Monthly Archives: April 2012
Can You Work Nightshift? Or, the Vampire Primer
I have worked nights the entire time I have worked in hospitals at all, starting from when I was a CNA in nursing school (a strategy that I strongly espouse, but that is only my opinion). I was drafted into … Continue reading
Nursing Resources: Keeping Current With CEUs in the US
At some point in every nurse’s career, CEUs (continuing education units) become a consideration. To keep your license current, you must update it every 2 years, and each state requires a certain number of CEUs during that period. You can … Continue reading
Do You Have Secondary Trauma?
I’ve been reading blog posts lately from nurses claiming to have PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) from getting their feelings hurt by management, basically. PTSD is a real and serious diagnosis not to be bestowed lightly on oneself regarding situations that … Continue reading
Tweeting on the Clock
A nursing student/CNA e-mailed me recently because of the column “Patient Privacy and Company Policy in Online Life” I wrote for AJN, which I quote not to plug my own column but to provide some reason why she would ask … Continue reading
Healthcare Trend: Does Patient Satisfaction Kill?
I read this post on the Emergency Physicians Monthly blog and subsequently chased down the abstract for the referenced article, “The Cost of Satisfaction: A National Study of Patient Satisfaction, Health Care Utilization, Expenditures, and Mortality” (Arch Intern Med 2012;5:published … Continue reading
Judge Not, Lest Your Patients Die
I wrote earlier this week about triage and the huge responsibility that nurses have in that process, which can ultimately boil down to the decision of who lives and who dies. That post started me thinking on the larger issue … Continue reading
Triage: When You Are the Sorting Hat
I triage a lot. I don’t like it. The triage nurse has to be able to use x-ray–vision assessment skills and ask the right questions in a circus environment while juggling about 20 balls and keeping a bird’s-eye view of … Continue reading
