danced around the maypole!
Go here to read all the wonderful blogs from this fantastic edition!
Blogged with the Flock Browser
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Source: Nurse Sean - May 2, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: Sean Tags: Musings Source Type: blogs
Hospitals dont save lives, people save lives.
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The man seated in the middle of this photo is Commodore Roger Boyce who we cared for several months ago following a motorcycle accident.
He sustained closed head injuries, bi-lateral pneumothorax, 12 fractured ribs and a fractured clavicle. The helicopter crew slid him across onto our resuscitation bed like a large broken pizza.
I was privileged to be a part of the resuscitation team that danced all over Commodore Boyce that night. And when we were finished with him, there was a whole lot of others queued to dance on him a whole lot more.
We put him back together. But we did not save his life. That happened much earlier.
S...
Source: impactEDnurse - May 2, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: impactEDnurse Tags: ectopics Source Type: blogs
Is labour abolishing illness
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The title of an interesting piece in the New Statesman about the reforms of incapacity benefit.
Features of the reform are familiar from other policy areas. First, a demonisation of a needy or vulnerable group, followed by a rebranding: so claimants become not even “clients” but “customers” (as in the just published “Commissioning Strategy” document); incapacity benefit becomes employment and support allowance; sick notes are redrafted for doctors to certify, not what patients can’t but what they can do. Next come “partnerships”, on an unchallenged assumption that the ...
Source: Mental Nurse - May 1, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: beakie Tags: Passing Connection To Work newspeak politics Source Type: blogs
Patient contact: missing in action
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My new work life has significantly decreased regular contact with patients, the one-on-one interactions that are part and parcel of most nurses' lives. In a recent post, I mentioned how I'm personally missing some of my former patients and the place that they inhabited in my life. I also find that I am simply missing the types of interactions that can remind me of why I became a nurse in the first place.My current per diem visiting nurse gig is just not panning out, with several weeks going by without my being needed whatsoever. In my other per diem work, actual patient interactions are few and far between, and when I find...
Source: Digital Doorway - May 1, 2008 Category: Nurses Tags: personal nursing care nursing identity Source Type: blogs
Bingo!
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It is 6:45 am, and the Emergency Department has been steady all night - no horribly sick patients, just a constant, unrelenting flow of clinic care style concerns.The young boy skips in the door, singing. He has a half eaten cereal bar in his hand. He happily approached triage with his Dad and, with a huge smile, states:"Hi Nurse! I'm sick! Really, really sick! Dad had to bring me to the Doctor first thing this morning!"Dad follows with:"He has been up all night with belly pain. He seems fine otherwise - he doesn't have a fever and he hasn't thrown up or had any diarrhea. He didn't eat his supper last night - he doesn't li...
Source: ~ Dust in the Wind ~ - May 1, 2008 Category: Nurses Source Type: blogs
Change of shift, a cup of coffee and a tale of judge judy
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…is up over at Life in the NHS. Julie has done a great job, so be sure to check it out! Two weeks from now our host is Dr. Emer at Parallel Universes, so submissions can be sent to “doc (period) emer at gmail dot com” or via Blog Carnival.
Doc Gurley took the reins for Grand Rounds this week, and I’ll be needing a second cup of coffee for reading this morning. Oh, I am so looking forward to summer vacation when I can wake up on Tuesday mornings and read the entire Grand Rounds. It’s like curling up with a good book!
********************
We all have secret guilty pleasures in our lives.
Watchi...
Source: Emergiblog - May 1, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: Kim Tags: Blog Source Type: blogs
5 tips for becoming a fast-learning medical assistant
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by Heather Johnson
Whether you are still in school or have already entered the workforce, you now realize how important the position of medical assistant is. Indeed, you have a lot of information to retain and are responsible for important duties. Don't become overwhelmed by the job, as you will quickly learn the ropes by following the five tips below.
1. Don't Hesitate to Ask – If you are (Source: Medical Assistant Net Blog)
Source: Medical Assistant Net Blog - May 1, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: Danni R. Source Type: blogs
Wash away the pain
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I want to wash the cells of my body with compassion. I want to wash the cells of the muscles that scream in pain at almost every moment of every day. How can I simply cleanse those areas of the aches and pains that dog my every moment? I've imagined removing the offending muscles and scrubbing them on an old-fashioned washboard, then squeezing them out and hanging them to dry in the sun. How I wish that that were possible. But reality reminds me that my muscles are stationary in my body, non-removable and permanent, and for better or worse they are mine for the duration.Wash them clean? Scrub the pain away? Erase the traum...
Source: Digital Doorway - April 30, 2008 Category: Nurses Source Type: blogs
Pumping with the autopulse.
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Providing effective and sustainable chest compressions during cardiac arrest CPR can be a real challenge. It is without doubt physically draining, and even in seasoned medical staff you still see a lot of ‘TV CPR’ with the upper body and bent arms bobbing furiously up and down…..and not much at all happening down at the business end.
For a while now we have been trailing the Zoll AutoPulse automated cardiac compression device in our department.
The AutoPulse consists of a backboard containing the battery, electronics and a mechanical drive shaft. The drive shaft effects the chest compressions via a dispos...
Source: impactEDnurse - April 30, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: impactEDnurse Tags: ectopics Source Type: blogs
Rn-to-bsn - it’s the way to go
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Now this is the way to deal with overcrowding in emergency departments!
Too many patients for the number of rooms? Stack ‘em up vertically!
You know those big sliding ladders they use to reach books on the high shelves at Barnes and Noble? Just hook one of those to the side rails and roll your way from patient to patient!
Simply outfit each berth with it’s own monitor and blood pressure cuff.
Hmmm…HIPAA could be an issue….I know! Every patient signs an affidavit stating they will not ever tell another living soul what they see or hear!
The curse of immediate bedding solved - simply add levels as you...
Source: Emergiblog - April 30, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: Kim Tags: Blog Source Type: blogs
Take *that*, work frustrations.
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This post was going to be titled "When Morons Attack".But I ran a mile.Then I lifted weights.Then I stretched. And did some yoga.And now I'm cheerful and warm and relaxed and no longer concerned with morons. Instead, I think I'll go buy some doggie nail-clippers and then hang out with Max for the rest of the day. (Source: Head Nurse)
Source: Head Nurse - April 30, 2008 Category: Nurses Authors: Jo Source Type: blogs
Losses and gains: the calculus of change
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Spending time in my former office today as a consultant (something I now do on a weekly basis), I was struck by how sincerely I miss a handful of patients, and how much I truly don't miss a small group of my most needy former patients.After three months of not working full-time following a seven year sojourn of intensive case management, I'm feeling the loss involved in saying goodbye and walking away from a number of close long-term connections. Periodically I think of calling one or another of my former patients, and one of these days I'll probably pick up the phone and do so. Those goodbyes can be hard, and the hellos c...
Source: Digital Doorway - April 29, 2008 Category: Nurses Source Type: blogs
-can you spell...innocuous?
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Innocuous: harmless, safe, mild or bland...as in, "I will begin with yet another innocuous blog post, so I can get back into the rhythm and feel my way back into how to be a blogger."Have you ever purchased anything from a tv promo or infomercial? I think I have once or twice. Lately, I really wanted to get this, the PedEgg. I resisted; what if it's a waste of money? And why must I get two to order it online or over the phone per the ad on television?Well, the other day, I was wandering through WalMart, picking up something innocuous (toilet paper, I think, and dish soap.) There on the end-cap of the cleaning products aisl...
Source: Milliner's Dream - April 29, 2008 Category: Nurses Source Type: blogs
