Over the past month I have had some very challenging patients. I will often question, why and how did someone end up here at the correctional facility? I believe it is better I do not know. Actually, it is none of my business; it keeps the care unbiased and pure and it does not impact how I treat them. If one of the inmates upsets the ...

There was a disturbing incident that occurred a few weeks ago. I also look at this experience as an eye-opener for me. I have long come to this realization, but it was never more evident than when the incident happened. First, let me start off by stating, prior to my opportunity to work in corrections, I was judgmental and biased and I ...

I was before, but now I am an even greater advocate of the pill box. Every patient with a lackluster memory, or taking multiple medications, or time sensitive medications should own one. There is nothing better than a physical reminder to keep a body on track. I was recently confronted with an HIV positive patient on a cocktail of ...

Lately it seems a rash (no pun intended) of patients have asked me how it was that they contracted their Staph infections. Some had MRSA, others MSSA. Some suffered from bacteremia, others osteomyelitis, and others still were challenged by skin/soft tissue infections in the form of painful and unsightly abscesses. Some had recently undergone ...

My contact with pain patients was extensive during my residency in Aurora, North Carolina, a coastal town of about 400, with a patient population compromising of retirees, commercial fisherman and above-ground miners from a phosphate mine. I knew from that experience that even if I never found a job as an NP, I would not choose to do pain ...

I don't know how many of my fellow NPs and PAs have seen and or heard about HBO's four-part documentary on obesity in America, The Weight of the Nation, but I can't recommend it enough: it is an awesome and totally relevant examination of health in the States. So many of the individuals profiled in this series were reminiscent of ...

Costs for healthcare are rising. There is not a revelation in this statement, but as providers, we have to be mindful of the dollars we use because it affects raises. My former mentor would drive that home for me. When I would order a test, she would ask, ''Will that test change your treatment plan?'' And if I responded with ''no'' then she ...

In the last month and a half I have met and treated two women, both newly diagnosed with HIV and previously unaware and unsuspecting of their corresponding diagnoses. In both cases the women contracted it from their former husbands. I say former because one of the men died approximately one month before his wife, patient #1, learned of her ...

There are six different physicians in my practice and thus, six different philosophical approaches to disease treatment and management. As a new NP, this can be somewhat frustrating. Some days I wish medicine and nursing were a bit more algorithmic. But alas, it ain't like baking a cake, so here's to finding the silver lining. Six ...

I attended at cozy talk about HIV prevention and treatment earlier this year at the suggestion of my mentor. The expert presiding over the talk was a local expert in HIV management, thus it was an opportunity I did not care to miss. During the discussion he started to reference recent study data suggesting the use of antiretroviral ...