Archive for May, 2011

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Memorial Day Weekend Notes from the Nursosphere Blog Roundup

May 27, 2011

As I walked into the exam room and introduced myself as a nurse practitioner, the patient announced she was “forced” to come to our clinic and “wasn’t allowed to see a real doctor” downtown. I was slightly taken aback. Here I was, running on time, in a pretty good mood and ready to assess and treat to the best of my abilities, and then WHAM. I took a deep breath and realized she wasn’t slamming NPs; she had a grudge against military providers, regardless of education background.

That’s from a recent post by a U.S. Air Force family nurse practitioner (NP) who’s been blogging from Afghanistan. She’s home now, and the post, about being discriminated against by a patient—not because she’s an NP, but because she’s a military provider—is worth noting as we prepare for another Memorial Day Weekend.

Memorial Day Flags/Eddie Coyote, via Flickr

Are you a nursing student, or just ready for a change in your nursing career? Curious about various nursing specialties and what they really involve? Codeblog has been running a helpful series of posts, each of which focuses on an interview with a particular type of nurse. The latest is with a cardiac catheterization lab nurse.

Nothing like a medication error to ruin everyone’s day. Lisa at In the Round has a useful post that lists the eight “rights” of medication administration.

“So there is very little, in the end, I won’t share. There are some things, however, that are beyond the pale. Here’s my short list of ten things I will never, ever tell you, my patient.” That’s from a recent post at Those Emergency Blues: “Don’t Tell Your Patient This. Or That.” Have a look and see if you agree.

Lastly, an article today on the NY Times “Well” blog summarizes the findings of a new report on the activity levels of Americans in the workplace. The basic idea is that we’re less active at work, and since we spend much of our time and energy at work, we’re also increasingly obese. Many nurses might dispute this finding if they spend their days on their feet. But it’s worth considering, as many of us prepare for a long holiday weekend full of opportunities to eat, relax, and also, yes, to get a bit of exercise—even if it’s only a matter of taking a daily walk after dinner in the lingering late May light. Or, as Sean at My Strong Medicine puts it, a little bluntly: “What Was Your Excuse for Not Exercising?” 

Point taken.—JM, senior editor

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Posted in nurse practitioners, nursing perspective, patient safety, writing and nursing | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments »

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The Sacraments of Nursing

May 26, 2011

At the center of Sister Thecla’s demonstrations was an old manikin that lived all its days on the hospital bed at the front of the classroom. I can still see its chipped, painted face—the trust in the eyes, the unreadable thin lips. I can see Sister Thecla turning that manikin on its side, taking care so the blanket wouldn’t slip and expose any imagined privates. And Sister Thecla’s hands—how they were all tenderness, and how somehow, right before our eyes, they transubstantiated the cotton backside of that manikin into the feverish, aching flesh of a real sick person.

Every month, as you may know, we publish a personal essay inside our back cover. This month, our Reflections essay is by Madeleine Mysko, the coordinator of that monthly column. Madeleine, a novelist and poet who teaches writing in the Johns Hopkins Advanced Academic Programs, is also a nurse. She helps us find potential writers and reviews most Reflections submissions. I edit all accepted submissions before publication, but I sometimes call on Madeleine for another point of view, especially if I’m stuck or if I sense I’m missing something crucial. She invariably has suggestions that make the essay flow more elegantly and cleanly—and strike home more powerfully.

The excerpt above is from her piece in the May edition of AJN. “The Sacraments of Sister Thecla” (for best reading, click through to the PDF version) describes a kind of mystical visitation from a teacher Madeleine had back in nursing school in the 1960s. Clearly, teachers do make a difference.—Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor

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Posted in nursing students, professional identity, spirituality and nursing, writing and nursing | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

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What Is the Role of the Staff Nurse on a Medical Emergency Team?

May 25, 2011

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

There is strong evidence that a hospital’s use of a medical emergency team (MET) helps to decrease the rates of in-hospital cardiac arrests, unplanned ICU admissions, and overall hospital mortality. (A MET is similar to a rapid response team, but is typically led by a physician rather than by a nurse.)

