Nurses are the backbone of the hospital — just ask pretty much any doctor or patient. But a new poll conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health finds 34 percent of patients hospitalized for at least one night in the past year said “nurses weren’t available when needed or didn’t respond quickly to requests for help.”

Since nurses provide most of the patient care in hospitals, we were surprised at the findings. We wanted to find out more. We wanted to know what was going on from nurses themselves. So we put a call-out on Facebook.

We received hundreds of responses and read them all: piles of stories about nurses feeling overworked, getting no breaks, no lunches and barely enough time to go to the bathroom. Even worse, many nurses say breaks and lunchtimes are figured into their salaries and deducted, whether they take them or not.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/05/25/153634317/need-a-nurse-you-may-have-to-wait?ft=1&f=103537970

Because NONE of these listed mistakes apply to my career choices as a nurse!!!!

The Top 10 College Mistakes That Will NOT Help You Find a Career:

1. Getting a degree where the only way you can get a job is by getting your masters or PhD.
2. Heading into a career field with no jobs available.
3. Getting a graduate degree that wasn’t necessary because you could have gotten the same job without it.
4. Not conducting informational interviews to find out that you hate your chosen career before you start working in it.
5. Not making a plan for what you are going to do after college so you just take the first job that popped up after graduation (that you hate).
6. Not building a network during college because you spent too much time studying or partying.
7. Picking a major where there is only one type of job after graduation instead of having many different options that you can pursue.
8. Picking a major that you are good at in school but you actually despise it.
9. Picking a major because someone else said that you should.
10. Since you can’t find a job after college, you decide to head to grad school instead (and still can’t find a job after grad school).

via College Mistakes That Will NOT Help You Find a Job | Classy Career Girl.

Why is it when I NEED to stay awake, alert and focused during a class lecture or when I’m studying (cramming) for an exam during the ’11th’ hour- my eyelids weigh a ton. I can’t keep my eyes open! I start doing that ‘funky chicken’ dance (stole that from USMC boot camp). 

Sidebar: while in boot camp many moons ago we spent much of our time in a sleep deprived state. We would then have to sit in a classroom every so often for a class on some skill. We obviously would find ourselves falling asleep. The funky chicken is when you head starts to bob up and down. You can’t seem to keep your head up and you fight the “I’m awake.. I’m sleeping… I’m awake.. I’m sleeping” posture

THEN… when I’m laying in bed. It’s time to sleep. Time for some shut eye!! But, instead I toss and turn. Stare at the ceiling. I listen to my cats roaming the house. I listen to the weather outside.

Grr.

I have a solution. I’ll tape record or videotape my class lectures. And every time I’m lying in bed with insomnia – I will play the lecture.

I should pass out with no problem ehh?

Whattya think?

NPs work more in concert with a doctor. NPs may assist a doctor during a surgery, but they never perform surgery. Some states allow NPs to write prescriptions independently, while others require the signature of a collaborating physician. All NPs are certified and licensed registered nurses (RNs), but take additional post-license courses. They do not need certification beyond their RN license, nor do they have to take a national qualifying exam.

via Physician’s Assistant Salary Vs. Nurse Practitioner | eHow.com.

GRR

Until recently, I’ve always enjoyed Nurses Week. I usually got a cool trinket or gift from my employer, and my fellow nurses would joke about the one time of the year we nurses actually are noticed.

These days, it seems the only time of the year we DO get recognized is now being watered-down (and maybe even flushed away) next to another nationally recognized week–National Hospital Week, which is also May 6-12 this year. The only difference I see from year to year is that the actual dates for Hospital Week can differ slightly, while Nurses Week always starts and ends on the same dates!

via Memo from a nurse: Why is Nurses Week so weak? | Scrubs – The Leading Lifestyle Nursing Magazine Featuring Inspirational and Informational Nursing Articles.

Follow the link to read the entire post and leave your thoughts in the comments!!

I have mostly blogged about all things nursing and have sprinkled a lil’ fitness/wellness & exercise on top. I’ve utilized the ‘other’ SoMe sites to channel most of my training logs, and exercise passions, and kept My Strong Medicine mostly focused on nursing.

My frequency of blogging about nursing started to trail off when I took the plunge going back for my degree. Three years later I’m 11 months away from graduating with my master’s in nursing and having the ability to sit for my NP boards (woo too!)

Blogging in the traditional sense has all but disappeared for me. I’ve transformed into a ‘micro-blogger’ over the past year or so. Tumblr has been a great avenue for micro-blogging, as well as super-sharing my thoughts and things I stumble upon with Posterous. I cannot tell you the last time I wrote a formal blog post via My Strong Medicine.

I must admit that blogging over at Scrubs Magazine has filled the ‘void’ of my traditional blogging habits, since I still do that consistently. 

I know, I know… micro-blogging is NOT blogging. One is a formal ‘post’ of thoughts, while the other is a ‘snap-shot’ of a single thought, or idea. I guess you could say micro-blogging is an extended status update compared to posting a simple update to Twitter, Facebook or Google +. 

Maybe it’s the time commitment? Maybe I’m tired of blogging? Maybe my interests are changing? Who knows. I do know I don’t blog like I used to, and I can admit I’m not really missing it all that much? The micro-blogging world is nice, I can share many things, I can spit out a thought (or status update) or I can choose to write a traditional blog post. I like being able to choose, especially since there is no real time commitment. And with school, work, life and all other things that require my time – I like spending less time creating or sharing.

Maybe I’m just getting lazy?

Either way, I foresee things staying this way for a while, if not permanently. I don’t have the time, and quite honestly my outlook as a nurse has changed greatly since my role as a nurse is transitioning to a nurse practitioner. I can’t say I’ll be sharing the same thoughts as I once did. The challenges and stressors I would face as an NP do not really reside in the same place as an RN (no offense).

AAAND, if you’ve been following anything i post you’ve noticed my passion for crossfit keeps growing by the day. And I’ve upped the level of commitment by adopting the Paleo lifestyle (as best I can).

This was a long blabbering explanation as to why I changed my Blogger blog’s name to reflect my other SoMe sites, and why My Strong Medicine has been quite the ghost town. For the handful of people who actually read (past tense) and read my original blog I apologize for the change. It’s just the eventual evolution of me and my bloggin skillz. Be sure to find and follow me with all the other listed sites I’ve hot-linked. I’m always looking for more conversations!

I’m starting the summer semester this week… so let the pain begin.

Wish me luck

I spent the entire weekend studying for finals. Today I hit ‘the wall’.

That ‘wall’ is different for each, but I gotta tell ya.. that mental ‘wall’ can deliver a stronger blow than any crossfit WOD or 16 hour shift.

Weird.

Whew.

Amazing

Hat tip to Scrubs Magazine.

From our friends at Jezebel.com.

Henry is a 10-year resident of a nursing home who barely recognizes his own family. He is “inert, maybe depressed, unresponsive and almost unalive,” that is until a nurse brings him an iPod full of his favorite songs from his youth.

Wow. Makes us all remember why we do this. Every day.

For another article on how music can change your patients’ lives, see this beautiful story.

via Yes, you can cry now: Remarkably sweet nursing home moment | Scrubs – The Leading Lifestyle Nursing Magazine Featuring Inspirational and Informational Nursing Articles.