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ADVANCE for Nurses is thrilled to welcome you to Nurse POV Blogs, part of the Nurse POV: Online Community. Our new blogs offers posts covering timely questions, advice and opinions about the nursing field; connecting professionals nationwide. We have provided tags to assist in locating topics of interest, a profile page to make uniquely your own and a list of our most active discussions to keep you abreast of the latest discussions. We look forward to hearing more about the nursing field from your Point of View (POV).
LATEST POSTS FROM EACH BLOG
November 20, 2009 2:28 PM by Linda Jones of ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses

Nurses are big proponents of evidence-based practice. Nurses are working hard to move away from "this is how it's always been done," or "I had a patient once who had a reaction to that treatment so I don't do it."

A big part of looking at evidence is numbers. Nurses need to question whether something can be considered evidence based on the sample size or if predicted outcomes are small or inconsistent.  As ...


 
November 20, 2009 2:24 PM by Guest Blogger of Nurse Perspective

Valerie M. Chapman, MSN, RN, has been a pediatric nurse for 25 years and is a 3-year breast cancer survivor. She lives in Medford, NJ.

I am a wife, a mother of two awesome kids, a daughter, a sister and a nurse.

I am also a survivor.

At the age of 43 a routine screening mammogram picked up an abnormality in my left breast that turned out to be invasive lobular carcinoma. I ...


 
November 17, 2009 10:55 AM by Valerie Newitt of ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses

Some people scoff at the younger generation's seeming dependence on social media. "Who needs text messaging or Facebook or MySpace? What's wrong with picking up the phone and calling someone?" ask some old-schoolers.

And they'll further the attack with, "Who cares what Ashton Kutcher has to say about his wife, Demi Moore? He can keep his tweets to himself!"

All true enough. But it was a lone ...


 
November 17, 2009 9:47 AM by Lorettajo Kapinos of Tales From an ED Nurse

Last month was Breast Cancer Awareness month and I blogged about my experience with a false positive mammogram.  Ironically, this is now the center of a new debate: if women, with little to no risk of breast cancer, should have annual mammograms before age 50.

According to the U.S. Preventative Services Task force mammograms should ...


3 comments  
November 12, 2009 7:17 PM by Pam Tarapchak of My Other Full-Time Job

I have a confession: I love Facebook, a love some might call obsession. I created my profile for work, making it sound significant and worthy of my time. Look at me - I'm a Facebook administrator, I'm really cool. But, this whole social networking trend has gone far beyond my office walls, leaping into my personal life and running amuck.

Now I post photos direct from my Blackberry, peruse on my "friends'" ...


2 comments  
November 12, 2009 3:38 PM by Valerie Newitt of InteRNational

Dorothy had a rough passage, on the winds of a ferocious tornado, to get to her Technicolor land of Oz. I visited a destination similarly colorful last week -- coral-blushed Bermuda.  My voyage was a little easier -- Royal Caribbean Line's Grandeur ...


 
November 12, 2009 2:42 PM by Joe Darrah of ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses

According to an MSNBC report, a14-year-old Virginia boy developed Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) within hours of receiving an H1N1 vaccine.

Jordan McFarland, a high school athlete from Alexandria, reportedly left Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children the evening of Nov. 10 in a wheelchair nearly a week after developing severe headaches, muscle spasms and weakness in his legs following a swine flu shot. ...


 
November 11, 2009 7:43 AM by Valerie Newitt of ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses

On a brief jaunt last week, I met a fellow traveler -- a retired military officer whose career spanned various deployments to Germany, Panama and Vietnam. We discussed at length the tone of the nation in the 1960s when he was fighting an unseen enemy in an Asian jungle. Eventually, we talked about the sadness he felt when he returned to the USA only to suffer public taunts, jeers and an undeserved sense ...

 

Within my clinical rotation on the cardiac telemetry floor, I have also had the opportunity to complete mini rotations in the OR, PACU, short procedure unit, the cardiac cath lab, as well as follow the wound care nurse for a day. Though these have been short opportunities they provide a valuable glimpse into possible career paths, as it is impossible to do full clinical rotations in every area of nursing.