But our understanding of such teams is incomplete. Nurse researcher Margaret Pusateri and colleagues set out to explore, in particular, the role of non-ICU staff nurses during a MET call. They wanted to better understand such nurses’ familiarity with and perceptions of the MET, and possibly, to increase the team’s effectiveness. So they sent a survey to 388 non-ICU staff nurses at a large urban teaching hospital; 131 nurses (34%) responded.

The authors report on the results in May’s CE feature (for optimum reading, open the PDF version). Among their findings:

  • Nearly three-quarters of the respondents had participated in a MET call.
  • The most common actions they reported taking during the call included relaying patient history, initiating the call, and documenting MET data.
  • But fewer than half of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statements “I feel comfortable with my role as a member of the MET” and “I know what my role as a member of the MET is.” Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in continuing education, nurses, nursing perspective, nursing research, patient safety | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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Some Fun Friday Food for Thought

May 20, 2011

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

With rain and gray clouds clinging to the East coast, this week seemed especially long. Commuting into New York City took much longer than usual, but on a positive note, there was more time to listen to the radio or read the paper. This week, some of us at AJN came across some interesting stories. They got us through ‘til Friday, so we’re sharing them—they’re too good to keep to ourselves.

  • One staffer’s reading turned up this piece: the Ford Motor Company is developing in-vehicle monitoring of diabetes and allergies. According to the article, it’s “aimed at helping people with chronic illnesses or medical disorders such as diabetes, asthma or allergies manage their condition while on the go.” Meaning, while driving?
  • As we were having a laugh about what this scenario might look like in reality, one editor spoke of a friend who, while driving herself to the hospital in labor, was using an iPhone app to monitor contractions. I wonder if there’ll be new laws against using health apps while driving…
  • My favorite story has nothing to do with nursing, but I can’t resist sharing it. Time.com ran a story about the possible end of the world, which some people think will happen Saturday. What’s startling is that some companies are already cashing in. One company called Eternal Earth-Bound Pets has the answer for those worried about pets left behind: its representatives are confirmed atheists—they’ll take care of the pets.

I’m not sure who said it, but you really can’t make this stuff up. Happy weekend!

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Posted in random thoughts, Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief, social media | 1 Comment »

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Farewell to Nurses Week 2011

May 18, 2011

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

So Nurses Week 2011 has come and gone. I was in Malta at the start of it—at the 2011 International Council of Nurses (ICN) meeting in Valletta—and in New York City at the end of it.  From two disparate locations, there was a singular thread: nurses seeking information to improve the lives of their patients and themselves.

In Malta, there were over 2,000 nurses from all over the world. Some participated as their nation’s representatives in the Council of National Representatives (see an earlier post describing ICN activities); some came for the educational sessions, or to share experiences or initiatives that have made a difference in the lives of nurses or patients. (I wrote about two of these moving stories.) The conference also served as a reminder of how much I regret not being fluent in another language—four years of high school French and a French-speaking grandfather helped a little, but there’s nothing like meeting colleagues who speak two or three languages (their own native language, English, and usually a bit of another one) to make you realize how necessary it is to be multilingual in today’s world.

On one day, I was eating lunch with colleagues from Brazil and Belgium. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in advocacy/political action, infection control, international nursing, nurses, nursing perspective, professional identity, Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief, writing and nursing | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments »

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Abandonment Guilt

May 16, 2011

This is the last in a series of posts by Sue Hassmiller, who has been blogging from the tornado destruction in Alabama, where she’s been volunteering with the Red Cross.—JM, senior editor/blog editor

I will do hospital visits today and have been told that the first family I will visit is a priority—an 8-year-old is not expected to make it through the day.  If he dies, then he will join his mother and brother, who were killed instantly. The father, who was at work when the tornado hit, was spared. We will talk to the father or the uncle. He speaks Spanish, so a translator will be present. 

