I've worked at three different hospitals over the past five years. Each one has had a different process of dealing with Medication Reconciliation, but I believe my current facility has created the best idea of all: A Medication Reconciliation Technician role.  Her primary responsibility is to interview patients to obtain the most ...

Since high school, I have been fascinated with learning about child and human development. It confirms for me how all humans are alike and so very different at the same time.  I love that there are patterns and rules, but ultimately variation is the norm. We are all born with a blank road map, and where we go in life is up to us. And when ...

(Editor's note: This guest blog was written by Suzanne LeBeau, BSN, RN, CLNC.) We all know the scenario. You're getting report on your sixth patient and the nurse who is giving report is spent, burnt out and just wants to go home to her cozy bed. As you may imagine, the conversation may go like this: First nurse: ''In room 320 is Mr. Jones, a ...

It's always nice to know someone has your back - especially when it's your boss. However, a new study reveals a nurse manager's support is even more crucial than previously noted. A strong, collaborative relationship with your manager equals greater safety in the workplace for both patients and healthcare professionals. In a study of 54 nursing ...

As most everyone knows by now, nurses have for several years been ranked the ''Most Trusted Profession'' in an annual Gallup survey of Americans. But now a new study reveals nurses are also very good at assessing the quality of care delivered in the hospital units in which they work.  In short, it turns out nurses are not only trustworthy ...

Twelve-hour shifts have gotten some bad press. They've been linked to medical errors, nurse burnout and, now, higher rates of obesity in nurses. Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Nursing, Baltimore, surveyed 2,103 female nurses and revealed nurses with long work hours were significantly more likely to be obese compared with ...

As students in Salisbury, MD, head back to the days of homework and bus rides, the Wicomico County school district has decided to replace three registered nurses with certified nursing assistants, leaving some schools without an RN to care for children with medical needs that can't be handled by a CNA. ''We've had to be very strategic with ...

Guest blogger Dennis H. Smith is director of the VA Maryland Health Care System, Baltimore Nurses are the ones who prepare patients for procedures. They comfort nervous patients, reassuring them everything is going to be alright. They work long hours on their feet, often performing an array of functions that people don't realize, don't ...

Smoking is a lousy, smelly, costly habit. Even worse, cigarette packs come lined with the foil of disease -- think emphysema, lung cancer, heart disease, COPD, and more. We all know smoking is bad for us. So do patients. Education is available and anti-smoking messages are persistent. So ... if a thinking, rational population knows all about the ...

By Diane M. Goodman, APRN, BC, CCRN, CNRN Most of our healthcare providers believe they deliver professional, deliberate and unbiased care to patients no matter the ethnicity or socioeconomic status of the patient. This may be true. When the patient has had experience with pain, though, and/or is known to be a ''frequent flyer,'' eyebrows begin ...