Nursing Network for Nurses and Nursing Students - Latest Articles Page 98

Staff development and funding

By JBudd - Abstract This paper will discuss the wide range of duties found in staff development and nursing education departments, and the importance of funding these activities. Review of articles reporting on various aspects of responsibilities, and a personal interview gives an overview of the many activities found in outstanding departments. The need for responses to sentinel events, meeting JCAHO requirements, and influence of educational funding on magnet status applications is also discussed. The finding is that adequate funding for this essential department of well run health care... Read More →

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No Guarantees

By squeakykitty - When I worked in LTC, I took care of a resident who was total care, and had dementia with psychotic features. This resident used the call bell a lot and yelled for people to help often. One day I was walking down the hall to this resident’s room and it occurred to me---this could be me in 30 or 40 years, and without a clear mind or someone to care enough to speak up for me I would truly be helpless. There are no guarantees in life. No one came into this world with a guarantee of perfect health and ability until the moment we die. Diseases will happen, accidents will happen; and when... Read More →

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How to Command Respect

By 43RN20 - by Jane Delveaux, RN In an article published in 2007 by the Green Bay Press Gazette, attention was brought to a problem that doesn't seen to want to go away. Nurses continue to struggle with their working relationships with physicians and continue to identify physician abuse of nurses as a significant issue in the workplace. How do nurses respond when they find themselves in the disfavor of a physician? What can nurses do to command the respect of the physicians that they work with? Why is the opinion of physicians of importance? The key words, here, are “command respect”.... Read More →

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The Truth About Nurse Recruiters - Bonus or Bogus

By 43RN20 - Employment advertisements are flooding our newspapers, newsletters, nursing journals, e-mails and even our private mail. The ads seem to be saying that the employer can make all our dreams come true. How can I tell which job is really the best for me? Every ad claims that the employer has the best working conditions; the best staffing ratio; the best educational program; the best flexibility; the best benefit package; the best pay; etc; etc; and above all offers the best sign-on bonus. If everyone claims to be the best, what is the truth? It appears, from the overwhelming number of... Read More →

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Health Care Relief - The Best Kept Secret

By 43RN20 - Just what is being done to support our nurses in the workplace? Is there something more to the story that we are not hearing? While attention has been focused on problems associated with the national nursing shortages, little has been said about the impact that the Medical Staffing Industry has had on the safe delivery of health care across the nation. This is an Industry that in the 1980s stepped in with Supplemental Staffing Services and began to offer and provide ever increasing alternative workforce solutions on a large scale. Today, where the shortages are most acute, Supplemental... Read More →

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Learning From the Ancients: The Nurse Becomes a Shaman

By zenman - I barely caught a glimpse of a blue and white polka dot dress as the medics entered the only available room in the Emergency Department. It was the usual busy evening and thankfully, she didn’t seem to be in too bad of a shape. Walking quickly into the room, I glanced down at the bed to see an elderly black, well- dressed female clutching her purse to her chest. When I asked her what was wrong, she listed multiple somatic complaints and added that her pastor had, “tossed the bones and put a spell on me.” In that instant, I “heard” what I should do. I told her that I could help her by... Read More →

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Computerized Medication Systems

By tracelane - This might not fit in but I thought it was interesting: A topic which has been on the top of the list at all of our hospital administration meetings is medication reconciliation and errors. It seems when patients are admitted, nurses aren’t verifying home medications consistently and physicians aren’t verifying the list before the patient leaves. This has been a problem for a very long time. The problem is only made worse by staff shortages. It is time consuming to verify medications if the patient isn’t able to actively help. As medical records move to the electronic format, these... Read More →

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Defining Delegation

By classicdame - Defining Delegation Every nurse is a manager. Nurses manage patient care, their own time and each other. Managing others is called “delegation” and is defined by the Nurse Practice Act of the state in which the nurse practices. The Nurse Practice Act specifies expectations related to authority, responsibility and accountability. Ignorance of these expectations is not an excuse. Patient outcomes are at stake and, perhaps, your own nursing license. Delegation is defined as the “transfer of authority to a competent individual” (www.ncsbn.org/314.htm). Your authority comes from the nurse’s... Read More →

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Do you recognize abusive behavior in your unit?

