What’s Your ‘Impact Factor’ as a Nurse?

Blue Impact I, by Helico, via Flickr. Blue Impact I, by Helico, via Flickr.

I hate to admit this in public but I do enjoy a good self-help book from time to time. My latest guilty pleasure is Write It Down, Make it Happen, by Henriette Anne Klauser. The title sums up the premise of the book pretty well: if you want to make changes in your life, start writing about them and your aspirations will begin to take on a life all their own.

I haven’t actually done that yet, so I will have to keep you posted. However, what really struck me was an anecdote about a study from the 1960’s (apparently this story has gotten around quite a bit and may have become an urban legend). Scientists observing monkeys on an island off the coast of Japan noted that these monkeys were washing sand off potatoes in a stream. Little by little other monkeys adopted this same behavior. When a certain number of monkeys (a “critical mass”) was reached, primates on neighboring islands started to do it too. This is sometimes referred to as the 100th monkey theory. […]

2016-11-21T13:33:56-05:00April 23rd, 2009|Nursing|0 Comments
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So a Nurse Walks into a Hospital with a PhD . . .

By Jason Ford, via Flickr. By Jason Ford, via Flickr.

. . . and the PhD turns to her and says . . . (Sorry. That’s copyeditor humor—dangling modifiers and all that.)

My question for you is, should that nurse (let’s call her Beverly Smythe) be called Dr. Smythe? It’s an intriguing question, if only because it seems that some people think the answer is no. Diana Mason (PhD, RN, FAAN) mentioned this in her editorial last August. […]

2020-02-07T11:29:35-05:00April 22nd, 2009|career, nursing perspective|10 Comments
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‘Patient dies, nurse cries.’ Submit to AJN’s Reflections column.

Photo by mezone, via Flickr.

“Patient dies, nurse cries.” That’s how we sometimes refer to the Reflections column, the personal essay about some aspect of health care that appears inside AJN’s back cover each month. It’s the kind of self-protective humor you develop at a nursing journal. We’re not making light of real pain. Often, in fact, we’re quite moved by submissions, both ones we accept for publication and ones we don’t. Nor is every Reflections actually about a patient dying or a nurse grieving. Most, probably, are not. […]

2016-11-21T13:34:13-05:00April 20th, 2009|nursing perspective|1 Comment
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Are nurses really more compassionate than doctors?

“Nurses don’t have a monopoly on compassion,” writes Kim over at Emergiblog in a thought-provoking post about—among other things (including vintage nurses’ uniforms)—some words of wisdom from a doctor colleague on why people visit the ER over seemingly minor problems.

emergiblogscreenshot

-Jacob M., AJN senior editor

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2016-11-21T13:34:30-05:00April 17th, 2009|Nursing|1 Comment
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For Nurses and Writers, Some Publications of Note

Clare #5 by fotologic / Jon Nicholls, via Flickr.

Here’s a selection of sites and publications that AJN readers interested in narrative and poetry (particularly as it relates to health care) and in well-crafted writing might find worth a visit.

The Nieman Narrative Digest, a biweekly “compendium of narrative journalism” moderated by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, presents often unusual, always riveting stories. Health care–related pieces are regularly featured. One recent selection, “Fixing Mr. Fix-It”  from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, describes the rehabilitation of a truck mechanic whose arms were severed in a terrible accident. […]

2016-11-21T13:34:43-05:00April 16th, 2009|students|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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