Nursing Archives - Page 358 of 407

Nurses Under Fire: Cleared in Texas, Embattled in California

By Shawn Kennedy, interim editor-in-chief

By now you’ve probably heard that last Thursday Anne Mitchell, the Texas nurse who found herself fired from her job and on trial after reporting a physician for what she felt was poor medical practice (see our report in the October 2009 issue) was found not guilty (her colleague, Vicki Galle, had her case dismissed prior to trial). It only took the jury about an hour to exonerate Mitchell of criminal charges and uphold her right to advocate for patients. (Day-by-day reports from the trial were made available on the Texas Nurses Association (TNA) Web site.)

The case garnered national attention—at its core was a nurse’s right (duty, really) to safeguard patients in her or his care. It seemed a no-brainer, and almost incredible that the case even came to trial. Last Friday, I spoke with TNA president Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, who agreed, saying she was surprised the case went forward, especially after the state medical board agreed that what the nurses did was appropriate. Sportsman said, “This is the role of nurses—it’s required that we report what we see to safeguard patients. This nurse was just doing her job, what she was supposed to do.”

Like nurses everywhere, Sportsman was “delighted and ecstatic” about the verdict. Sportsman noted a guilty verdict would have discouraged nurses and others from coming forward about poor care out of fear of losing their jobs and facing prosecution. Perhaps […]

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:19:19-05:00February 16th, 2010|Nursing|3 Comments

The Mindfulness Antidote to V-Day

By Christine Moffa, MS, RN, AJN clinical editor

I can’t resist acknowledging that dreaded day that’s coming up this weekend. Whether you are a believer in Valentine’s Day or a skeptic who thinks it was created by greeting card companies and florists, you can’t escape it. There are commercials all over TV, signs in every drug store, and now a movie with it in the title (which I had planned on seeing, until I read some reviews). My personal feeling has been that it makes single people feel lonely and pathetic and people in relationships disappointed with the ones they have. Not to mention that it’s impossible to get a good meal at a decent restaurant. A friend of mine who’s a social worker told me she’s thankful it falls on a weekend so she will be spared dealing with back-to-back appointments of heartbroken clients.

This is the perfect time to practice my latest self-help discovery: mindful self-compassion. Christopher K. Germer, author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions (pardon the shameless product plug; neither I nor AJN has been paid off in any way!), posted an exercise on his blog during the holidays this past December that I think is a good fit for getting through this weekend (if you or someone you know finds it difficult). He suggests:

If you feel lonely […], see if you can stop and name the experience (“I’m […]

Share this:
Facebook
Bluesky
X
LinkedIn

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:19:21-05:00February 12th, 2010|Nursing|4 Comments

Weathering the Storm in PR

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN interim editor-in-chief

As I’m writing this, I’m lucky enough to be in Puerto Rico, out of the record-setting snow storm that just hit the Northeast (and further south as well). But I’m still following the news of the storm and “real life” (sun and sand in February is so not real life) and trying to keep up with work e-mail a bit so it won’t overwhelm me when I get home (it will anyway).

Which brings me to my point: how difficult it is to shake off real life today and just relax. As I’m sitting here in the hotel lobby using the Internet connection, I see at least a dozen other people on laptops and another dozen or so on cell phones. As I look out the large windows to the palm trees and blue sky, I realize there is something definitely wrong with the picture—I’m not out there stocking up on Vitamin D. I’d better go—for health reasons, you understand.

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:19:25-05:00February 11th, 2010|Nursing|2 Comments

Loud and Clear: A Nurse Discovers the Hazards of Learning Spanish By Audio

By Alice Facente, MSN, RN

I was determined to learn to speak Spanish. To deliver truly competent nursing care to my many Spanish-speaking patients, I felt compelled to gain a working knowledge of the Spanish language. I found a four-week course offered at the local community college, entitled “Spanish for the Medical Professional.” Perfect! I enrolled and eagerly went to the first class. My five classmates and I immediately started learning about the parts of the body, numbers, dates, how to ask and tell your address, and how to tell time. It was surprising how much we learned in that first three-hour class.

To reinforce what we had learned the professor instructed us to purchase a pocket medical Spanish guide, as well as the corresponding audio CD, which could be played at home or in the car. I wanted to get started quickly. On the way home from class I dutifully put the CD in my car tape player and repeated the Spanish translation after the English narration.

“Good morning: Buenos días.”

“I am the nurse: Soy la enfermera.”

So far, so good. At this rate, I began to think, I would be fluent in a short time. I listened to the CD every chance I got.

“Do you have a headache? Le duele a usted la cabeza?”

A few days later, I gave a gracious, elderly neighbor a ride home from the grocery store. As she slowly buckled herself in, I turned the key in the ignition. Immediately, the CD asked in loud, clear English, “Does […]

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:19:30-05:00February 10th, 2010|Nursing|1 Comment

Want to Achieve the ‘Greatest Good’? Listen to Your Patients

Ethical dilemmas abound in nursing practice. Consider these commonplace scenarios:

* An angry patient threatens to leave the hospital against medical advice. Should you hold him against his will?

* A cancer patient fears chemotherapy. Should you give less detailed information about the effects of anticancer drugs?

* An obese home care patient with pressure ulcers refuses to cooperate in turning. Should you turn her anyway?

Such conflicts between the patient’s wishes and the nurse’s perception of the patient’s best interests occur regularly. That doesn’t make these ethical dilemmas any easier to resolve, but how nurses approach them can significantly affect clinical outcomes. Taking the time to listen to patients—and to integrate relationship skills with principles of ethical practice—can help nurses achieve solutions that are both ethical and appropriate for individual patients.

ky olsen/via Flickr

That’s from the February issue of AJN, in which nurse–ethicist Doug Olsen (who has in the past written for this blog on ethical issues related to mandated H1N1 vaccinations for nurses) offers a thoughtful discussion that may resonate for all nurses who’ve ever faced a situation like those in the above examples. It may seem obvious or cliched to say that listening to patients can help solve apparently intractable problems—but just because listening as a skill is hard to measure doesn’t mean that it’s not sometimes effective where more rigid tactics would fail.

[…]

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:19:32-05:00February 9th, 2010|Ethics, Nursing, patient engagement|0 Comments