To be ...


 
November 4, 2009 3:19 PM by Gail Guterl of ADVANCE Book Club for Nurses

At a family holiday party your 8-year-old nephew asks you "just what does a nurse do?" Do you say "takes care of patients," or use this moment to give him a real idea, described in a way he can understand, of the important work a nurse does daily?

What about when you conduct a mid-afternoon assessment on that cardiac patient? Plenty of observations come to mind as you do the examination, but do you share them with ...


 
November 4, 2009 10:19 AM by Stacey Miller of Healthcare Reform

Like all political propositions, healthcare reform has left nurses wondering what's in it for them. Why should they support a bill? What could it do to their roles?

The American ...


8 comments  
November 3, 2009 9:51 AM by Linda Jones of ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses

The American Nurses Association President Rebecca M. Patton, MSN, RN, CNOR, has written a letter to all ANA members, urging them to get vaccinated for seasonal influenza and the H1N1 virus. ANA ...


 

While running on my treadmill after work, an interesting headline appeared on the local news channel: "Hospital nurses reveal risk of cleanliness, Consumer Reports investigates." I was shocked to discover that 28 percent of nurses said they had seen problems with cleanliness in the past workweek compared ...

 
October 30, 2009 4:26 PM by Guest Blogger of Nurse Perspective

Jaime Sinutko, MSN, RN, is project manager, Institute for the Advancement of Nursing
and Health Care, Oakland University School of Nursing, Rochester, MI.

"I'm keeping my options open" is the line many nurses have recently been overheard saying. Many nurses do not feel secure in their current job. There is a sense of "jinxing" themselves by overtly commenting on their job security. Many experienced ...


3 comments  
October 30, 2009 11:24 AM by Nancy Malaga of ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses

A recent segment on CBS' 60 Minutes posed an interesting solution for how to pay for health reform: eliminate Medicare fraud.


 
October 29, 2009 3:10 PM by Valerie Newitt of ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses

My mother, despite her 92 years of age, maintains the mind of a brilliant, life-loving 30-year-old. Unfortunately, her physical self never sipped from the fountain of youth. Her sight has dimmed, her mobility is nil, and she's done battle with cancer, gall bladder disease, vertigo, hypertension, insomnia and muscular and joint pain as far back as I can remember.

Lately, however, something ...


 
October 29, 2009 9:55 AM by Valerie Newitt of InteRNational

Nursing takes on new "heights" for those who choose to practice the profession at sea. Imagine climbing into a basket lowered from a helicopter hovering over a ship in mid-ocean. Up and away, and you're in the copter. The basket is lowered again, this time to retrieve a sick passenger, now your patient, in dire need of a ship-to-air evacuation.

The scenario is not all that unusual, if you are a nurse at sea, ...


 
October 27, 2009 11:09 AM by Lorettajo Kapinos of Tales From an ED Nurse

The weekend between the call for a repeat mammogram and the actual appointment passed quickly.  I stayed busy with family to keep my mind away from the unknown.  Being a person who compartmentalizes emotions, denying anxiety was easy to do.  So, it took my by surprise when my sister and friends rearranged their schedules to escort me to my appointment.  I told each of them that I could go alone.  ...


2 comments  
October 26, 2009 5:48 PM by Valerie Newitt of ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses

A friend called me the other day and read an H1N1 memo that had been distributed to the approximately 120 employees at her Southeastern Pennsylvania office. It read:

Workers are expected to be at their work stations. If you have been exposed to H1N1, that does not mean you are sick or should stay home. If you do feel you must report off sick, we have a right to require a note from a doctor's office ...


1 comments  
October 26, 2009 4:44 PM by Adrianne OBrien of ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses

Know anyone -- maybe a patient or a family member -- who's taking an antidepressant to help with sleep, a relatively common off-label treatment prescribed by physicians for menopausal women? Or anyone who takes low-dose statin cholesterol-lowering drugs as a prophylactic measure against heart attack and stroke -- not to treat high cholesterol?

