• 29
  • Jun

This past weekend I was in a Tomah, Wisconsin, motel when I told my husband I had to check emails before we went for dinner. The computer was in the dining room of the continental breakfast motel. I settled in and soon after a group of military men and women started a meeting around me. Then it began to rain, hard, against the window next to the computer. Since this is cranberry country, I was also surrounded with information on bogs and wine and recipe books.

As I scrolled through my emails, I spotted the one from my editor with a pdf file of Caring Lessons ready for the final proofing of the corrections I’d just sent in. I didn’t expect them back so soon and had thought I’d have the weekend free. So I focused, blotting out the military talk that sounded like a string of acronyms planning some actions, the noise of the rain pelting at my side, and the notion of cranberries all around, and checked the 20-some corrections I’d made a few days earlier. Not easy, but when one has to focus, I found out I could. And it felt great to finish!

I went back to our room and told my husband I was ready to go for dinner–that I’d been delayed because the corrections on my galley had come and I’d had to proof them. I asked, “Did you notice that it rained?”

He’d been watching the news and hadn’t noticed. He went to stand by the window. “Hey, look at this. There’s a rainbow.”

Rainbow in TomahI grabbed my camera. Sure enough! A rainbow–surely a good sign after the final proof on a galley.

Seeing a rainbow always reminds me of the story about Noah and the flood. Maybe you remember the story, too, from Sunday School of the relationship between the rainbow and God’s everlasting covenant with us.

To see the rainbow, look just above the trees toward the left (or click on the photo to enlarge). A comforting promise!

  • 29
  • Jun

Have you ever stopped yourself from doing something because of what you thought would happen? Recently, that is exactly what I discovered about my attendance at networking events. I used to be a master networker—5 to 7 events a week. People sought me out because I had so many connections in so many industries. Then it stopped three years ago.
Now, business requires networking. Placing yourself in front of people, in person, is still the best way to establish your business presence and have others help you to find the clients you need.
So, what stopped me? It was a past relationship with another business person. Every time I would go to put in an RSVP, there would be his name. I had become so afraid of being judged by others. I had become afraid of what he would do. I didn’t really want to face how badly the relationship had ended.
Last week, that all changed. I was tired of being afraid and stopping myself from doing something to promote my business that I truly enjoy. Yes, I truly enjoy networking. Meeting new people and people I already know to get updates on their industries, the world of business and just have a moment to breath in a social setting.
Guess what? He did show up. As soon as he saw me, he left. Nothing happened. My world was just fine. And I have a full schedule of follow-ups to do.
Is there something (or someone) you are letting stop you from pursuing your dream? Don’t let your imagination rule your decision to pursue it. As I have heard others say, “put your big girl panties on and just do it!”

  • 29
  • Jun

The current issue of Nursing Times features the findings of a (UK) audit of patients with palliative care needs. The findings point to poor communication,  equipment shortages, difficulties transferring patients to care pathways and lack of cooperation between hospitals and social care networks as causing delayed discharge for palliative patients.

View the full article here; Why do patients with complex palliative needs experience delayed hospital discharge? | Practice | Nursing Times.

Also in the current issue, Clare Lomas examines why nurses should adopt a systematic approach in facilitating patients end-of-life preferences in her article ‘Hospital nurses should be ‘systematic’about end-of-life care’

  • 29
  • Jun
Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette, reports on a national shortage of pediatric subspecialists. "While Massachusetts has more pediatric sub-specialists per capita than many other states, the doctors are in short supply, even at big institutions like UMass. ...
  • 29
  • Jun
The Australian Nursing Federation congratulates nurses for once again being voted the most ethical and honest professionals. In the annual Roy Morgan Image of Professions survey 89% of Australians rated nurses as most trusted. Nurses were first included in the survey in 1994 and have topped the list every year since...
  • 29
  • Jun

Hmmmh, Tmorow on tuesday June 29 i will goto Banjarmasin Islamic Hospital, and Anshari Shaleh Hospital, i have nursing clinical practice there, hum, deg-degan, gugup, pokoknya begitulah, sebenarnya yang bikin gugup ini bukan ke rumah sakitnya, tapi waktu konsulnya itu….setengah mati, even if i didnt  taste it yet..lol Read the rest of this entry ...

  • 29
  • Jun

Hall Rejuvenation is currently seeking an Aesthetic Nurse to add to our team. As part of Hall Plastic Surgery, Hall Rejuvenation’s Med-Spa aims to be the destination of choice for both local and out of town guests to the Austin, Texas area. We are committed to providing exceptional customer service and many of our most requested services are performed by the Aesthetic Nurse.  We are excited about finding someone who wants to make Hall Rejuvenation their career home.

Find out more about Hall Plastic Surgery and Rejuvenation at www.hallplasticsurgery.com, but when applying please contact our recruiter at TalentSleuth@gmail.com. NO OUTSIDE AGENCIES, PLEASE.

Our full time employees have a compensation program which includes fully paid health and dental insurance after 90 days, PTO (paid time off), 401k with match, discounted Med-Spa services and products.

Responsibilities:

  • Administer filler treatments
  • Administer laser treatments
  • Administer peels
  • The ideal candidate will also be able to or interested in applying permanent makeup including, but not limited to: eyeliner, eyebrows, and lip color
  • May include other duties as assigned

Requirements:

  • Registered Nurse
  • Self motivated to work independently and without supervision
  • Ability to adapt to change and different situations quickly
  • Detail oriented and ability to multi-task in a fast paced environment
  • Strong closing / sales skills
  • Ability to communicate clearly and persuasively, both verbally and in writing
  • Be an effective, interactive and perceptive team player
  • Ability to adapt as the firm evolves and grows with an energetic, confident and professional demeanor

For the right applicant this can either be a full time or part-time opportunity. We are an equal opportunity employer. Applicants and employees are treated without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital or veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status.

