Why do only soft topics appear on the front page? A SOLUTION!

[SummitRN, BSN, RN]

THE PROBLEM:

I read a lot of forums about the medical fields. Allnurses is strange to me. When I look at the front page, EVERY single article is a soft topic related to emotional, job-politics, or social issues. Of course it is important to have discussion about how not to get fired, to tell nursing students that they can get through school, how not to be afraid of NCLEX, and how to have humor in your life, and what to do about catty coworkers and the night shift.

But why is there never anything on patient care, technical topics, pharm, patho, or EBP on the front page???

To even find these threads you must go digging in subforums. If I want fun banter, sympathy threads, and moral support, that is easy to find on this website. It is a chore to seek out good information on this site that can improve my nursing practice.

I was really hoping the trending topics feature would offer an alternative for hot health science/EBP/patient care issues. Nope... more of the same: how to survive clinicals, my boss is mean, I passed NCLEX, dealing with unemployment, where can a new grad get a job, treat people with respect, what color scrubs are you wearing...

OTHER FORUMS:

So let me share with you what you see when you check some EMS forums:

Unnecessary IVs and fraud, new study on airways in codes, one rescuer ventilation, vents transports gone wrong

Those forums tend to see a lot of students just like here. How about SDN? All students and residents, but they still have articles and threads like:

Essential tremor, CV and TEE cases, Insurance-Not Injuries-May Determine Who Goes To Trauma Centers, Future of medicine and homeopathy

Why don't we see Allnurses.com articles and threads about intradermal pain pumps, the latest ebp with inpatient/outpatient anticoagulation, best tricks for pressure ulcers, lidocaine versus amio, hemostatics, the patho of sepsis, crew resource management, the latest EBP findings for management of diabetics, vasoactive drip management strategies, etc?

STEREOTYPES:

I hate to say it, but the total lack of scientific and patient care topics the main article and trending thread page of the largest nursing forum on the internet does not reflect well on us as a profession and reinforces certain stereotypes and cultural trends.

SOLUTION:

The administration of this website can choose what sort of discussions to promote. Instead of just leaving it up to a popularity contest, I propose that two of those prominent blocks on the front page be reserved for technical topics: 1 EBP related study discussion and 1 patho/pharm/procedural/patient care topic! These topics grow professional practice, identity, and image for nurses and nursing.