It's official - my first semester as a nursing student is over. I finished up with finals last Thursday, and now I have nearly one month off to relax and recharge. I'm already in the midst of planning things to do with all my extra time. In addition to holiday festivities, I'll be taking two trips to the Poconos, and my wife and I have decided ...

Diane M. Goodman, APRN, BC, CCRN, CNRN, is in staff development at Advocate Condell Medical Center, Libertyville, IL. Quality used to be an easier concept to define for nurses and healthcare providers. If the patient recovered during their length of stay and avoided the quagmire of hospital-acquired assaults such as pneumonia, urinary tract ...

As students in Salisbury, MD, head back to the days of homework and bus rides, the Wicomico County school district has decided to replace three registered nurses with certified nursing assistants, leaving some schools without an RN to care for children with medical needs that can't be handled by a CNA. ''We've had to be very strategic with ...

Let me apologize up front if you're one of those people who are more comfortable with having not known about a potentially uncomfortable (not life-threatening) situation as opposed to knowing about it, having the opportunity to gauge your exposure and deciding whether or not to take caution moving forward. In other words, if ignorance is your ...

I recently edited a compelling article on physician-assisted suicide (PAS) written by Lisa Siminski, BSN, RN, CHPN, staff nurse, St. Luke's Hospice House, Bethlehem, PA.   In her report on PAS, Siminski points out straight away that the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses ''clearly specifies that nurses ...

When nurses go on strike, it can be a thankless undertaking. They may be fighting for an ideal of better patient care, while at the same time walking away from the patients for whom they are caring. It's a ''damned if you do, damned if you don't'' situation. At Philadelphia's Temple University Hospital (TUH), that scenario is playing out as some ...

I have always advocated against fast food - but now I think my case just got stronger. Not only do we have to worry about the health risks of a Big Mac, but we have to worry about the soda (or any fountain beverage) we wash it down with. A team of microbiologists from Hollins University found that 48 percent of sodas tested from the fast ...

''Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.'' --  Helen KellerThat apt quote is provided by Marcia Lane, director of Haiti Nursing Foundation, as she faithfully passes along an eyewitness account of the immense struggle for survival in Haiti. Marcia writes, ...

Yesterday I blogged that Dean Hilda Alcindor, RN, of FSIL School of Nursing, the first BSN nursing program on the island of Haiti, was among the missing. Amidst the tragedy came good news: The dean is alive and well. She is, however, mourning the loss of one of her students. The bright nursing hopeful had left the safety of the school ...

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 ...