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How do nurses keep current with the latest healthcare news and important medical information we need to be the best we can be?
The common term today is setting up a personal/Professional learning network or PLN. This is a network consists of people you know and work with, organizational resources like AACN,ENA, AORN. And then in todays world WEb 2.0 tools or in popular terms, social media.
There are a number of components.
Open Source - think of this the discussion that goes on in the hallways of a good conference. This is people discussing new information openly for free. They do this through blogs, podcasts, etc
RSS Feeds or really simple syndication. This feeds you blog posts right to your phone/desktop etc. You can get the table of contents of journals as well. I get the table of content for about 19 journals every month, and I pick what I want to read.
Podcasts - either audio or video productions discussing aspects of nursing and medicine. I listen to podcasts on my way to work, when I'm out and about/grocery shopping.
Twitter/facebook.google + Not all development comes with CEU's but it's still as important.
Now for starters there isn't as much nursing specific stuff out there, most is done by medical staff. But knowledge is knowledge.
Then there is the formal stuff such as conferences and traditional journal reading.
I'm not sure every day of every year. But it is time intensive. RSS feeds of the table of contents can help whittle it down, I see the contents of about 65 journals, Get the actually table of contents to my mailbox for about 16 or so. I use Browzine and Read by QXmd. It's a mix of medical and nursing. I get basic nursing journals, emergency and critical care journals, peds, ortho, trauma both in nursing and medical. I schedule reading time 4 hours every two weeks at minimum and then extra as needed.
I also use twitter and facebook to help identify things I might find useful and/or interesting.
This all very good information. Thank you í ½í¸ŠI'm not sure every day of every year. But it is time intensive. RSS feeds of the table of contents can help whittle it down, I see the contents of about 65 journals, Get the actually table of contents to my mailbox for about 16 or so. I use Browzine and Read by QXmd. It's a mix of medical and nursing. I get basic nursing journals, emergency and critical care journals, peds, ortho, trauma both in nursing and medical. I schedule reading time 4 hours every two weeks at minimum and then extra as needed.I also use twitter and facebook to help identify things I might find useful and/or interesting.
Thank you so much!Certification in your specialty is helpful. Not only do you have to have a very broad base of knowledge in this area, but you are required to maintain that certification with continuing education. It's a good way to stay "on top" of topics regarding your particular specialty.
I like to visit National Patient Safety Goals website maintained by The Joint Commission. Here is the link National Patient Safety Goals | Joint Commission
Also I like to visit Institute for Safe Medication Practices. This website provides plenty of medication information. Here is the link
CEUs, journals, in-services, every now and then I try to attend a conference. I focus mostly on psych but every now and then I'll do something that's outside of psych just to broaden my knowledge base.Getting certified helps, because of the insane amount of CEUs required to renew it--I am practically forced to complete CEUs on a monthly basis to keep up.
i am in ICU/CVR and studying for the CCRN this year hoping to take it when I have enough hours logged in. I think that's the best way to go.
Shillelagh
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