ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses

Breast Cancer Screening: When the Evidence Scares Us

2009-11-20T19:28:00Z

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 well they must scrutinize where the study came from - do the authors or their supporters stand...(read more)

A Lone Ranger Tweets for Blood

2009-11-17T15:55:00Z

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 social media person who trumpeted -- and tweeted -- the call for blood from Scott & White, the central...(read more)

Flu Vaccine Safety

2009-11-12T19:42:00Z

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. He will likely need the assistance of a walker for 4-6 weeks, plus extensive physical therapy, according...(read more)

For Vets, Healthcare Gaps May Be More Deadly than Modern Warfare

2009-11-11T12:43:00Z

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 of disgrace from those who thought he should not have fought in an unpopular war. He said it was...(read more)

ANA Asks Nurses to Get Vaccinated

2009-11-03T14:51:00Z

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 believes it is important to get this message to registered nurses to increase vaccination rates, in light of the public health emergency posed by the H1N1 pandemic. There has been a lot of discussion on this site about vaccinations, especially for H1N1. Have you changed your mind about either the season or...(read more)

Clean the Medicare House, Bring Health Reform Home

2009-10-30T15:24:00Z

A recent segment on CBS’ 60 Minutes posed an interesting solution for how to pay for health reform: eliminate Medicare fraud. Sounds like a good idea. According to the expose, Medicare fraud is a $70 billion a year scam. Times that number by 10, and the government can recoup a good chunk of the $1 trillion estimated cost for covering the uninsured over 10 years. But let’s get serious. Listening to the informant on 60 minutes describe how easy it is to rip off the government, makes you wonder. What...(read more)

Prescription Drugs: A ‘Perfect Storm' That Almost Became a Killer

2009-10-29T19:10:00Z

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 was going wrong "upstairs." Mother was uncharacteristically depressed, tired, confused. I chalked it up to old...(read more)

Flu-id Thinking: Do Your Part to Educate

2009-10-26T21:48:00Z

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 or emergency department to identify if the illness is, or is not, H1N1. We will also require written...(read more)

Actually, That's Not Privileged Information

2009-10-26T20:44:00Z

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 companies, as reported in a fascinating, alarming BusinessWeek article, are using...(read more)

Move Over Wonderbra, Now We Have Shoes to Shape Our Legs

2009-10-14T19:44:00Z

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 much for me to ignore. Where do I sign up? Getting My Hands, and Feet, on a Pair When my all-black...(read more)

Advocacy--How far would you go?

2009-10-01T19:55:00Z

The September 30th episode of the NBC show Mercy was centered on patient advocacy. Each of the three main characters had to advocate for their patients in a rather dramatic way. Yes, it was dramatic because it was television, but it left me wondering how far "real life" nurses have gone to advocate for their patients. Nurses say they are patient advocates, but what does that really mean in the daily functions of the profession? In the episode, Veronica was caring for a young patient after an accident,...(read more)

Who Are the Real Victims of the Winkler County Case?

2009-10-01T15:00:00Z

At some point in our lives we'll all want a personal patient safety advocate to stand up for us when we're not receiving the care we need. As nurses, this job often falls in your lap. In fact, you're mandated by your boards of nursing to report substandard care. Simply put, it's your job to protect the patient; even when he needs protection from the physician. Anne Mitchell, RN, and Vicki Galle, RN, have been caring for their patients for more than 20 years. But this summer, after both nurses tried...(read more)

Move Over Nurse Jackie!

2009-09-23T20:42:00Z

Just when you thought nurses were under-represented on TV, we now have no fewer than three primetime series about the lives of nurses. Since the "nursing shortage" in primetime has all but been eliminated, the question now is: Which series most accurately depicts the "real" lives of nurses? Keep in mind that all TV is "heightened reality." No one wants to tune in and see what literally happens in the course of anyone's day. "Real" reality can be boring. That's why even "reality" shows are scripted...(read more)

Genomics & Nursing: What You Need to Know

2009-09-16T19:27:00Z

Increasing research and application of genomics in healthcare is creating a need for nurses to know their stuff. Just ask Jean Jenkins, Phd, RN, FAAN, senior clinical advisor at the National Human Genome Research Institute. Jenkins became interested in genomics during an internship at the genome research institute. At the time, cancer care was just beginning to be influenced by research indicating genetic changes increased breast cancer risk. As the administrator of an oncology program at the National...(read more)

Nurse inspires others by unveiling immense weight loss, on Today Show

2009-09-14T14:09:00Z

Rosemarie Jeanpierre is a nurse from Los Angeles who was featured on the Today Show, today (Monday, Sept. 15). Her story is simple yet monumental in proportion: she lost 110 pounds in 18 months. When Matt Lauer introduced the segment, which showed pictures of a heretofore 220-pound Rosemarie, with a voiceover description of the sad state of her then-fatty life, he made this point: She lost the weight without any surgery. Interesting, isn't it, that we've come to a point when people assume you've...(read more)