If you were given the privilege to provide care to the entire world, what would it be like? What microcosm of the world population (which stands at exactly 6,962,449,235 people as I write this) would be representative of the entire world in a single hospital of just 100 patients? Actually the math has been done, and redone, since 1990 when ...

What is it exactly that we define as being ''healthy?'' I know in my freshman theory class we had various definitions all of which were vague and inconclusive--that however makes sense now after having some experience on the floor. One's health, is exactly that--defined by that person and by that person only. He or she may have a tome of ...

Some people scoff at the younger generation's seeming dependence on social media. ''Who needs text messaging or Facebook or MySpace? What's wrong with picking up the phone and calling someone?'' ask some old-schoolers. And they'll further the attack with, ''Who cares what Ashton Kutcher has to say about his wife, Demi Moore? He can keep ...

Last month was Breast Cancer Awareness month and I blogged about my experience with a false positive mammogram.  Ironically, this is now the center of a new debate: if women, with little to no risk of breast cancer, should have annual mammograms before age 50. According to the U.S. Preventative Services Task force mammograms should begin at ...

I have a confession: I love Facebook, a love some might call obsession. I created my profile for work, making it sound significant and worthy of my time. Look at me - I'm a Facebook administrator, I'm really cool. But, this whole social networking trend has gone far beyond my office walls, leaping into my personal life and running amuck. Now I ...

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 the Seas carried me safely through the Bermuda Triangle. On the other side of that ...

On a brief jaunt last week, I met a fellow traveler -- a retired military officer whose career spanned various deployments to Germany, Panama and Vietnam. We discussed at length the tone of the nation in the 1960s when he was fighting an unseen enemy in an Asian jungle. Eventually, we talked about the sadness he felt when he returned to ...

My mother, despite her 92 years of age, maintains the mind of a brilliant, life-loving 30-year-old. Unfortunately, her physical self never sipped from the fountain of youth. Her sight has dimmed, her mobility is nil, and she's done battle with cancer, gall bladder disease, vertigo, hypertension, insomnia and muscular and joint ...

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 time to retrieve a sick passenger, now your patient, in dire need of a ship-to-air ...

The weekend between the call for a repeat mammogram and the actual appointment passed quickly.  I stayed busy with family to keep my mind away from the unknown.  Being a person who compartmentalizes emotions, denying anxiety was easy to do.  So, it took my by surprise when my sister and friends rearranged their schedules to escort ...