Nurses are big proponents of evidence-based practice. Nurses are working hard to move away from ''this is how it's always been done,'' or ''I had a patient once who had a reaction to that treatment so I don't do it.'' A big part of looking at evidence is numbers. Nurses need to question whether something can be considered evidence based on the ...

Valerie M. Chapman, MSN, RN, has been a pediatric nurse for 25 years and is a 3-year breast cancer survivor. She lives in Medford, NJ. I am a wife, a mother of two awesome kids, a daughter, a sister and a nurse. I am also a survivor. At the age of 43 a routine screening mammogram picked up an abnormality in my left breast that turned out to ...

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 ...

Like all political propositions, healthcare reform has left nurses wondering what's in it for them. Why should they support a bill? What could it do to their roles? The American Nurses Association examined the Affordable Health Care for America Act, introduced in late October by the U.S. House of Representatives, finding there's a lot in it ...

Jaime Sinutko, MSN, RN, is project manager, Institute for the Advancement of Nursing and Health Care, Oakland University School of Nursing, Rochester, MI. ''I'm keeping my options open'' is the line many nurses have recently been overheard saying. Many nurses do not feel secure in their current job. There is a sense of ''jinxing'' themselves by ...

At some point in our lives we'll all want a personal patient safety advocate to stand up for us when we're not receiving the care we need. As nurses, this job often falls in your lap. In fact, you're mandated by your boards of nursing to report substandard care. Simply put, it's your job to protect the patient; even when he needs protection from ...

President Obama spoke before Congress last night urging lawmakers to pass healthcare reform this year, telling them, ''Time for bickering is over. Time of games is over. We need to bring the ideas of both parties together. Now is the time to deliver on healthcare.'' To clear up any confusion, the president provided some details of the bills ...

Just days back from their August recess, members of Congress will host President Obama during a joint session of Congress on Wed., Sept. 9 to discuss --- you've guessed it --- healthcare reform. The White House hasn't previewed his talking points, but he'll likely reiterate the need for Congress to pass a reform bill that provides coverage ...

  Here's a physician assistant student getting his career off on the right foot. Read the nice things he has to say about nurses.

Like a lot of people, I woke up this morning to the news Sen. Edward M. (''Teddy'') Kennedy died last night, Aug. 25, a little over a year since announcing he had brain cancer. He was 77 years old. Serving the people of Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate for 46 years, Sen. Kennedy led legislation on civil rights, education, immigration, among ...