Career Change in 2011? Ask the God of Gates, Doors, and Beginnings

Bust of the god Janus, Vatican museum, Rome

By Peggy McDaniel, BSN, RN, infusion practice manager

I’ve never been much for New Year’s resolutions. I guess it’s because I know I won’t keep them—or at least recognize that my track record has been less than stellar. I’ve made the usual promises to myself: eat less, exercise more, learn a new craft, spend more time reading and less time on the Internet . . . and so on.

It seems as if such promises are made with tongue in cheek—even, possibly, made to be broken. So many resolutions are about self-improvement; I suppose that’s a good thing, except we don’t tend to follow through. The yoga classes I attend are always packed from January 2 through approximately March 15, then attendance slowly tapers back to the usual attendees. Do we feel we’ve been successful if we hang in there for a month, two or three months?

I’m not sure I’ve ever made a New Year’s resolution I really planned on keeping.

According to Wikipedia, the Roman ruler Julius Caesar changed the celebration for New Year’s from March to January 1 in 46 B.C. The day was “dedicated to Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings,” who happened to have a face on both sides of his head. This signified the ability to look back and forward at the same time.

That’s something worthwhile—looking back at what we can and should change while […]

2016-11-21T13:14:29-05:00December 30th, 2010|career, nursing perspective|5 Comments
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Year-End Reindeer Dreams

By Peggy McDaniel, BSN, RN, infusion practice manager

As a long-time pediatric nurse who’s spent many a Christmas at the hospital, I have special memories, many of which still make me smile years later. Some of these are bittersweet, as suffering and pain do not stop for such days. One of my favorite shifts involved a little boy and some reindeer antlers. 

I was working a 12-hour night shift as a traveler in a small community hospital. We got a call from the ED to admit a four-year-old boy who was extremely anemic due to unknown causes. When this child arrived, I realized he was very ill and probably would only spend Christmas Eve night with us. He needed to be stabilized, then would move on to a regional children’s hospital for further diagnosis and treatment. […]

2016-11-21T13:14:30-05:00December 29th, 2010|nursing perspective|2 Comments
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The Slow Old Days

Christmas cards with angels, scandinavian “nis...

By Maureen “Shawn” Kennedy, interim editor-in-chief

On this past Monday at Slate, writer Kate Julian, lamenting that her mailbox was devoid of cards this season, asked, “Did Facebook Kill the Christmas Card?” She went on to detail all the ways people can connect online nowadays, making a case that the traditional “here’s what I’ve been doing all year” card is going the way of the little black address book and pocket calendar.

I’m not so sure we can put all the blame on Facebook. In my own case, I was (and still am) unprepared. I just know Christmas came earlier this year—I don’t know how they did it, but somehow the calendar seemed to do one of those Star Wars hyperspeed jump things, where lights whiz by and you’ve jumped light years ahead. I remember Halloween, and then there was Thanksgiving . . . but wasn’t that just last week?

Or maybe it only seems that way because with technology we can now work more efficiently and be more productive in less time. But where IS all this time I’m saving with technology?

This time of year makes me think of childhood Christmases, but not so much my own. My mother grew up in a small New England town during the 1930s; it was always cold and snowy. It was a mill town and no one had money […]

2016-11-21T13:14:34-05:00December 22nd, 2010|Nursing|2 Comments
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‘The Birthplace’: Showcasing a Collaborative Practice Model

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

Photojournalist Alice E. Proujansky reports in AJN this month on The Birthplace, a collaborative care practice model at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, Massachusetts, where a team of five nurse midwives, three obstetricians, and 35 nurses attend some 400 to 500 births annually. Except for preterm and other higher-risk deliveries, the nurse midwives manage all deliveries and monitor fetal and maternal health. Patients complete detailed birth plans that afford them various care options. Physicians are called in only when necessary; as one nurse midwife told the author, “There’s an awful lot that we can do on our own.”

How well does the model work? The Birthplace has lower-than-usual rates of medical interventions such as episiotomy, epidoral anesthesia, and cesarean section. The patients have greater autonomy and decision-making capabilities. And the practitioners “relish the collaborative approach,” says Proujansky, who interviewed several clinicians and patients for the article; her photographs appear alongside the text and on the December cover. Proujansky’s last piece for AJN, a photo essay on a Dominican maternity ward, appeared in our December 2008 issue; read it here.


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2016-11-21T13:14:38-05:00December 21st, 2010|Nursing, patient engagement|0 Comments
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