Nurses – Page 3 – Progressive Bloggers // Blogues progressistes

March 5, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: Those Emergency Blahs

I’ve worked as an Emergency Department nurse for something like thirteen years now, and at my present position more or less for ten years. It’s probably safe to say I’ve seen just about everything from the incredible tragic to the incredible funny, the good, the bizarre and the ugly. As

March 1, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: Why Physicians Should Care about Amanda Trujillo

[This post appeared last week, in slightly modified form, at KevinMd.com. Nice to see it’s generating a huge response and vigorous debate there. TE.] For the past month, the case of Amanda Trujillo has resonated deeply among nurses, triggering an avalanche of postings on Facebook, Twitter and in the nursing blogosphere.

February 26, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: Insert Snark Here

What this patient did not have Mr. CD, 88, took a little tumble at the nursing home when he slipped on a loose rug (or something, the details are a little vague here), obtained for his trouble a scalp laceration the length of Q-tip on his temple, bled like a

February 24, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: TV Series Hot

Gob-smacklingly stupid or hip advertising? I’m leaning towards the former. Via CBC: A Stockholm hospital that published an online ad looking to fill a summer position with a nurse who is “TV-series hot” says it was “written to catch people’s attention.” “We want people to be curious and have a

February 19, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: Doctors Are From Mars, Nurses Are From — Oh, To Hell With It

News flash! From Fierce Medical News, here’s the shocking headline: Docs, nurses miscommunicate on respect, job role When you guys pick yourselves off the floor from laughing, here’s the money quote: In particular, the survey found differing views of how doctors treat nurses. According to 42 percent of nurse leaders,

February 17, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: A Nasty, Medically Unnecessary, Coercive Procedure

This is just grostesque: A Republican supermajority has muscled two of the most restrictive anti-abortion bills in years through the Virginia House, despite bitter yet futile objections from Democrats, with one GOP delegate deriding most of the procedures as “matters of lifestyle convenience.” You want to put what where? [SNIP]

February 15, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: Nurses are Like Howler Monkeys, Poo and All

When I was a young, inexperienced nurse, I quickly learned one lesson: the cliché that Emergency nurses are fabulously assertive, mouthy, in-your-face pitbulls is absolutely true. I don’t mean ED nurses are bitchy or backstabbing eat-their-own-young types, though this was true also, at least for some of them. I mean

February 12, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: Another One Bites the Dust

Via White Coat’s Call Rooom, I wanted to mention the demise of Weird Nursing Tales: After nearly 20 years on the internet, Weird Nursing Tales passed away. Weird Nursing Tales died on February 7, 2012 after it was reported to Administration that the true author was an employee of the

February 7, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: Why Nurses are Furious about the Amanda Trujillo Case

The case of Amanda Trujillo has generated a great deal of passionate commentary across the nursing blogosphere. Trujillo, as you may well know, is the nurse who was fired by Banner Health Del E. Webb Medical Center for requesting multi-disciplinary hospice care case management consult for a pre-transplant patient with end-stage

February 6, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: A Paean to ED Nurses or Just Annoying?

Twitter follower @camillelalonde — thank you — sent me this oldish link, which initially warmed the very cockles of my heart: Guest Editorial ACEP News September 2006 By David F. Baehren, M.D. [. . .] We usually look afar for heroes and role models, and in doing so overlook a group

February 3, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: Long Emergency Department Admissions Shorten Lives

Via ImpactedNurse.com, another study showing prolonged emergency department stays are less than optimal: There were 41,256 admissions from the ED. Mortality generally increased with increasing boarding time, from 2.5% in patients boarded less than 2 hours to 4.5% in patients boarding 12 hours or more (p < 0.001). Mean hospital

February 2, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: A Little Nurse Bashing to Start Your Day

For breakfast, how about some outrageous libel from physician-blogger Terry Simpson (Twitter: @DocSimpson). File this under how not to blog about a serious issue in health care: The Arizona State Nursing board has asked that this nurse [Amanda Trujillo] undergo a psychiatric evaluation. The board is charged with protecting the

January 31, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: Bedside Nursing as Menial and Demeaning

Ian Miller, blogging over at ImpactedNurse.com, notes a disturbing trend in Australia, one, I’m afraid, is becoming more common in North America. “These days,” he writes, “being a nurse is tough. Really tough.” I look around and see many struggling at the bedside. I see the increasing perception that this

January 28, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: Voices For Amanda Trujillo

Each of them eloquently speaks to the heart of what we do as nurses — and why nurses find how Amanda Trujillo was fired and subsequently reported to the Arizona State Board of Nursing so troubling. (Via The Innovative Nurse.) The first is from Andrew Lopez (Twitter: @nursefriendly.) Kevin Ross

January 27, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: A Small Rant from Your Friendly X-ray Tech

A note sent to me from my favourite MRT (Medical Radiation Technologist). A reminder too, that nurses aren’t the centre of the universe, even if we think we are. Some thoughts from an MRT. . . Now I know we aren’t perfect but I feel like a rant about portable

January 25, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: The Persecution of Amanda Trujillo

In the ugly, grey world of hospital balance sheets it’s almost a commonplace that physicians generate revenue while nurses represent a cost. Fancy procedures and sub-sub-specialties bring generous income streams, in terms of charging (and profiting) from the provision of a multitude of related services, such as nursing, while nursing

January 21, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: Nurse, Interrupted

A pretty interesting video from Beth Boynton RN on what I call status interrupticus, the incessant and often needless interruptions nurses deal with when performing duties requiring critical thinking and judgement. It’s fairly well known, for example, at among nurses anyway, that many if not most med errors are attributable to nurses

January 19, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: Dying Alone, Continued

Thanks to commenter Pagan Chaplain (Twitter ~ web) for pointing out the No One Dies Alone program, where volunteers under nursing supervision support patients who would be otherwise alone at the end of life. The program was started by Sandra Clarke at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, Oregon. She cared

January 16, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: So Long, Robert

Not unnoticed by me is Robert Fenton’s likely last post at Nurse XY. This a real loss — Robert is a truly gifted writer, and always has something interesting and insightful to say. If you have a chance, head over and check out his stuff. Here’s hoping he changes his mind.

January 16, 2012 torontoemerg

Those Emergency Blues: What Nursing Leadership Doesn’t Look Like

A small, belated Christmas tale on how not to manage an emergency department. But first a few preliminary points of information. First: in Ontario, front line nurses are generally forbidden from taking vacation over the Christmas holidays, usually from some point from the first or second week of December to