1885
1890
1898 Spanish American War Nurses
1908
WWI
1919 
1937 
WWII uniforms 
Vietnam War uniforms 
1960s Sear catalog
1970s 
Today Which would you most like to wear? 3/30/2011
Nurse Uniforms Through the Ages
1890 1898 Spanish American War Nurses1908 WWI 1919 1937 WWII uniforms Vietnam War uniforms 1960s Sear catalog 1970s Today Which would you most like to wear? 
3/28/2011
3/23/2011
Smokers Need Not Apply
photo by Bill LongshawRecently "A Michigan hospital says it refuses to hire smokers, going so far as to test applicants for nicotine before allowing them to work there. Two workers were already recently turned down for employment at Crittenton Hospital in Rochester after testing positive for nicotine."
Last year "Massachusetts police and fire departments decided not to hire smokers. And the Massachusetts Hospital Association is doing the same."
Do you think medical professionals should practice what they preach OR is this discrimination?
Share your thoughts?
3/21/2011
Energy Drinks and Nurses
photo by winnod
Nurses are Energizer Bunnies.
That's a known fact.
Even when they are running on empty, they keep going and going.
But, what keeps them going?
Medicinenet.com recently posted an article called Energy Drinks: Healthy Choices for Energy Boost?
They stated that, "one cup (8 ounces) of strong coffee has about 125-150 milligrams of caffeine and a 12-ounce can of ordinary cola has 35-38 milligrams, an 8.3-ounce can of Cocaine energy drink contains 280 milligrams. In general, caffeine consumption should be limited to about 200-300 milligrams per day."
"There are healthier ways than energy drinks, the experts say. Among the energy-boosters they recommend are a healthy diet, physical activity, and a good night's sleep."
"Other energizing beverages include sports drinks, fruit juices, water, low-fat milk, and good, old- fashioned water. Being dehydrated can lead to fatigue."
But, what keeps them going?
Medicinenet.com recently posted an article called Energy Drinks: Healthy Choices for Energy Boost?
They stated that, "one cup (8 ounces) of strong coffee has about 125-150 milligrams of caffeine and a 12-ounce can of ordinary cola has 35-38 milligrams, an 8.3-ounce can of Cocaine energy drink contains 280 milligrams. In general, caffeine consumption should be limited to about 200-300 milligrams per day."
"There are healthier ways than energy drinks, the experts say. Among the energy-boosters they recommend are a healthy diet, physical activity, and a good night's sleep."
"Other energizing beverages include sports drinks, fruit juices, water, low-fat milk, and good, old- fashioned water. Being dehydrated can lead to fatigue."
What are YOU Drinking?
3/18/2011
Identification and Treatment of Benign Skin Lesions
There is a free Webinar on Wednesday, April 13, 2011, 3:00-4:00 p.m. ET about skin lesions. You can register at Advance for Nurses
The purpose of this webinar is to educate nurses, including advanced practice clinicians, about the acrochordon, or skin tag, what they are and what can be done about them. A discussion of treatment options and when to biopsy will be discussed.
The purpose of this webinar is to educate nurses, including advanced practice clinicians, about the acrochordon, or skin tag, what they are and what can be done about them. A discussion of treatment options and when to biopsy will be discussed.
VisualDx Mobile from Logical Images is another iphone app. However, it is a little expensive but, the app is more complete.
3/16/2011
Are Nurses Desensitized to Alarms?
Back on Feb 15, Michele Noris, from NPR's All Things Considered spoke with, Boston Globe reporter, Liz Kowalczyk about her investigative series on how hospital staff can tune out or not react with urgency to patient alarms.
Kowalczyk states, "One of the cases that I wrote about involved an elderly woman at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. She was in the hospital to get a cardiac catheterization. Her monitor sounded an alarm for about an hour, indicating a weak battery. And then for about 15 minutes, indicating a battery that was about to die. And no one responded to that alarm and she did have a heart attack. And because the alarm - the monitor wasn't working, there was no alarm to alert staff to her heart attack."
Kowalczyk also talks about what hospitals are doing to help the situation. " Well, I think there are some short-term solutions. Hospitals are trying, you know, one is to hire nurses or technicians whose sole job is just to monitor the monitors. Another solution hospitals are looking at is trying to reduce the number of people on monitors. There are a lot of patients on cardiac monitors who probably don't need to be on cardiac monitors."
You can read the entire interview over at Nurses Can Become Desensitized To Hospital Sounds
Kowalczyk states, "One of the cases that I wrote about involved an elderly woman at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. She was in the hospital to get a cardiac catheterization. Her monitor sounded an alarm for about an hour, indicating a weak battery. And then for about 15 minutes, indicating a battery that was about to die. And no one responded to that alarm and she did have a heart attack. And because the alarm - the monitor wasn't working, there was no alarm to alert staff to her heart attack."
Kowalczyk also talks about what hospitals are doing to help the situation. " Well, I think there are some short-term solutions. Hospitals are trying, you know, one is to hire nurses or technicians whose sole job is just to monitor the monitors. Another solution hospitals are looking at is trying to reduce the number of people on monitors. There are a lot of patients on cardiac monitors who probably don't need to be on cardiac monitors."
You can read the entire interview over at Nurses Can Become Desensitized To Hospital Sounds
What are some of your suggestions to help stay in tune with the abundance of alarms?
