I don’t know if my input made the least difference in the final product, but some months ago I was contacted by a writer for Nurse Jackie who wanted to talk with me about nursing and the series. I told her that I wasn’t looking for the perfect nurse character, since I know that perfection is not the stuff of great drama and comedy.
For years, I had written tightly focused articles on advances in the treatment of asthma, diabetes, and other diseases and on important issues like the nursing shortage. But when I was given a Nieman Fellowship for Global Health Reporting at Harvard University, I decided to look at a larger theme . . .
Pulse oximeters are everywhere in the health care environment, in both inpatient and outpatient settings, but many clinicians don’t understand how they work.
I was wrong about this being an isolated incident—every year since then there has been more and more violence against health care providers who provide abortion services to women in communities across America. The violence has escalated, clinic personnel have been murdered, and thousands of cases of vandalism, stalking, bombings, arson, and other serious violations have been reported.
The most recent “Change of Shift,” a regular nursing blogosphere roundup (“the carnival dedicated to nurses and nursing”), is up over at Code Blog. We appreciate the mention of our recent post about virtual nurses in a virtual ICU.
How can we have health care reform without first controlling costs? In this week’s New Yorker, Atul Gawande undertakes a fascinating and in-depth comparison of the very different health care approaches of two American towns. Leave your preconceptions at the door.
Speaking of quality control, here’s Health News Review’s analysis of a recent story in the Washington Post about screening and treatment of major depressive disorder in teens (the story gets a 4 out of a possible 10).
And, for those of you in the mood, here’s one nurse’s blunt message to new interns. A brief excerpt:
I worked as a neurosurgical nurse many years ago at a teaching hospital in the Midwest, and twice a year a new crop of interns descended upon our unit. It was the best show in town. The spectacle began with the chief of neurosurgery, Dr. Holier Than Thou, strutting on to the unit with his entourage marching behind him.