"Home Is Where the Heart Is"

How do you convey in words—especially through a translator—what you need to say, what you want to say? I will hug him . . . I know I will . . . everybody hugs here. And I know there will be survivor’s guilt. Not being a war veteran, this is the closest I have been to so much of it: a grandfather who survived while holding his 7-week-old granddaughter, who was “swept up and away”; an elderly mother who lost her 42-year-old daughter (a “famous paramedic . . . and helping so many”);  a wife of 32 years who lost her husband, the only breadwinner for the family—it goes on and on. 

The stories fill large white notebooks now, here at headquarters in Birmingham. And I am leaving tomorrow. I am leaving all of this behind and feel very acutely that I am abandoning them, all of them. I know better, know in my head that life will go on, that I must return to work, that I have a very loving and supportive husband waiting for me, that I have a dog that has not been “properly” walked for the last 11 days. But my heart is still suffering today. I will follow the advice that I gave a colleague yesterday morning when she conveyed her own sense of abandonment guilt. I told her, “Becky, this is only half your job. The other half is going home and continuing to tell the stories of the people of Alabama and how the Red Cross helped them.” 

I also told her that ”there will always be disasters, and as long as there is a Red Cross (and many other wonderful organizations), then hope lives.” I believe that in my head—it will just take a bit longer for my heart to catch up.

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Posted in healing/holistic, public health nursing, writing and nursing | Tagged , | 2 Comments »

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Meeting Nightingale in Alabama; Where Were the Young Nurses? Further Notes from the Disaster Zone

May 13, 2011

Sue Hassmiller has been blogging from the tornado-damaged area in Alabama, where she’s volunteering for the Red Cross. This and all other posts in this series are collected on a separate page for easy reference.—JM, senior editor/blog editor

Finishing up some very difficult hospital visits with victims and family members at the University of Alabama–Birmingham Medical Center today, I saw the sign for the school of nursing. I remembered Dean Dodi Harper telling me last year of a man who had donated to her school what might be the largest grouping of original Florence Nightingale letters. A priceless gift indeed! Her intent was to transcribe the letters and eventually have an exhibit. As I saw the School of Nursing sign, the conversation all came back to me . . . and then I realized it was May 12, Nightingale’s actual birthday, the day we celebrate Nurses Day! Too good to be true: I e-mailed the dean and got an immediate response (I love those type A personalities!). She was away, but the assistant dean for clinical affairs and partnerships, Cindy Selleck, would welcome me—and indeed on this occasion the letters were on display in a temporary exhibit. Having been on a special Nightingale tour last year to England and Istanbul/Scutari, the words of this great mentor had taken on a whole new meaning for me (here’s the blog series I wrote at the time). 

Seeing this very special exhibit and Nightingale’s words on her very own stationery made me realize once again why I had come to Alabama. Between the families that we helped that day and Nightingale’s words of inspiration, this is a Nurses Day I will never forget. Happy Nurses Day all! It was a great one for me!            

Where were you, my young colleagues? Looking around at who served in this disaster gave me a stark reminder of the great need to replenish our ranks. Most nurses were my age and older, a well-experienced corps to be sure, but this just won’t do for the future!! Students ask for advice all the time about how to go about finding a job when there are few jobs currently to be had. And this is what I tell them: 

Red Cross Student Nurse Guidelines

1). Take any job that is available and move on from there.

2). If possible, take this time to continue your education. Getting the vast majority of nurses (80%) to the BSN level by 2020 is a big goal of our Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action.

3). VOLUNTEER. Doing volunteer work can help you get a broad base of experience you could not otherwise get. That’s how I started my career. It was always the Red Cross, but it was also free care medical clinics, children’s medical services, and several years as a camp nurse for diabetic children. I realize that there are rent and student loans to repay, but doing something to expand your resume for even two hours a weeks will benefit you immensely. For more information on the Red Cross go to this page and this page. Your professional associations, like the American Nurses Association, and especially the National Student Nurses Association while you are still in school, are also good places to connect.

The next time I volunteer to serve in a disaster, I want to see you there! Please!

