Ray36

A slightly more complex versions of that 5-step process might occur if you realize you need to make a differential diagnosis between two possible causes of similar signs and symptoms, and those would require different responses, so this matters, which directs you to go back and focus on getting different or more specific facts during assessment than you otherwise would.

Mandatory reporting and public comparisons between hospitals, and the new policy of CMS to not pay hospitals for care for infections acquired while in the hospital should increase the pressure somewhat on the administrators to care about this problem. Well publicized examples of hospitals that have cut their infection rates dramatically put a lie to the legacy apathy that "it's just the way it is, nothing can be done about it." Patient advocacy groups may the ones to add local pressure there. I don't think infection control departments are very powerful in the scheme of things, compared to other interest groups. And people in general (patients, families, visitors) are astoundingly uninformed about infection control. More than once I've observed visitors with infants in strollers pick up a dropped pacifier off the main corridor floor and pop it back in their child's mouth. I hesitate to estimate what fraction of visitors don't wash their hands after visiting the heavily used public restrooms, often more poorly designed for infection control than the local Interstate rest-stop. As a society we've grown sloppy and complacent. From a public health point of view, in terms of MDRO's, hospitals in general are a nightmare. If all you cared about was infection control, hospitals and ICU's should all simply be shut down because they are the primary incubators and spreaders of MRDO's. But no one wants to admit that antibiotics are failing, or that untreatable TB is on the rise. But we don't know how to grapple in public yet with situations in which, regardless what policy we select, some people will die as a result of the choices we make. The "medical establishment" doesn't want to cope with an issue that shows the "feet of clay" and the reality that doctors are not gods, and have limits. So don't expect this issue to be dealt with without very real outside pressure and even that is hard to generate. In fact, society is great at putting this question out of mind. The 1918 "Spanish flu" epidemic killed more people than World War I, and was the single most important event of the day. Yet studies of recent history textbooks show that it merits at most a sentence, or no mention at all. At all levels, people just don't want to think about it. Public health departments have been aware of and pushing on these issues for over a century, but the response of society and the AMA to the statistics has been largely to do everything possible to squelch that voice and slash the budgets for such departments, and misportray them as "advocates of free care for underserving poor people" who need to be put out of existence. All that said, nurses ARE the primary line of defense of the patient, and increasing the power and influence of nursing organizations may do more than anything else to help. It's hard to care when no one else seems to, but that's also when it matters the most.

Well, Krazykchan, you sound like a perfect person to build a stable long-term set of relationships in a virtual world such as Second Life, especially if you like WoW. Three huge advantages of building friends in virtual space: (1) they can stay with you forever, if you want, regardless where you move on the planet. (2) with at least 30 thousand on-line even at 3 AM, you can usually find someone you know regardless of the time of day, and (3) If you prefer, you can remain 100% anonymous but otherwise just let it all show. If you're not anonymous, at least to your friends after a while, you can build a cadre of support that can you can take with you when you start that first exciting day on the floor, or at least with you after it to console, share, and get advice from. To really make it powerful, once you become an old hand, take newbies under your wing, both to help bring in new blood, and to gain the human satisfaction that comes from being a mentor -- as well as realizing, gosh, you have come such a long way from when YOU asked that question. Check it out: Virtual Worlds, Avatars, free 3D chat, online meetings - Second Life Official Site :)

THe International University of Nursing Alumni Association has a facebook page, and maybe you can get some further information there. Incompatible Browser | Facebook Maybe they can offer insight. IUON is shown by Google Maps to be ten minutes by foot south of the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. Possibly this is the same Ross family as runs the IUON, by the way. (No idea.)

To - CokeForBreakfast (post #36), or anyone - is it true that no one wants to hire new grads in nursing? How come?