3/14/2011
Office Yoga
..
These are 2 Yoga apps that are specifically designed for you to use at work.
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Back on Feb 28th we posted all the benefits of yoga. As nurses, we need to make sure we are practicing what we preach.
These apps make it easy to incorporate yoga into your work day.
Click here for the iphone app
And click here for the Android app
3/09/2011
DNA Game- How Fast Are You?
Once the DNA is assembled you need to guess which animal's DNA you just copied. Remember to look at how many chromosomes were created to help you decide.
3/07/2011
ER Schedules
GirlVet from over at Emergency Room Nurse works in an ER where the nurses self schedule. Here she explains how it works.
Syndicated from GirlVet Madness: Tales of an Emergency Room Nurse 3/1/11
"As y'all know I have been a nurse for MANY (many) years, mostly in the ER. Working in the ER is stressful and gets more stressful every day. Zillions of changes, mean patients, you name it.
How, you might ask, how have I lasted this long? Money. However, I would say the major factor in me staying in the ER, other than my innate need to help humanity (!), is FLEXIBILITY. In our ER, we do self scheduling. We decide when we want to work and hand it in to someone who somehow manages to make everyone happy. We do it by work clusters. The person (another staff nurse)who does our schedule works the same hours as me (9a-9P) and so do the people he makes a schedule for. Every work cluster (7a-7P, 3p-11p,etc) does the same thing. Somehow it all works out.
95% of the people in my ER work 12 hour shifts. There are no rotating shifts. Everybody works a straight shift including nights. This allows more days off.
I have come to the conclusion that in order to survive in an ER, you have to have at least 3 days off in a row, if not more, in a month. Most months I end up with 5-6 days off in a row. As I plow through the other part of the month, I look forward to the time off as a way of coping with the job.
After all my years in the ER, I have concluded if you want to last, you have to have these stretches off. 1-2 days doesn't do it. Day 1 of days off is spent recovering from working the last 2-3 days and decompressing from the job. Day 2 is when you start to forget about it, unless you have to go back to work the next day. Then you really never decompressed. I have the kind of job where the day before I am going to work I can feel myself ramping up to go back. So the day before a work day and the day after are sort of lost.
So managers, if you want happy, long term employees I recommend this:
1) Offer 12 hour shifts
2) Offer straight days, nights, evenings with these 12 hour shifts
3) Let your employees self schedule
This might seem like it would be impossible but it works. It has worked for many years in my ER. "
What do you think about the way they do the scheduling in her ER?
Syndicated from GirlVet Madness: Tales of an Emergency Room Nurse 3/1/11
"As y'all know I have been a nurse for MANY (many) years, mostly in the ER. Working in the ER is stressful and gets more stressful every day. Zillions of changes, mean patients, you name it.
How, you might ask, how have I lasted this long? Money. However, I would say the major factor in me staying in the ER, other than my innate need to help humanity (!), is FLEXIBILITY. In our ER, we do self scheduling. We decide when we want to work and hand it in to someone who somehow manages to make everyone happy. We do it by work clusters. The person (another staff nurse)who does our schedule works the same hours as me (9a-9P) and so do the people he makes a schedule for. Every work cluster (7a-7P, 3p-11p,etc) does the same thing. Somehow it all works out.
95% of the people in my ER work 12 hour shifts. There are no rotating shifts. Everybody works a straight shift including nights. This allows more days off.
I have come to the conclusion that in order to survive in an ER, you have to have at least 3 days off in a row, if not more, in a month. Most months I end up with 5-6 days off in a row. As I plow through the other part of the month, I look forward to the time off as a way of coping with the job.
After all my years in the ER, I have concluded if you want to last, you have to have these stretches off. 1-2 days doesn't do it. Day 1 of days off is spent recovering from working the last 2-3 days and decompressing from the job. Day 2 is when you start to forget about it, unless you have to go back to work the next day. Then you really never decompressed. I have the kind of job where the day before I am going to work I can feel myself ramping up to go back. So the day before a work day and the day after are sort of lost.
So managers, if you want happy, long term employees I recommend this:
1) Offer 12 hour shifts
2) Offer straight days, nights, evenings with these 12 hour shifts
3) Let your employees self schedule
This might seem like it would be impossible but it works. It has worked for many years in my ER. "
What do you think about the way they do the scheduling in her ER?
3/03/2011
NYSNA class: Documentation
NYSNA has a class coming up in Oneida, NY. All of the details are on the NYSNA website.
Documentation: Know Your Professional Rights and Responsibilities
Mar 9, 10 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM Oneida Healthcare Ctr.
Classroom A, 321 Genesee St., Oneida, NY
Open to all Oneida Healthcare Center Rns and LPNs. Mar 2 4.0
Class Summary:
"Are you unaware of your professional rights and responsibilities with regard to medical record documentation? Have you felt unsure about how to record your clinical and professional observations? Have you wondered whether your charting practices could result in disciplinary action or the filing of a lawsuit against you? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, then this workshop is for you. Join us in a discussion of proper documentation practices and principles. Learn how to document in a legal, safe and proper manner."
No fee is charged for this workshop.
Attendance is open to NYSNA local bargaining unit members only. Programs are not available to non-represented members without prior approval.
NYSNA reserves the right to cancel this workshop due to low registration or other circumstances beyond our control.
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