You're Being (Web) Paged Archive

If you consider nursing recruitment as a marketing exercise, the first things you notice are: The demand for nurses is huge. The recruiting methods are comparatively passive. If  you look at the stats, the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the number of nursing positions in the market is expected to increase by 23% in the next decade. That's about double the average national figure. The need for more basic support for nurse recruiting has been recognized. The new Healthcare Reform Bill passed through ... More »

Before there were blogs, there were books. Nurses told their stories the old fashioned way, and they were just as intriguing as blogs today. Just out of nursing school I came across Echo Heron. I first read her book Intensive Care: The Story of a Critical Care Nurse. I was impressed with what she accomplished; returning to school as an adult with a child, helping to establish a critical care unit in her hospital, ... More »

Holy cow. Or should I say sheep? I had no idea there were so many knitting nurses out there. A recent search lead me to many blogs by nurses who knit. As a knitting fool my self, I am curious as to why so many of us pick up the needles and yarn after hitting the units. Can I just say how jealous I am of Nelda? She knits beautiful socks. And she's obsessed. ... More »

We will all at one point become a patient. Even as nurses, flipping to the other side of the bed can be difficult. Perhaps this is why we have earned the old wives tale of making "bad" patients. But I am often humbled, and angered, at the experiences patients endure. The New York Times has a 14 part series on being a patient. (You may have to register to read the series, but it's free) ... More »

I am hooked on forensics. I love the real life crime shows, the docu-drama's on MSNBC, and the science behind it. Did you know that nurses are also specialists in forensics? Just ask Kathleen Ecklelt, RN, FNE. She has a blog Forensics Talk that has excellent information relating the field. This blog written by a forensic nursing instructor has interesting posts about issues facing forensic nurses. One of the most common areas of forensic ... More »

I'm baffled. I can't find an old fashioned pediatric nurse blog. I've found NICU nurse blogs. But where are the pediatric unit nurses? Perhaps someone needs to direct me on where to look. I know there are pediatric nurses out there, so this post is for you. It continues in the theme of needing to remain up to date in the latest evidence based practice, with one of the best ways of keeping yourself informed ... More »

Nursing has moved towards evidence based practice, and it's not just for nurse researchers. The University of Minnesota has a great site that explains what evidence based practice means, how to evaluate and incorporate it into practice, and has a multitude of links for further information. Bedside nurses, new and old, need to remain on top of the latest research and findings that drive our nursing care. One of the best resources for finding the latest evidence based ... More »

Recently, my local news reported on the violence nurses face on the job. The news anchor's voice had a disbelieving tone and spoke of "alleged" and "reported" incidences that nurses face during any given shift. The news report was born out of this newspaper article. Ask any nurse, and you will certainly get a story or two that proves this "alleged" phenomenom. I encountered a few hairy situations in my first nursing job where I left with ... More »

Have you heard the new buzz word in health care? Yes, it's health literacy, which means a persons ability to read and understand health information and the ability to successfully interpret this information to become a functioning health care consumer. Although this definition is broad, it certainly makes it clear that an individual must be able to function as such to properly care for their health. As nurses, we take it for ... More »

Last Friday I asked health care providers to post and discuss the issues we face when blogging. What can we blog about, and where do we draw the line? And should we even be blogging? I've found that this has been a hot topic of late and found many good posts at numerous health care blogs. Here are some of the opinions from health care providers within the last few weeks: Scalpel, an ER physician in Texas, ... More »