Monthly Archives: October 2011
Importance of Evidence-Based Practice
I’ve written a few posts recently that have caused a serious uprising among both online and real-life acquaintances (notably, Air in Fluid Bags and Bevel Up or Down?). I don’t mind that. It means I’m irritating people into thinking about … Continue reading
Air in Fluid Bags
Air in liter fluid bags may not be the first thing that springs to mind as a practice issue, but it bothers me, and I can’t find any research on it. Let me explain the problem and why I wish … Continue reading
Blow the Whistle or Keep Your Mouth Shut?
Blow the Whistle or Keep Your Mouth Shut? I don’t think I’ve worked a single shift in a hospital without seeing something obviously unethical happen. The egregiousness of the ethical violation varies from almost negligible to stunningly inappropriate. I’ve complained … Continue reading
Semper Gumby
This is my nursing motto. I didn’t come up with it. I heard it on a Mac podcast from a hilarious guy named Jeff Gamet (Twitter page). It means “always be flexible” and is a play on Latin military mottos … Continue reading
Should You Join Professional Nursing Organizations?
Short answer: yes. My nursing school seemed entirely composed of instructors who were gung-ho members of every professional organization they could possibly qualify for and “raised” their students to sign up immediately. So I signed up for the ANA and … Continue reading
The Only Thing That Works Is That Drug That Starts With “D”…
The Huffington Post just published a post about intentional and unintentional abuse of prescription medications. Alarming factoids: “Deaths from street drugs during 2009 were vastly less than those caused by prescription drugs” “Every 14 minutes one American is killed by … Continue reading
We Really Need to Use Filter Straws
When I went through nursing school, we learned to use filter straws to draw up medication from glass ampules after snapping the necks. It seemed obvious to me: if you’re possibly dropping glass shards into your medication, it’s probably a … Continue reading
HIPAA, HITECH, and You
Unless you were just beamed in from another planet, you should know HIPAA forward, backward, and sideways by now if you work in healthcare or, probably, even receive healthcare. But HIPAA has a cohort that is just now poking its … Continue reading
