Welcome everyone, to what I like to call chaos, a.k.a. my life as a student nurse at Villanova University.

As I reflect upon these last weeks I can barely recall the countless hours I spent studying for a biochemistry test-I like to call it a "school-induced blackout." However, what I can recall from those hours are the girls I spent the time studying with. The prospect of having classes for the next 3 years ...

By Francine Westergaard, MSN, RN, JCI/JCR Consultant with Joint Commission International, Joint Commission Resources, Oak Brook, IL. Francine graduated from a diploma school many years ago, eventually returning to school to obtain a BSN and MSN. She is currently enrolled in an MBA program. The majority of her nursing career has been spent in pediatrics in various clinical and administrative ...

I became interested in nursing initially through my mom who was a neonatal intensive care ...

A task force of representatives from medical groups, universities, the military and government agencies is basically recommending who lives and who dies after a major disaster like pandemic flu or terrorist attack.

In essence, the group recommends the very elderly, severely injured trauma patients, severely ...

By Teresa R. Wilmore, BSN, RN, nursing supervisor, St. Joseph's Hospital, Philadelphia, PA. Teresa is also pursuing her MSN in community health at West Chester University, West Chester, PA.

Are you aware that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in African Americans, killing over 101,000 men and women in 2004 alone? Did you know that nearly 52,000 African American men and women ...

So, what does Nurses' Week mean to you? Depending on where you are in your nursing career and your current job, it can be a time of celebration or the marker of another frustrating year. If it's the latter, remember you have the power to change that - one of the beauties of being a nurse. You're never really stuck in a dead-end job.

I will be "speaking" at the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses ...

Well, I passed and you cannot believe how good this feels. The work was tough and demanding. I will not miss the work but I will miss many of my classmates. Granted our age differences were significant but their energy and exuberance provided a huge energy boost. Later on this week I will burn my white uniform in a small ...

I am about to take my last exam for the bsn program. No more lectures, powerpoints, online modules and white uniforms. Fear of the unknown has yet to sink in as I still need a position. I just hope to survive the exam. Keep reading ...

Sometimes the ER can become a hum-drum shift of pacifying angry people. Working in triage can feel more like being in the penalty box than any other place on earth. In 2003, our triage and waiting area was redesigned with large picture windows to increase the safety of the patients in the waiting room. We can now easily see everyone in need of care. However, the downside means that they can also see us, the nurses. ...

Dispatch from Michael Paras - Wednesday April 23, 2008

By Wednesday the medical team on the ground in Honduras had already seen and treated 230 patients and performed 40 surgeries. Although the team focuses ...

Dispatch from Michael Paras -  April 22, 2008

Jean Hemmans, R.N., and her husband, Ruperto, started the New York Honduran Committee along with a small band of fellow Telan immigrants. Since 1999, they have ...

Dispatch from Michael Paras -  Monday April 21, 2008

A critical member of the Lutheran HealthCare team in Honduras is otolaryngologist Ramez Habib, M.D. The New York Honduran Committee, the group that Lutheran ...

On March 29, 2008 Lee Woodruff gave the Agnes M. Marshall keynote address entitled 'In an instant: Lee and Bob Woodruff's journey of recovery and ...

I came into the hospital expecting the unexpected, which is exactly what I wanted from this rotation and job.

Today I watched a patient pass away. As you may have read, this is not my first patient dying. What made this different was the patient's extreme morbid condition. In my opinion, his passing would be best given his condition. I know if it was me I would want any and all heroic measures stopped. However, ...

Andrea Kerr is a frequent contributor to Advance. With the help of Michael Paras, she will provide readers with daily updates on Lutheran HealthCare's medical mission work in Tela, Honduras.

Dispatch from Michael Paras - Monday April 21, 2008

Mary Haeney, a registered nurse at Lutheran has accompanied the medical brigade to Honduras for three years now. She's always level headed and calm. ...

Dispatch from Michael Paras - Sunday April 20^th

Lutheran's team of doctors and medical staff performed 162 examinations in Honduras the first day. Here are just a few patient snapshots.

Elsa ...

Andrea Kerr is a frequent contributor to Advance. With the help of Michael Paras, she will provide readers with daily updates on Lutheran HealthCare's medical mission work in Tela, Honduras.

Dispatch from Michael Paras - Sunday, April 20, 2008

Because of scheduling difficulties the team members arrive on three separate fights into Honduras. Regardless, the bulk of the crew is anxious ...

Andrea Kerr is a frequent contributor to Advance. With the help of Michael Paras, she will provide readers with daily updates on Lutheran HealthCare's medical mission work in Tela, Honduras.

About 20 Lutheran HealthCare volunteers arrived in Honduras this weekend; they'll be in the city of Tela until April 26^th providing medical care and free reconstructive surgeries in the medically underserved ...

Living with and caring for people with chronic illness can be extraordinarily frustrating. I know, I've lived with very symptomatic fibromyalgia since a bout of Lyme disease in 1991. There are some great resources online for both you -  if you have health challenges -- and for your patients when they need help.

But You Don't Look Sick is designed ...

A pharmaceutical marketing research corporation came out with a list of the top most commonly search health conditions.

According to comScore Inc., Reston, VA, the terms "pregnancy" and "cancer" were the two most frequently searched conditions, garnering 8.8 million and 7.7 million search queries respectively.

Five of the top 20 conditions searched online (herpes, ...

This might help U.S. facilities. But what is it doing to the countries from which they hail?

A news article in the Philippines' Sun Star Baguilo reports ...

I have missed writing for the blog - first, I was very sick and then I had a serious illness in the family. Hopefully, things are back to relative normal now and I can post regularly again. I had the pleasure to speaking at the ADVANCE Job Fair last month - about the Internet. I had a number of requests to post the links from my presentation, so here they ...

I mentioned in a previous blog, "The RSV Blues," the pediatric emergency department has had a very busy winter. The adult area is even worse. One day last month, we had over 90 patients registered and being cared for in our 31-bed unit. How can this happen? It seems the more room we make in the hospital, the more patients ...

If it hasn't been documented, it hasn't been done. With such demands on a stretched-too-thin workforce, could information technology ease workflow?

According to a March 31 Government Health IT article, "What Nurses Want", nurses elbow-deep in paper work, do, in fact, want fully implemented electronic records instead of common hybrid ...

We entered critical care as our last clinical rotation and I am absolutely loving it. I come home each day exhausted from running around and speaking to numerous specialties. On my first day, I walked into the room of my first patient and find the patient's SPO2 in the high 80s with the nasal cannula near his ears. After I adjusted the nasal cannula and grabbed the nurse. The nurse called the attending physician and ...