Submit resume to TalentSleuth@gmail.com. NO OUTSIDE AGENCIES, PLEASE.

  • 29
  • Jun

Here is a follow-up on the article I posted from the NY Times “Is There a Nurse in the House?”  This is from the SEIU Blog and is a very good complement to the original article.   Please read below and let me know what you think.  Do any of you readers sit on your hospital’s Staffing Committee?  If so, tell us about your experiences please.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

cathy.jpg

A recent NY Times editorial — “Is there a nurse in the House?” — hit a nerve with me, and probably many other registered nurses around the country. I rarely see a piece in the paper that is so on point about the challenges professional nurses face providing healthcare to our patients.

The editorial, by Theresa Brown, RN described nurses as first responders and the first providers to act in crises. And yet, as Brown notes, even though research proves that thousands of patients die unnecessarily in hospitals where there are too few nurses to provide care, most hospitals around the country continue to cut nursing staff as a cost-cutting measure.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Patients at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), a level one-trauma center, where I work in Pittsburgh, PA are among the lucky few in this country. We union nurses sat down as equal partners with management and negotiated safe nurse to patient ratios into our SEIU contract for every department in the hospital. Our facility is definitely not the norm. Outside of California, where SEIU was instrumental along with other nurse unions in winning legislated staffing ratios, there are no requirements for safe staffing ratios. In fact, most hospitals in the rest of the country force nurses to accept overloaded assignments that risk patients’ lives on a daily basis. But, as I said, it doesn’t have to be this way.

When nurses have the time to professionally monitor our patients, we identify the smallest changes in a patient’s condition and thereby prevent complications that might otherwise lead to death. We provide the care that eases pain and reduces fear.
When nurses have too many patients on a shift, that level of attention is impossible to maintain; and patients lie in wait and at risk.

Patients in hospitals where nurse to patient ratios are in place, are free from central-line infections and other hospital-induced complications; they are rarely harmed by medication errors; they learn about their medications from nurses who have time to teach them; and they can go home healthier and prepared to live in a state of wellness rather than returning to the hospital sicker than ever just a short time later.

There is no reason why every single hospital in this country cannot model its nursing practice after Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh and frankly, patients in this country cannot wait for it to happen hospital by hospital. Our hospital has had its financial challenges, but nurses and administrators kept working together, focusing on the mission of providing the highest quality of care to the community it serves.

As healthcare reform is implemented and quality care is incentivized, the healthcare industry is finally shifting its attention to quality standards for care. The only way for hospitals to achieve those standards will be to adopt nurse to patient ratios. However, hospitals are notorious for resisting the obvious. That’s why I agree with Theresa Brown that nurse to patient ratios must be mandated by law in order to give every patient in this country the care that our AGH patients in Pittsburgh receive.

It seems to me that patients in New York, or Louisiana, or Alaska might want that kind of nursing care, too. As a nurse I think they deserve it. As a leader of nurses in this country I will fight for it and I hope the rest of the nurses in this country and our patients will stand with us to support the staffing ratios bills from Congresswoman Schakowsky, HR2273, “Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2009″; and Senator Boxer, S1031, “National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy Act”. The research leaves no doubt. You are safer in my hands when I have the appropriate number of patients.

Cathy Stoddart, RN, BSN is the Chair of the Nurse Alliance of SEIU Healthcare Policy & Politics Committee and a staff nurse at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA

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  • 28
  • Jun

Sunday was another warm day in the mid 30s and H&S went to lunch with some friends in the prochain hamlet.  H wore shorts much to the amusement of  everyone else.  I think he was very brave.  The friends had two Collies one of whom, Pip, they lost to cancer a couple of weeks ago and then her sister had a stroke last week, so I sent some of my special chicken around for her but Nellie went on Saturday.  So it was a sad day for C&J to be suddenly without both of their longtime chums of some fourteen years, and also the end of at least three generations of Tricolour Borders.  Farewell Guys x

l – r: Grandmother  – Pip   Nellie  - and Mother

We hadn’t known them long and because they had been working dogs we had kept a respectful distance, but we will miss them dropping round for a quick drink during their long walks.  (we don’t think that the England Football Team brightened the day – but that paled by comparison)

As promised – or threatened, as the case may be – here is the photograph of la jambe this morning, now 8 weeks since the accident.  The healing process continues, and although it might look ‘raw’ it has come an extraordinary long way.   S says it does not hurt at all, but is itching a little in this hot weather.  Warning: Only click on the ‘thumbnail’ if you wish to enlarge it.

  • 28
  • Jun

Well, I didn’t fail.  I actually did MUCH better than I expected.  

I read a post at allnurses.com where someone posted their scores & that person was accepted to Samuel Merritt University.  This is something of a relief because my scores are higher.  

I may take it one more time next summer just to see if I can improve my score.  I still want to be as competitive as possible if I decide to apply to UCLA or UW.

I think this result will give me a few points on my applications.  Hopefully, I will get into a good program with my TEAS score, grades, and position as a volunteer at a hospital.  I was at the hospital last night and one of the RNs said, “You are so lucky!”  I asked her why and apparently her sister, who is an RN, applied to volunteer and did not get selected.  I wonder, is just BEING in a hospital becoming competitive?