By cmo421 - Abuse, neglect or exploitation of a patient or resident of a care facility is a crime. I am sure all reading are thinking that they would never tolerate any such behavior. But do you? Think of the unconcious post op that comes in with bizarre tatoos or piercings. Remember that head patient screaming, fighting,spitting and punching their way out of the semi coma state. How about the new spinal injury with priapus? The traumathat comes into the ER with a limb sitting next to them. Now think of the nurse who was pointing out and commently on those tatoos in a nasty way. Who yelled... Read More →

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Reasons to be a Nurse

By corne - People have different reasons why they choose to become a Nurse. Some people see it as a tool to go to other countries. Some people uses it as a preparatory course for medicine, while others take it as an alternative course if they can’t afford to go to medical schools. Some people where forced by their parents to become nurses because it’s an opportunity to go to countries like UK, Canada, and USA. Some people see it as a profession to earn a lot. I don’t know the statistics, but there are people who really want to become a nurse because they have a genuine love and passion to take care of... Read More →

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Beginings and Endings

By End Game RN - Beginnings and Endings Through the glazed windows of my soul I watch as the scene played out before my eyes. I stood quietly observing the final hours of my patient and her family. Throughout my career I have supported and counseled families facing the prospect of losing someone they love or whose family member is facing pemanent disability and loss of independence. Shadows danced on the walls in the room where she lay. Sun light filtering in through the grated window brought into focus the few scattered orange freckles sprinkled across her nose. Crystalline tears dotted her cheeks. Her... Read More →

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Pediatric Burn Case

By sanctuary - As a student nurse, I was assigned an 18 month old burned boy. My instructor thought that the extra care and attention might be helpful to getting fluids and the like into him. This was in the 60's and non-flammable clothing was not yet mandatory for children. Well, this little fellow was in a sleeper, playing in the back yard while his dad burned yard rubbish. Somehow, he fell in or got close enough for the sleeper to catch fire. It was nylon, and sort of melted into the baby. He had third degree burns on his belly, second degree on chest face and arms. He was in isolation, so we had... Read More →

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War Veterans...

By psalm - In my five years as a registered nurse I have met many interesting patients. Some occupy my memory because of their convoluted medical histories and diagnoses; some because of their positive demeaners through a difficult time; and others because of their past lives. During my time working in long term care, one of my lady patients who was very demanding and "by the rule" used to frustrate me to tears, until one day I noticed the pictures on the wall by her side of the room. In one of the photos, three beautiful young women in mililtary uniform stood posed with a man in uniform. The... Read More →

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The Path

By End Game RN - The Path of smoke and ashes It was the end of Nurses' week 2007; I had just parked in the North garage and was heading toward the hospital. I walked down the short set of stairs leading to the cobblestone path in front of me. I looked towards the West, drawn by the unusual orange glow streaking across the late afternoon sky; following the curve of the Earth. The sun continued its descent silhouetting the wisps of the pale grey smoke that had been drifting down from the North where the fires were still burning. I stared at the pale yellow orange orb, watching as the ashes and smoke... Read More →

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Changes in Healthcare and How it Affects Nurses

By Bugaloo - I wrote this article and was unsure whether to post it or not. But after seeing this thread and this thread, I have decided to go ahead and submit it. It is ironic that I wrote about my feelings concerning the changes in health care and the affect that it is having on nurses, and then logged in for my daily dose of Allnurses and there are two common threads echoing my sentiments. So to all my fellow nurses, this is for you! For two years, I have struggled with accepting the fact that health care is rapidly changing, and along with it, the way we perform nursing care. A common thread here... Read More →

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