The latest installment of Change of Shift is up over at Emergiblog.

Do I really need to tell ya about all the great submissions?? Be sure to check out the latest edition of our beloved blog carnival.

Nope, I missed out again. I forgot to submit.

As always a BIG THANK YOU to Kim over at Emergiblog for getting the CoS party started, and keeping the fire going!

Carpe Diem

The latest installment of Change of Shift is up over at Emergiblog.

It’s apparently our great blog carnival’s 5 year anniversary! Change of Shift has been around the interwebs and the blogosphere for 5 years! Whew! A truly monumental milestone. Way to go Kim!

There are a lot of great submissions as always. We have ourselves a video game themed carnival! Be sure to check out the latest edition of our beloved blog carnival.

Nope. I suck. I missed again.

As always a BIG THANK YOU to Kim over at Emergiblog for getting the CoS party started, and keeping the fire going!

Carpe Diem

Check it out:

The show is seeking real nurses and nursing students, but the casting material makes clear that it is going to focus on damaging stereotypes. The show wants "gorgeous" young females (ages 21-30 only) who will experience "comedy, romance, and fun" and are all about "big hearts" and "dates with McDreamy."

REALLY?!

SERIOUSLY??!!

Just how many levels of disrespect does this cover? I mean because that’s what nurses are all about right?

We don’t actually think on our feet, use critical thinking skills, or dare I say – save lives!

*sigh*

And you wonder why there is such an information-gap and delusional fog of mystery between what really happens in health care and nursing and what we see on TV? The quest continues.

Check out the full article here: Cali Nurse: New reality show seeks "gorgeous" young females

You have an ill patient who has to go to OR or Radiology in a hurry.  They have pumps, monitors, and cords plugged in all over the place.

It takes you 5 minutes or more and a hurt back to unplug and arrange the cords.  Then half-way there, the cords fall off the bed, and you have to start all over before you reach your destination.

Does any of this sound familiar? As a Critical Care nurse, transporting patients becomes part of our job (sometimes more than we’d like to report). Transporting them for an array and battery of tests. Everything from CT, MRI, X-ray series, OR, etc. We run the gamut. Transporting our patients is no small task. Take into consideration the multitude of machinery we have to roll along with the patient.

At any given time we could be lugging along 1, 2 or 3 IV poles (which contain numerous critical medicine drips), a cardiac monitor (with or without defibrillator capacity), oxygen (is the patient intubated), if intubated we have an RT with us, 1, 2 or 3 suction canisters for the NG, OG, drains or chest tubes, chest tube pleuro-vac, central and arterial monitoring devices, how about an EVD pole and/or drain, maybe a bolt in their cranium, etc. This list is endless.

As you can see all those devices require electric power, ergo a power cord. Guess where all those darn power cords have to go? Yes, to and from your destination, as well as during your procedure? Yep, with you.

Where do you put them?

Tuck them here, or there. Hide them in between the bed mattress and frame, or loop them all around one of the many IV poles? Your guess is a good as mine.

Well it seems Dr. Dean Burke may know someone who has a better answer?

Before:

After:

What do ya think?

Well it seems that this fellow warrior (yes, she’s a nurse) has the answer to our woes and needs a lil’ help getting funding while she waits for her patent.

Dr. Dean Burke posted a blog post about her plight, as well as listed a short survey involving her ideas. Take the survey and you could placed in a drawing for a $75 gift card.

Not too bad if you ask me.

Ya think you can lend her a hand? Pass on the word.

Check out Dr. Dean’s blog:

Fellow Nurse Needs Help-And You May Win 75 Bucks! | The Millionaire Nurse Blog

I. GOT. IN.

Wholly carp I’m nervous, excited, exhausted, anxious, scared, ‘scatter-brained’.

I got into the Nurse Practitioner program I applied for earlier this past Spring. It’s an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program, I’m focusing on Critical Care for my specialty (although that’s a long way down the road).

I interviewed less than a week ago and I got THE phone call this morning! I was beaming with excitement. I think I shed a tear when I was talking with my advisor.

Whew…

I must tell ya the road I traveled to get here was not smooth in any way, shape or form. Going back for my BSN was a task in itself. Then going through the emotions of what to do next. I mistakenly followed the suggestions of the ‘majority’ instead of following my heart. So I foolishly thought I wanted to pursue a career in Anesthesia as a CRNA.

I filled out all the forms, applied to all the local schools, paid all the application fees (and it was a lot!). I even qualified and interviewed with one school. The whole process just seemed to be a ‘dance’ that I was performing because that’s just what most critical care nurses progress into. I was told I’d be great at it. You’d be a good CRNA! I heard it from more than one source and more than one profession.

So I thought it was meant to be.

Then I spent more and more time digging in to the heart of what I love, the meaning behind what I enjoy about being a nurse. I found myself questioning my choices, in fact I was scared of my choices. Then I shadowed a CRNA I had worked side by side with. I realized I didn’t want to be in the OR. I didn’t want Anesthesia school.

It was a miracle in itself that this opportunity was even available for me. I did the research and asked the questions, talked with professionals and discovered that being an NP is exactly what I should be pursuing.

So. Here we are now. I’ve been accepted into a highly nationally ranked program. I’m beyond excited.

Now I have to jump through all the hoops to set things in motion and learn how to be a full-time student again one last time.

I’m more than ready. This is where I was meant to be.

I couldn’t have done all this without the help of some great friends, some superb co-workers, my wonderful family and my most amazing wife. My wife especially has had to witness first hand all the bumps and bruises during my journey in to finding ‘me’. She is the only reason I am where I am, and am going where I am going. Thank you all.

Wish me luck!

The latest installment of Change of Shift is up over at Digital Doorway

All the way from New Mexico! Keith has returned from his new home to host our beloved blog carnival.

I really hate how horrible I am lately, not submitting a post.

As always a BIG THANK YOU to Kim over at Emergiblog for getting the CoS party started, and keeping the fire going!

Carpe Diem

Little did we know how SO-wrong we were. 5 years later – I’m still learning something new just about every day at work.

Now a days, it’s not just something we stumble upon. A lot of states (I’m not sure if all states are on board?) are requiring that nurses maintain a certain amount of Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) during a specific rolling period. For nurses in my state of residence we have to maintain and complete 30 CEU hours every 2 years.

A lot of seasoned nurses are bucking this, and are vehemently against it. They don’t think continuing education is something nurses should be required to do? Now, this is not just the seasoned nurses, a lot of newer nurses are joining their ranks.

Read the rest over at Scrubs Magazine: Continuing nurse education

What do you think?