Monthly Archives: June 2012
Affordable Care Act Upheld: What’s It All Mean?
Unless you’re living under a rock or, worse, have been without Internet access, you have probably noticed the news screaming out that the Supreme Court has upheld most of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If you have been under that … Continue reading
I Had the Time of My Life
Nursing school is grueling, and there is no way around it. The sheer number of hours per week students must dedicate to lecture, study, clinicals, and preparation for clinicals leaves little time for anything else. To complicate enduring all of … Continue reading
ACOs: What Do They Mean for Nurses?
Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are an up-and-coming part of Medicare reform and the Affordable Care Act; they rolled out in January of this year, but for some reason I just now heard about them. I don’t know about other nurses, … Continue reading
Are You Up to Snuff on Your Spelling and Grammar?
I read this article, “Teaching the Literacy of Professionalism: When Clinical Skills Are Not Enough,” which was aimed at research and writing more than clinical nursing, but the conclusion caught my attention: “Professional literacy is an important skill all nurses … Continue reading
Collaboration With Other Specialties
When I was a student, I noticed that my preceptors seemed stuck in a rut. “We don’t really mess with that,” they would say when I asked about some out-there thing involving another specialty. I felt judgmental. For heaven’s sake, … Continue reading
The Warm-Fuzzy File
I think every nurse should keep a warm-fuzzy file. I do. I don’t care what form it takes: a fancy decorated box (for the scrapbooking, artistic types out there), an actual scrapbook, a file folder, an electronic folder, or a … Continue reading
“It’s Just a Cry for Help”
I just finished moving and ended up with a decent-sized stack of nursing journals next to my couch to catch up on—maybe 6 months’ worth of “stuff I need to read someday.” I flipped through the tables of contents to … Continue reading
Nursing Skills: Confrontation
Nurses are renowned for being passive (and passive-aggressive) folks who tend to talk behind others’ backs and not confront anyone. I’ve read the theory proposed many times that this is because it’s such a female-dominated field. The reasons for it … Continue reading
