Here is just a quick note of information: The Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award nomination period ends May 31. The award ''provides nurses, healthcare workers, their colleagues, and the public a national opportunity to recognize exceptional service, sacrifice and innovation resulting in encouraging and inspirational accounts that we share with the ...

Recently, I was privileged to attend events with leading presidential candidates, or their surrogates. I say ''privileged'' because I was able to hear a pointed, whole message from these candidates. Not the fragmented sound bites or curtailed answers to debate questions. Despite the proliferation of political cable talk shows (which I admit I am a ...

For every nurse who had to go through the student lab multiple times until you learned how to open a sterile package without contaminating it, you'll appreciate this description  of a program to teach residents how to do procedures, What is innovative in academic medicine has been a standard of nursing education for almost ever, If you're not ...

Last week my oldest daughter looked at our dining table centerpiece and asked, ''Mom, if you went in someone's home and they had this much dust, what would you say?''  I told her if I knew they'd had a month like we just had, I'd give them a pass.  Long story short, our May is devoted to spring cleaning...amazingly my 12-year-old is ...

I received my jury duty notice in the mail a while ago.  After sitting in a crowded room for what seemed like days several of us potential jurors were sent to a courtroom. After painfully long instructions we were asked several questions about our families, children and whether we could be fair jurors in this case.  I answered ...

Welcome everyone, to what I like to call chaos, a.k.a. my life as a student nurse at Villanova University. As I reflect upon these last weeks I can barely recall the countless hours I spent studying for a biochemistry test-I like to call it a ''school-induced blackout.'' However, what I can recall from those hours are the girls I spent the time ...

By Francine Westergaard, MSN, RN, JCI/JCR Consultant with Joint Commission International, Joint Commission Resources, Oak Brook, IL. Francine graduated from a diploma school many years ago, eventually returning to school to obtain a BSN and MSN. She is currently enrolled in an MBA program. The majority of her nursing ...

Before I dive into my day-to-day life, I would like to introduce myself and explain how and why I ended up both in nursing and on the bitterly cold AND grossly humid, East Coast (I apologize in advance for my coastal bias) studying nursing at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. I became interested in nursing initially through my mom who was a ...

How can you get the most out of your date? What can you do that will supercharge yourself or your relationship with your spouse, child or friend? This month is all about atmosphere! In April my husband and I enjoyed a weekend-long date with our two oldest children. Hannah and Lauren participated in the State Bowling Tournament in Charleston. In ...

A task force of representatives from medical groups, universities, the military and government agencies is basically recommending who lives and who dies after a major disaster like pandemic flu or terrorist attack. In essence, the group recommends the very elderly, severely injured trauma patients, severely burned older patients and people with ...