Doc on Call- iphone app

iTriage is a free app that uses a phone's GPS signal to generate a list of nearby physicians, pharmacies, urgent-care clinics and hospitals.

It also comes with a comprehensive symptom checker.

Also later this year the app is going to include a preregistration feature that will alert a hospital that you are coming.

How Cool is that!

Top 10 Annoying Things Doctors Do

Syndicated from GirlVet over at madness-tales of an ER nurse


And here it is the 15th annual top ten annoying things doctors do:

1) Write a nursing communication order: Give patient water. Give them water yourself you ^#^$^$!

2) Order a tap water enema at all, but especially on someone over 80. Could your grandma hold that you @*&#^#^?

3) Orthostatic vital signs.

4) Order some tests, then an hour later more tests, an hour later more tests...just admit the damn patient!

5) Come to the nursing area and ask: "Who has so and so?" Look on the computer - all of our names are there next to the patients we have. $@$#$5!

6) Order a banana bag on every frickin' drunk who comes in. Yeah, thats really gonna prevent problems on someone who is .4 daily.

7) Urine tox. Stupid. Waste of time.

8) When we have a critical patient, have us try an IV ten times, rather than do a central line.

9) Sign up for the patient and then don't see them for an hour.

10) Avoid confrontation by giving out unnecessary narcotic prescriptions.

Feel free to add your own.

TGIF- Sorry, I Just Had To Share

Sorry, just HAD to share this. It was posted over at People of Walmart. And like they said, we never make fun of people with medical issues, but seriously, this is inconsiderate.

Emotional Healing Arts and Meditation Workshop

photo by markuso

For those of you who don't know, Deepak Chopra is an Indian American public speaker, and writer on Ayurveda, spirituality and mind-body medicine.

Chopra began his career as an endocrinologist and later shifted his focus to alternative medicine. Chopra was a top assistant to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi before launching his own career in the late 1980s by publishing self-help books on New Age spirituality and alternative medicine.

He has a workshop coming up on April 9th in Edison, NJ.

You can visit his site at Deepak Chopra.

Sleep Deprived? Read this before taking that extra shift.

photo by: Filomena Scalise


No one is depriving me of sleep except myself, but that doesn’t mean my body accepts it any better. Like many nurses I work five days in a row, start early, grab just a bite for lunch, and stay late to finish my charting. Add on three to four hours of commuting time each day, family demands, and a bit of time at the gym once in a while to try to stay healthy — what seems most easily cut out? Sleep.

But routinely sleeping less than eight hours a day has it consequences. For me, it’s what’s called “driving drowsy.” At a red light on my way home I decided to just close my eyes for a second, and suddenly the driver behind me was blowing his horn because the light had turned green and I was sound asleep. New Jersey has passed “Maggie’s Law,” which recognizes that lack of any sleep in 24 hours is just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated.

Besides driving, how about all the other nursing functions that require our full attention, such as passing medication? The aviation industry has recognized that lack of sleep decreases critical thinking ability and has sleep standards for employees. In nursing, we pride ourselves on our ability to cover extra shifts when a colleague is sick or take on overtime work for extra pay. Is it a good idea?

A study done at the University of Pennsylvania reported in the National Institute of Health News showed that for 48 individuals between the ages of 21 and 38, getting only four to six hours of sleep each night for 14 consecutive nights was the equivalent of getting no sleep at all for three days in a row. We would consider that torture. A National Science Foundation study shows that 15 percent of all Americans now get less than six hours of sleep a night instead of the eight hours considered necessary.

Dr. Lawrence J. Epstein, medical director of the Harvard-affiliated Sleep HealthCenters, states that it may take months to get back into a natural sleep pattern for the chronically sleep deprived, not just a weekend of sleeping in.

What does that mean for you? Repeat the mantra, “Sleep is important to me,” and recognize that without a sufficient amount, you are doing everyone, including your patients, a disservice. Work with your facility to develop policies that reinforce the goal of employee health, forego that evening caffeinated beverage, and find the sleep pattern that works for you.

Synidicated from The Working Nurse by, Christine Contillo, RN, BSN

Compact Nursing License & Walk Throughs

The Nurse Licensure Compact allows any nurse who resides in one of the 22 participating compact states to practice nursing in any of the states forming the compact state alliance. In order to work in a compact state, a nurse must have proof of residence in a compact state in the form of a government issued ID showing an actual street address (current driver's license) as well as a current, active RN license in said state. This nurse does not need to obtain licensure in any of the other participating compact states. States participating in the NLC include:

Arizona.....................New Hampshire
Arkansas..................New Mexico
Colorado..................North Carolina
Delaware..................North Dakota
Idaho........................Rhode Island Iowa..........................South Carolina
Kentucky..................South Dakota
Maine........................Tennessee
Maryland..................Texas
Mississippi...............Utah
Missouri...................Virginia
Nebraska..................Wisconsin

Walk-through states allow a nurse to be issued a temporary license within one hour to one day's time. This temporary license is used to practice nursing while awaiting permanent licensure to be processed. These temporary licenses obtained in walk-through states are usually valid for 30 days to six months depending on the state issuing the license. The following states allow licensure through "walk-through".

Arizona....................................Missouri

District of Columbia.............Nebraska

Idaho.......................................NewYork For reinstatements only

Illinois for reinstatements only.......South Carolina Wednesdays only

Indiana...................................South Dakota

Maryland................................Vermont

Massachusetts For reinstatements only

For more info about compact licenses you can visit the NCLA Website

Should there be a tax on sugary drinks?

The latest PSA, that debuted on Jan 31, 2011, warns New Yorkers about the side-effects of excessive soda consumption.

The Health Department insists the graphic new ad is necessary to scare New Yorkers straight, because diabetes results in more than 22,000 hospitalizations, approximately 2,800 amputations and nearly 1,700 deaths every year. "Too many sugar-sweetened drinks are fueling the obesity epidemic," said NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley, in a statement. "Obesity and the serious health consequences that result are making hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers sick or disabled. This new campaign shows how easy it is to drink a staggering amount of sugar in one day without realizing it."





Does This Graphic Anti-Sugar Ad Go Too Far????

Should there even be discussion about taxing soda and the like? If I want to drink it isn't it MY opinion?

What are your thoughts?