They could be hurting their changes of getting health insurance.

Insurance ...


1 comments  
October 22, 2009 2:33 PM by Lorettajo Kapinos of Tales From an ED Nurse

My doctor informed me this summer I was of age to receive my baseline mammogram.  He paused for a moment in the hallway and glanced into my eyes.  "You've always had lumpy breasts, right?"

I nodded.  Before he closed my chart, I caught a glimpse of a circle he had drawn on an image of a breast.  I swallowed hard, but decided he would have told me if he thought something was wrong.

A ...


5 comments  

In attempt to increase awareness on infection prevention and call attention to the need to protect patients and the public from the risk of healthcare-associated infections, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), in collaboration with 3M Health Care, is pushing for statewide recognition ...

1 comments  
October 14, 2009 5:14 PM by Valerie Newitt of InteRNational

Last time we saw Laura Vlaadingerbroek, MSN, RN, she was serving as chief medical officer aboard Holland America Lines' luxurious ms Zaandam. All the while she was living -- and loving --the good life, while traveling to exotic ports-of-call.

Then she found something ...


 
October 14, 2009 3:44 PM by Valerie Newitt of ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses

Do shoes that promise to shape you up really do the trick? Are these claims evidence-based?

Hey, inquiring minds want to know, especially when one is attached to a pair of legs happy for any help they can get! The lure of shoes capable of firming calf muscles, minimizing the derriere, tightening the tummy, strengthening the back, exciting circulation, improving posture and even burning calories was too ...


4 comments  

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, healthcare facilities should be able to ramp up their infection control programs.According to the American Medical Association's website, the "Prevention and Wellness" section of the healthcare provisions ...

 

ABOUT OUR BLOGS

Mary Bylone is a staff nurse in a management position because 25 years ago, there were not very many opportunities for staff to have a say in their practice. The environment is changing for the better, yet some nurses find it difficult to express issues to the manager. Mary believes that every nurse deserves to work in a healthy work environment and wants to assist staff in creating one where they work. What do you want to say to your manager? Let Mary help you craft a presentation that will yield results.

Pam Tarapchak juggles the responsibilities of motherhood and marriage, along with a full-time career. Share her struggles and triumphs as she strives to achieve that infamous work/life balance.

Alexandra Cosan was inspired by her RN-mother to enter the nursing field. She is in her second year at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. Enjoy the experiences of this 20-year-old San Diegan surviving student nursing on the East Coast.

Lorettajo A. Kapinos will explore the diverse and complicated job of ED nursing, and touch on some general nursing topics she's come across during her 10 years in the field. She wants to share the simple stories of life and death that refuel her passion.

If you're looking for a different type of online book club, look no further. Here you can read a great book and share you opinions with your colleagues around the world. So grab a book from our list, begin reading, and get ready to engage in some fun online discussion.

Here you'll read accounts of personal growth, travel interests, special events and awards-essentially anything that's on your mind (within reason, of course). So sit back and enjoy stories from your peers.

The ADVANCE for Nurses editorial staff will discuss issues in the nursing profession, current events in healthcare and offer their two cents for your enjoyment.

Bridgette Williams isn't new to the professional world, but she's new to nursing, having earned her degree in 2008. Join her as she explores second-career nursing as a new grad.

From our work environment to our homes and schools, our society is riddled with the catastrophic impact the lack of infection prevention has had in our communities, particularly in the facilities where we as nurses work. Susan Dubay, MPA, BSN, RN, will share her expertise and experience in infection control, and hopes this space will give you an opportunity to share your opinions and comments as professionals who deal with this important topic each and every day.

Valerie Neff Newitt talks to nurses around the world for a global view of the challenges and triumphs that define their shared profession in disparate locations. Indeed, the lessons lie in the contrasts. On the move and in vacation mode? We'll be happy to share your travel discoveries.

As President Obama treks the road to healthcare reform, ADVANCE for Nurses is along for the ride with the latest news from Washington and views from nurses.