InteRNational

Bermuda Triangle: Rock Fever, Hospital Refurb and Nursing Opportunity

Valerie Newitt — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:38:00 GMT

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 of...(read more)

Holland America nurse explains the scope of clinical practice at sea

Valerie Newitt — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:55:00 GMT

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...(read more)

Laura the Holland America Cruise Nurse Ties the (Nautical Marital) Knot

Valerie Newitt — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:14:00 GMT

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...(read more)

Nurse at Sea: How One RN Found Career and Love on Holland America Cruise Ship

Valerie Newitt — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:28:00 GMT

It started out as a career shift, but ended up as The Love Boat for Laura Vlaardingerbroek, MSN, RN, lead medical officer aboard the ms Zaandam. From that mouthful of a last name you may have guessed: This American RN from Wisconsin married a Dutch officer...(read more)

Joe the Nurse Makes East Coast Tour

Valerie Newitt — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:12:00 GMT

If you live on the East coast and would like to meet Joe Niemczura, MS, RN, known affectionately on this blog as "Joe the Nurse," the time is almost at hand. This affable nursing instructor at the University of Hawaii - Manoa/Nepal nursing instructor/author...(read more)

What Joe the Nurse Saw in Nepal

Valerie Newitt — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:14:00 GMT

"I spent 15 years of my career doing critical care," said Joe Niemczura, MSN, RN. "Sure, I can run hemodynamic monitoring ... But, if you have a high-tech background in nursing, just throw that out the window. In Nepal, they don't have hemodynamic monitoring,...(read more)

'Shameless Plug' for RNs Who Deserve Your Attention

Valerie Newitt — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:09:00 GMT

This is not the next "official" installment of this globetrotting blog. Next up in just a few days, as promised, will be more of the adventures of Joe "the Snake Man" Niemczura, MS, RN, in Nepal. Instead, this is just a shameless plug for a story that...(read more)

How Joe the Nurse Became the Snake Man of Nepal

Valerie Newitt — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:27:00 GMT

On his first nursing mission to Nepal in 2007, Joe Niemczura, MS, RN, wondered how he would make his mark on the indigenous people. "I wasn't there to do the nursing, I was there to teach the locals what they need to do," he explains. But as he arrived...(read more)

Nurse Travels From Paradise to ‘End of the World'

Valerie Newitt — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:07:00 GMT

Ah, Waikiki. It is the stuff dreams are made of. Pacific surf pounding down on sandy shores, magestic volcanic mountains - blanketed in tropical greens - jutting up toward the heavens. But Joe Niemczura, MSN, RN, was dreaming of another destination when...(read more)

How do YOU say nurse?

Valerie Newitt — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:48:00 GMT

Foreign languages are a way of traveling without leaving home. There are subtleties in language that can only be understood within the context of culture, words that cannot be precisely translated. It's a journey to some undiscovered syllabic territory....(read more)

Miracles Happen! Haiti Graduates First BSN-Prepared Nursing Class

Valerie Newitt — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:36:00 GMT

"Some people thought this would be a dinky little school," laughs Ruth Barnard, PhD, RN, former University of Michigan professor who, upon "retirement," accepted the challenge of helping to establish a BSN-granting nursing school on the island of Haiti....(read more)

Nursing a Dream: RN Takes Can-Do Attitude to Haiti

Valerie Newitt — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:27:00 GMT

Ruth Barnard, PhD, RN, was about as far away from Haiti as a person could get in her cold, blustery hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Newly retired from her professorship at the University of Michigan School of Nursing in 2000, she was ripe for a new challenge....(read more)

One Nurse Answers Haiti's Desperate Call

Valerie Newitt — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:25:00 GMT

Mwen se infimye ou (" I am your nurse," Haitian Creole) Canadian Kyra Abbott, BScN, RN, grew up in the small town of Perth, Ontario, and now makes her home in the city of Ottawa. And while this Magna CumLaude graduate of the University of Ottawa could...(read more)

We Begin Our Journey to Haiti: How the ‘Pearl of the Antilles' Lost its Luster

Valerie Newitt — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:03:00 GMT

I first sailed into Haiti on a little Brit ocean liner. It was nothing like the ones you see today... no water slides, casinos, spas or rock climbing walls. Just 500 passengers, a British-accented crew and an environment so innocent that the rooms had...(read more)

I Want to Do More Traveling

Valerie Newitt — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:44:00 GMT

Have you ever caught yourself saying, "I want to do more traveling"? I say it all the time. But recently, when I was researching conditions on the once-idyllic "Pearl of the Antilles," I realized that maybe what I actually mean is: "I want to do more...(read more)