By Jenna
Posted in Nursing, Nursing Jobs, Nursing Specialties, School Nurses
An interesting article on Philadelphia’s Philly.com answers a question I hadn’t really thought about: Why we have school nurses in the first place. Up until the very beginning of the 20th century if students were sick, they were sent home with a note. Caring for the sick child and getting medical attention if necessary was the responsibility of the child’s family. The nurse and social reformer Lillian Wald had a better idea — why not treat the children in school?…
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By Jenna
Posted in Nursing Jobs, Nursing News, Nursing Specialties, School Nurses
Somehow I’ve made it to adulthood without ever breaking a bone, but I was either a very clumsy or a very active kid (perhaps both?) and throughout my elementary school years I was forever heading to the school nurse to have a cut attended to or a bruise soothed. In my memory, she was always there when needed. I don’t know if she actually was on duty all of the time or if it just seemed that way, but school…
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By Jenna
Posted in Nursing, Nursing Jobs, Uncategorized
Few things can save your job and reputation like your documentation. In instances where another clinician may question your judgment or activities, your documentation can indicate the date, time and other details necessary to prove that you acted in an appropriate manner. Although nursing instructors attempt to teach proper and thorough documentation in nursing school, frequently new grads include either too much or not enough detail. A key to learning best documentation practices is to read other nurses’ notes. Although…
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By Jenna
Posted in Nursing, Nursing Jobs, Nursing News, Nursing School
Real world nursing isn’t just what you were taught in nursing school. As you learn to work with patients in your clinicals, your instructors teach you the “ideal” method for every procedure and every situation. Once you get into the real world, with license in hand, you begin to see that “ideal” doesn’t exist in healthcare. As you go through your day, learning the skills and procedures you need to use in your practice, you will probably see things that…
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By Jenna
Posted in Nursing, Nursing Jobs
Nursing strikes are looming on both coasts — over 6,000 registered nurses are ready to strike in New York, and 23,000 nurses are set to stage a 24-hour strike on December 22nd in California. And that’s not all — there are potential strikes in New Jersey and Minnesota, too, according the website of a strike replacement agency called HealthSource Global Staffing. The New York Times has a front-page article examining these various strikes — imminent and merely possible. A common…
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By Jenna
Posted in Nursing, Nursing News
Who’s more trustworthy than a policeman, or a teacher, or even a member of the clergy? That’s right, a nurse! Nurses have topped a Gallup poll measuring the “honesty and ethical standards” of people in different fields yet again. This time they topped the next-best scorer — pharmacists — by 11% in the “very high” category. This is the 12th time in the 13 years they’ve been included in this poll that Nurses take the top spot. Nurse.com examines the…
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By Jenna
Posted in Nursing, Nursing Jobs, Nursing News
As if the night shift were not already unpleasant enough, a new study indicates that it may also increase your risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The risk seems to be especially marked if you work a rotating shift for a long time. “For nurses who spent a couple of years working rotating night shifts, there was a minimal increase in risk. But, for those with a very long duration of rotating shifts, the risk was almost 60 percent higher….
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By Jenna
Posted in Nursing, Nursing News, Nursing Specialties
Nova Scotia’s Nurses’ Union has decided that starting next year, all nurses will need to wear a specific uniform — white smocks and black pants. The union’s rationale is that they want patients and their families to be able to figure out at a glance who is a nurse and who is a random support person. Right now everyone from cleaning staff to licensed practical nurses wear scrubs of whatever color they’d like. Marilla Stephenson, a nurse who comes from…
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By Jenna
Posted in Nursing, Nursing Jobs
Healthcare systems typically aspire to a non-punitive atmosphere to manage any mistakes the nursing staff might make. Mistakes are documented and graded on the basis of harm or potential harm to the patient. Management usually feels that this approach encourages reporting of mistakes, which then spawns new methods of error prevention. On the legal side, however, there is a movement to criminalize mistakes made by nurses. Healthcare systems feel this trend will result in an individual believing it’s more advantageous…
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By Jenna
Posted in Nursing, Nursing Jobs, Nursing Specialties
Sometimes we love our jobs — the environment, the co-workers, everything comes together beautifully and we can’t wait to get to work. Then there are those jobs that aren’t perfect (this is probably the biggest category!) but they’re perfectly adequate and pay the bills. But what do you do when your job is just horrible? When you’d rather do anything other than go to work? How do you decide whether it’s time to move on? And what do you do…
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