chrn

http://nursing.umaryland.edu/~snewbold/ This is Susan K Newbold's nursing informatics webpage. Select the Newbold Publications link to find a lot of online articles and a list of reference books. I have met and heard Susan lecture a couple of times. Bookmark her page to learn more about informatics.

Incentive spirometers weren't always called that....when we first started using them regularly, one of the surgeons couldn't remember what the device was called when he wrote the order: "Suck balls QID". I'll never forget the laugh we had after that one.

I don't know about where you are, but in Ma from what I've been told, there are no credits for the knowledge an LPN has, you have to start from scratch and do the 2 year program. Most colleges now have "ladder programs". A practicing LPN will have to take the general education requirements (English, sociology, etc.) and then go into the RN track clinicals-so you don't have to start with "bedmaking 101". Many LPN's feel as you do -that after many years of practice they know as much as any RN. This may be very true regarding clinical activities. If you haven't taken the other college courses in general education, you may not realize how much that kind of knowledge affects your work and your practice. Just my 2 cents...as an LPN for 13 years who went on for ADN and now looking at BSN. Cindy

ShannonB25; Sorry your'e feeling so sad and scared before you have even begun your career as a nurse. I, along with virtually every nurse posting here, have experienced to pride of being a new graduate. I have known the excitement and exhaustion of working med/surg. The compassion of working with the elderly in LTC, the dying in hospice and the frightened in home care. Unfortunately, I also have been "downsized"-lost a job I loved in med/surg because RN's with years of experience were expendable in the budget cuts. I have been treated like a piece of disposable medical equipment more times than I care to mention. I have ranted and raved like a maniac. Now I work in computers. I laugh at people who say to me "this job (office work) can get stressful". My only fear these days is that if I get sick, there won't be a nurse like soundslikesirens around to take care of me. We are all sad and scared in different ways, Cindy

These are a couple of issues that may lead to some further research of ethical problems: -is alcoholism genetically based and does that affect individual accountability? -fetal alcohol syndrome and the rights of pregnant women -the higher rate of domestic violence and child abuse in alcoholic environments -should expensive treatment options (transplant) be readily available to chronic alcoholics? Good luck with your studies. I don't know about England but here we are so aggressive with anti-smoking campaigns and not enough (in my opinion) anti-alcohol campaigns. Cindy

I've always admired the people who could work night shift for decades! It seems to agree with some better than others. I decided long ago that working through the night was too hard on me. I was always tired and my life seemed to be centered on getting enough sleep. Even recently, working home health and hospice, if I had to go out occasionally during the night, I would be days getting over it. Maybe some of us have a stronger circadian rhythm (I think that's the correct term). Of course, don't underestimate those hormonal problems. Good luck, hope you feel better soon.

Sorry no advice, but a funny tincture of benzoin story. Many years ago, it did come in glass bottles (not just swabs). I knocked a bottle off the top of a med cart and it splattered all over the walls in the med room. It could not be cleaned. They had to repaint the walls! Major embarrassment!