In the past weeks, there has been much discussion surrounding the nurse who allegedly denied an elderly woman CPR at an independent living center in California.  The 87 year old resident passed away while the nurse argued with a 911 dispatcher about the facility's policy about (not) administering CPR.  The story has raised ...

It’s about time. A guilty plea by Dr. Rolando Arafiles in a West Texas courtroom last week closed a painful chapter in the long career of Texas nurses Anne Mitchell, RN, and Vicki Galle, BSN, RN. As part of a plea bargain, Arafiles admitted guilt to retaliation and misuse of official information, both felonies, for his part in targeting the nurses ...

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 ...

Wall Street failures. The housing market and mortgage industry collapse. The epic, disastrous BP oil spill. Huge mistakes with dire consequences for a large chunk of the global population. How can ''these people'' sleep at night after pulling the wool over our eyes? The answer, according to a newly released book, is the wool most likely covers the ...

Have you ever known a Nurse Jackie in your own life? You know the kind -- full of swagger and bravado, oozing with street smarts and clever comebacks, never one to turn away from conflict. Showtime, which aired the latest episode last night, recently asked that question to its viewers. Online respondents revealed: ''Jackie reminds me ...

In the latest episode of Nurse Jackie (played by Edie Falco in this Showtime series), Jackie is quintessential Jackie. In past shows, we saw Jackie acting as a medical Robin Hood, never hesitating to rob from the rich (those who bestow health insurance) to help the poor (those who don't have it or aren't served well by their health insurance). ...

Did you read the article on the ADVANCE Web site about the nurse who has been acquitted after whistle blowing on a doctor? What she and her colleague must have gone through! And for doing the right thing! Even as they were following the proper employer channels and still not getting results, they were brave enough to take it farther, and lost ...

Nursing’s ranking as the most trusted profession in America the past 8 years in Gallup’s annual Honesty & Ethics poll is testament to the reverence with which the public holds the caring profession. It’s a sentiment nurses return each day when they go to work. In fact, for some that sense of commitment to caring about and for ...

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 ...

If you think the fictional Nurse Jackie and HawthoRNe are bad for nursing’s image, just wait until you hear about one real-life nurse in California. Like many, I could not escape the media frenzy following Michael Jackson’s death. Internet, TV, newspapers, magazines and even my iPhone was giving me minute details of the singer’s final days, his ...