As I approached high school graduation years ago, my Health Careers teacher shared the popular modern parable, Who Moved My Cheese? It is a story about mice and miniature people who look for cheese (a metaphor for happiness and success) in a maze. Silly, for sure, but I found that the story's lesson sticks its nose into my life on occasion. ...

ADVANCE for NPs & PAs staff is bracing for Hurricane Sandy near Philadelphia, Pa. today, and we wish the best to all those along the East coast who are suffering from the storm's damage. Across the country, NPs and PAs are still heating up our communities with the latest in healthcare. On our article ...

Have you visited our blogs lately? Last week, new NPs and nurse veterans battled on the value of floor experience. Our NP & PA Student blogger Terry Clarke, currently enrolled in a fast track NP program, expressed his views on what experienced nurses have going for them and what they still have to learn. Here are a few of the comments your ...

Stretch marks can occur on various parts of the body, including the abdomen, thighs, hips, breasts, arms, flanks and low back. Men and women can develop these stretch marks at any age. Stretch marks can present differently depending on the skin type. They can range in color from white to silvery to pink, reddish purple or dark brown. Stretch ...

Last week, NP and PA readers submitted questions to our communities asking for advice from fellow clinicians. Below are a sample - if you have any advice for these NPs and PAs, comment on the respective article or share with us here and we'll make sure to pass along the wisdom. Have something you'd like a clearer answer on? Let us know on our ...

Editor's note: This blog post was written by Niki Bryn, APRN, DCNP, a member of the NP Society of the Dermatology Nurses' Association. Coolsculpting is an innovative method of noninvasive fat removal. Coolsculpting, with the trade name Zeltiq, was developed at Massachusetts General Hospital by two dermatologists, Dieter Manstein and Rox ...

Autumn is my favorite time of year. I love the colors of the leaves, cool brisk evenings, baking with pumpkins and Sunday soup making. Fall also just happens to be a favorite season of mine in the office, too. I call it ''catch-up time'' for a number of reasons. First and foremost, this is an excellent opportunity to discuss with patients the ...

Last week, readers commented on two of our recent orthopedic articles. In response to ''After Your Patient's Knee Replacement,'' reader Thomas said, ''Nice article Jennifer - I had my TKR in 2010 and you described my overall experience quite well. Patients do really tend to forget that they lost their joint mobility slowly over a sustained time ...

Last week, a reader commented with praise for both NPs and PAs on our 2012 National Salary Survey of NPs & PAs. ''I am proud to see PAs and NPs getting along in the medical field. Both are great professions. I was an RN for 13 years prior to becoming a PA. I have been a PA for 8 years. I chose PA, because in 2001, NPs were basically ...

Year after year, summer after summer, we start to notice our skin losing elasticity and developing new, larger or darker brown spots on the face, chest, arms or legs. Fortunately, more people are now educated about the risk of excessive sun exposure and are taking sun protection more seriously. When skin looks and feels old - leathery with brown ...