Nurses spend more time with patients than most other types of providers and have unique insight into patient care and the the healthcare system.

Tuning in to Humor in Nursing

1. Nurses Don’t Have to Make This Stuff Up

Photo by Kah Lok Leong on Unsplash

During a fire drill the nurse, Kathryn, was closing doors to patients’ rooms. An 86-year-old patient was talking on the phone to her daughter when Kathryn reached her room. As Kathryn started to shut the patient’s door, the woman asked, “What’s that ringing noise?”

“Don’t worry,” Kathryn said. “We’re just having a little fire drill.”

As she was leaving, Kathryn heard the woman tell her daughter, “No, everything’s just fine, dear. The hospital’s on fire but a nice little nurse just came to lock me in my room.”

Having worked as a nurse, as well as having interviewed hundreds of nurses over the years, I can attest that you don’t have to make this stuff up. Yet nurses from coast to coast right now are telling me, “There’s nothing funny happening in my life.”

Having studied the brain and humor for decades, I can tell you that if that is your belief, that will also be your reality. Telling yourself there’s nothing funny around you will wire your reticular activating system to show you just that—nothing funny.

Even during times of chaos—overwhelming patient census, lack of resources, staffing shortages—humorous […]

2023-03-07T13:20:16-05:00March 7th, 2023|Nursing, nursing perspective, nursing stories|2 Comments
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Potential Changes to Blood Donation Policies for MSM in the United States

Critical blood shortages persist.

Blood supply shortages heightened by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to persist in the United States. Major blood suppliers report that this is the lowest level of blood supply they’ve experienced in a decade. Despite this, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to uphold a longstanding ban on donations from men who have sex with men (MSM), even those who are HIV-negative and in monogamous relationships. The current ban, revised in 2020 due to blood shortages during the pandemic, recommends deferrals for all men who report having sex with men within the last three months.

In early January of this year, the American Medical Association (AMA) sent a strong message to the FDA recommending a change in the current practices. After much external debate, the FDA recently took a significant step by initiating a national pilot study to examine these deferral policies. This study, entitled Assessing Donor Variability and New Concepts in Eligibility (ADVANCE), aimed to guide the FDA in revising the current screening questionnaire and deferral practices. Since the study’s conclusion in September, news outlets have reported that the FDA is considering revising the questionnaire to shift its focus to individual risk, based on […]

2022-12-19T13:03:58-05:00December 19th, 2022|Nursing, nursing perspective, Public health|0 Comments
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ER Nurse Who Called 911 for Backup: ‘What Are We Afraid Of?’

Making the call.

As I got home this morning after a hectic 12-hour shift as charge RN in a 50-bed ER, I sat in my silent car for a moment to ponder how much has changed in the last three weeks.

Three weeks ago, overwhelmed by walk-in patients and ambulance traffic and severely short-staffed, I called the emergency services non-emergent line and asked for help in our crowded lobby. I wasn’t thinking about the repercussions, about the uproar or the giant target I sometimes feel I’ve installed on my back with my outspokenness. I was thinking about my coworkers, spread too thin, exhausted and afraid for their licenses, and the patients that I knew had been sitting in the lobby for hours, sick and in pain and mostly unmonitored. I had no idea of the attention that call would receive.

Did speaking out change anything?

Someone recently asked, “What changes have you seen in the month since you made that call?”

For myself, I’ve been learning to navigate in a more public arena, […]

2022-12-01T09:51:43-05:00December 1st, 2022|Ethics, Nursing, nursing perspective, patient safety, safe staffing|5 Comments
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Message from a Concerned School Nurse

Robin Cogan

In case you have not seen the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for schools, published on August 11, 2022, here they are: Operational Guidance for K-12 Schools and Early Care and Education Programs to Support Safe In-Person Learning.

Key changes in CDC guidance for schools.

The CDC has chosen the path of least resistance as schools are about to reopen or are in their first few weeks of the new school year. Although the word “prevention” is included in the CDC’s name, this central goal seems to have been removed from these guidelines, including crucial pieces of the mitigation strategies that in the past prevented the school-level spread of the virus:

2022-08-25T09:13:06-04:00August 25th, 2022|infectious diseases, Nursing, nursing perspective, Public health, school nurses|2 Comments
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Heat Illnesses: Nursing Essentials from a NYC Emergency Department

As complex as health care may be in an emergency department (ED) setting, the weather and seasonality have added additional variables to that complexity. It is critical that registered nurses in the ED understand the health care trends associated with the weather and seasons. As in many other places, the summer here in New York City is a time when people are more active, spending time outdoors and traveling. This summer we have experienced several stretches with temperature in the high 90 degrees. July recently had a seven-day stretch with temperatures nearing and exceeding 100 degrees in New York. These heat waves can become physiologically unbearable.

Jonathan Nover, MBA, RN

Who is most vulnerable to heat illness?

During these heat waves, it is important to recognize the pockets of vulnerability among us. Older adults are often the most vulnerable because of decreased capacity to thermoregulate in response to changes in temperature. It is also important to consider the effects of heat on the homeless community and people without access to air-conditioned environments. Children are more susceptible to heat illness than adults. Some medications, such as diuretics, and consumption of alcohol and illicit drugs can increase a person’s risk of heat exhaustion. Additionally, individuals who perform strenuous […]

2022-08-18T11:39:58-04:00August 18th, 2022|climate change, environmental health, Nursing, nursing perspective, Public health|0 Comments
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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