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Posted in nursing students, professional identity, public health nursing, writing and nursing | Tagged , | 1 Comment »

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Pay It Forward: A Meditation on Suffering, Volunteer Work, and Storytelling

May 12, 2011

Sue Hassmiller has been blogging from the tornado-damaged area in Alabama, where she’s volunteering for the Red Cross. This and all other posts in this series are collected on a separate page for easy reference.—JM, senior editor/blog editor

What an honor and privilege it is to help another human being—that’s how we all feel being here. There is no greater gift. Period. And we love to share our stories—including those that break our heart, especially those that break our heart. That’s what we do: we do our work and then we share our stories—our therapy, if you will. And we’re like kids at Christmas with what we are able to do for people, comparing the gifts we were able to give and reactions to those gifts. 

Today, because of the gift of money from Red Cross donors, I was able to take an inconsolable 21-year-old, who was swept up into the sky holding onto her baby for dear life, whose hard landing back to the ground caused six broken ribs,  a torn knee, a black eye, and a broken collarbone—and now pneumonia—and provide her with a doctor’s visit, filled prescriptions, food, and gas money to get to her doctor’s appointments and pick up her baby (who is doing well) from her boyfriend’s house many miles away. These are all the things we take for granted, but for her, on this day, luxuries.  Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in public health nursing, writing and nursing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments »

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‘Today I Cried’: A Family’s Loyalty, A Veteran’s Lost K-9 Helper

May 11, 2011

Sue Hassmiller has been blogging from the tornado-damaged area in Alabama, where she’s volunteering for the Red Cross. This and all other posts in this series are being collected on a separate page for easy reference.—JM, senior editor/blog editor

Today I cried.

Although I’ve seen horrific things and heard the worst stories imaginable here in Alabama, it was not until today that I cried. It had to do with my soft spot for daughters and dogs. 

The daughter. My morning visit was to a 50-year-old woman, Kate (not her real name), in the most rural of rural Alabama. Our team went to see her because she had lost not one family member, but three: her mother, her sister, and her brother. Kate told us that her mother and sister wouldn’t leave her wheelchair-bound, 6’ 4” brother for shelter. They didn’t have the strength to move him, so they simply sat with him in the living room and prayed for the best. She later found them in the field, with her sister still holding her brother in her arms.  Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in public health nursing | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments »

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Unheeded Warnings, Last Words, the Value of a Bathtub: More Notes from Alabama

May 10, 2011

Sue Hassmiller, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Senior Adviser for Nursing, has been blogging from the tornado-damaged area in Alabama. This post elucidates some of the philosophic and strategic context for the emotionally challenging Red Cross volunteer work she’s currently involved in. This and all previous posts in this series are being collected on a separate page for easy reference.—JM, senior editor/blog editor

The author in Alabama house ruin

Human Caring
It amazes me how much compassion there really is in the world. You don’t always see it day to day, but during disasters it’s the definitive order of the day. It is so refreshing to be a volunteer in this temporary health care structure we are working in and not have to worry about 10-minute office visits or rushing in and out of patients’ rooms trying to get it all done before the bell rings for the day. The Red Cross simply (with guidelines, of course) directs us to attend to all human needs (ok, yes, we do have forms to fill out). Therefore, a visit to a distraught family could take 10 minutes, 10 hours, or 10 months.

The devastation is so great here that as long as there are people to volunteer and the financial resources to carry on, this job will go on for years. A few of the groups that are here besides the Red Cross include the NAACP, Southern Baptist Convention (see today’s NY Times story on their role), Habitat for Humanity, Islamic Relief, and many more. The tapestry is among the most beautiful I have seen. Death and destruction are everywhere, but the compassionate spirit of humanity reigns supreme!

Sleuthing
Today’s assignment took my seven-person team on a two-hour drive from Birmingham to the counties of Franklin and Marion in the northwest corner of Alabama. This is a hard-hit area. The charge was to assist the families of the deceased and injured in any way we could. The target was hospitals, the coroner’s office, FEMA, and the county emergency director: find the people and start helping them! Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in public health nursing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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