http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMp1011639
I am a big fan of Linda Aiken PhD, RN from the University of Pennsylvania who has written many articles providing evidence that the lack of nurses at the bedside increases mistakes with medication administration and even worse, sentinel events, either the patient was seriously harmed or died. This most recent article explains one of the reasons I am back in school, the need for nursing educators to educate more nurses.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Tucson Holistic Healing Initiative for Nurses (THHIN)
http://www.thhin.nursing.arizona.edu/
This venue is new for me, I have attended a previous meeting but have not joined the American Holistic Nursing Society, yet anyway. The first and only meeting I went to was very insightful in that it encompassed many professions such as architecture and psychology, etc. as well as nursing. We discussed the benefits of having a closed nursing station versus an open nurses station in hospitals/clinics. Nurses and patients are happier with closed nursing stations for several reasons, it encloses any extra noise such as talking and laughing to one area and nurses have their own area to concentrate on medication calculations, etc. At this first meeting there were several nurse practitioners who were just opening up clinics to treat patients, very exciting. The next meeting is Wednesday night 6-8pm at the College of Nursing rm 105.
This venue is new for me, I have attended a previous meeting but have not joined the American Holistic Nursing Society, yet anyway. The first and only meeting I went to was very insightful in that it encompassed many professions such as architecture and psychology, etc. as well as nursing. We discussed the benefits of having a closed nursing station versus an open nurses station in hospitals/clinics. Nurses and patients are happier with closed nursing stations for several reasons, it encloses any extra noise such as talking and laughing to one area and nurses have their own area to concentrate on medication calculations, etc. At this first meeting there were several nurse practitioners who were just opening up clinics to treat patients, very exciting. The next meeting is Wednesday night 6-8pm at the College of Nursing rm 105.
National Nurses United (NNU) website
http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/
Twice I have traveled with NNU to Washington DC to speak with our local politicians and encourage them to support Single Payer or Universal Healthcare. Also, some other issues directly related to nurses such as nurse:patient ratios and lifting. These experiences are very inspiring and motivating. Nurses from all over the nation with many experiences and backgrounds, very empowering.
Twice I have traveled with NNU to Washington DC to speak with our local politicians and encourage them to support Single Payer or Universal Healthcare. Also, some other issues directly related to nurses such as nurse:patient ratios and lifting. These experiences are very inspiring and motivating. Nurses from all over the nation with many experiences and backgrounds, very empowering.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Working over the weekend
Hi
I worked all weekend and would like to share some of my experiences. Saturday I worked in the triage area all day. Fortunately, we had a good day because usually triage can be very hectic. This was the first day I have been in triage the entire day in a long time. The director in the ER said that we will be rotating more nurses through there which I appreciate because it gives my job more variety. Furthermore, it helps my triage skills, the more I perform this, the better I will be. The computer system is fairly user friendly but I made several mistakes. For example, one of the questions we ask patients is their smoking history. One patient told me he has been smoking for 7 years but I documented he smokes 7 packs of cigarettes a day, oops. Saturday I worked in a different area which has 4 private patient treatment rooms. Most of the patients were fairly ill and needed treatment. This always makes me feel better when I am treating truly ill patients versus patients who are there for non critical reasons. More technology which I will mention here is the system which enables the nurses to obtain medication for their patients. Saturday morning I was quite frustrated with our system. The system won't tell you which machine the medication is in until some time has passed, the pharmacist needs to verify the medication first. There are several 'pods' in the department I work and sometimes you need to go to the different areas to find the medications you are looking for which seems like a scavenger hunt, a little frustrating but the patient eventually got all his meds. So, overall, a pretty good weekend at work, can't complain too much because who's going to listen, ha
Shawn
I worked all weekend and would like to share some of my experiences. Saturday I worked in the triage area all day. Fortunately, we had a good day because usually triage can be very hectic. This was the first day I have been in triage the entire day in a long time. The director in the ER said that we will be rotating more nurses through there which I appreciate because it gives my job more variety. Furthermore, it helps my triage skills, the more I perform this, the better I will be. The computer system is fairly user friendly but I made several mistakes. For example, one of the questions we ask patients is their smoking history. One patient told me he has been smoking for 7 years but I documented he smokes 7 packs of cigarettes a day, oops. Saturday I worked in a different area which has 4 private patient treatment rooms. Most of the patients were fairly ill and needed treatment. This always makes me feel better when I am treating truly ill patients versus patients who are there for non critical reasons. More technology which I will mention here is the system which enables the nurses to obtain medication for their patients. Saturday morning I was quite frustrated with our system. The system won't tell you which machine the medication is in until some time has passed, the pharmacist needs to verify the medication first. There are several 'pods' in the department I work and sometimes you need to go to the different areas to find the medications you are looking for which seems like a scavenger hunt, a little frustrating but the patient eventually got all his meds. So, overall, a pretty good weekend at work, can't complain too much because who's going to listen, ha
Shawn
Saturday, January 22, 2011
This is my first entry of my blog
Hi, My name is Shawn Siqueiros and am a nurse in Tucson, AZ. I work part time and attend school full time. Over the next few days I will enter a few thoughts of my last couple of shifts at work.
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