Nurses and nursing

244 articles · Since 2013

Articles, page 12

Nurses are the superheroes of health care

March 23, 2015Mar 23, 201515

Being a nurse is one of the most important jobs in any society. It is also one of the most respected. Public opinion polls consistently rank nurses as the most trusted profession -- usually ranking well above physicians. And it’s…

Being a nurse is one of the most important jobs in any society. It is also one of the most respected. Public opinion polls consistently rank nurses as the most trusted profession — usually ranking well above physicians. And it’s for good reason. Patients in hospital may forget who their doctor is, but they will rarely forget their nurse. The doctor …

Physician voices

Doctors moonlight as nurses to stay competitive

GomerBlog

January 25, 2015Jan 25, 201512

Nurse Shannon Wilkens on floor 4 west thought she saw someone she knew in scrubs walking into room 414. “He was tall, I swore he looked familiar. Our charge nurse informed me he was recently hired and volunteered to work…

Nurse Shannon Wilkens on floor 4 west thought she saw someone she knew in scrubs walking into room 414.

“He was tall, I swore he looked familiar. Our charge nurse informed me he was recently hired and volunteered to work nights,” Wilkens recalled. “So being that it was slow, and I had only three patients as opposed to …

Conditions and diseases

The profound wisdom of the nursing diagnosis

Shirie Leng, MD

January 22, 2015Jan 22, 20153

When I was in nursing school there was always a lot of eye-rolling when it came time to discuss nursing diagnoses. This was mostly because nursing diagnoses were followed by book-length nursing care plans that we had to produce for various imaginary patients. There was also a faction, including myself, who thought a medical diagnosis was just fine, thank you, no need to reinvent the proverbial wheel.

For example, for a …

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Health technology

3 ways to make health IT work better for nurses

Suneel Dhand, MD

December 1, 2014Dec 1, 20144

The job of a nurse has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades. I’ve witnessed these changes at close quarters and heard feedback from nurses in several different hospitals. The biggest change undoubtedly is the interaction with information technology…

The theory behind this push, which is part of the federal government’s meaningful use policy, …

Health policy

5 ways to ease the integration of NPs and PAs

Tracy Cardin, ACNP

November 10, 2014Nov 10, 201419

I talk a lot with different physicians about integrating NP/PA providers into their practice. I am frequently astonished by the level of reluctance, resistance and downright animosity from these physicians. Many times a doctor will have a medical “horror story” with the NP/PA playing the villain. One bad encounter or event seems to justify a complete rejection of the many positive …

Health policy

Nurses also have to confront to costs of care

Caroline Smith, RN

October 22, 2014Oct 22, 2014

As I finish my post-operative care routine for my 9-day-old patient, I notice that the cerebral oximetry machine is not picking up a strong signal. Despite troubleshooting, I am unable to figure out how to fix the problem, and I head to the Pixus to get a new sensor. Unfortunately, this one does not work either, and we must use a smaller sensor to pick up an adequate signal on …

Medical education

Choose your career: Should I be a nurse or a doctor?

Shirie Leng, MD

July 26, 2014Jul 26, 201420

Having been both a nurse and a doctor, most of the questions I get from readers have to do with making the decision between nursing and medicine. Let’s lay aside for a moment the reality that the fields are totally…

But people ask me all the time, so, as a little experiment, I …

Physician voices

Stop calling nurse practitioners mid-level providers

Michael D. Pappas, MD

July 14, 2014Jul 14, 2014256

I really hate it when a nurse practitioner is called a mid-level provider. "Mid-level provider" isn’t even a legal or academic term. It is slang developed to demean or minimize a health professional, who is not an MD. The term…

I really hate it when a nurse practitioner is called a mid-level provider.

“Mid-level provider” isn’t even a legal or academic term. It is slang developed to demean or minimize a health professional, who is not an MD.

The term “mid-level provider” is primarily aimed at nurse practitioners (NPs) as well as physician assistants (PAs) and midwives. It is insulting to health professionals …

Patient voices

It was time to proclaim myself as a wounded healer

Josephine Ensign, DrPH

June 19, 2014Jun 19, 2014

Recently I had dinner with a friend of mine who, decades ago, had sat on my doctoral dissertation committee. At one point we touched on my dissertation, which covered the health issues of Baltimore's homeless teens. "You always had an…

“You always had an uncanny connection with homeless kids,” my friend said. “You really understood them.”

I gazed out the window, seeing the homeless people with their shopping carts in the park across the street.

Then I …

Physician voices

Optimize nurse partnerships to improve patient care

Val Jones, MD

June 12, 2014Jun 12, 20144

As I travel the country providing coverage for inpatient rehab units, I have been struck by the generally high quality of nursing care. Excellent nurses are the glue that holds a hospital unit together. They sound the first alarm when a patient’s health is at risk, they double-check orders and keep an eye out for medical errors. Nurses spend more time with patients than any other hospital staff, and they are therefore …

Physician voices

Nurses are the reason doctors look good

Michael D. Pappas, MD

May 24, 2014May 24, 201413

I wouldn’t say I’ve had a lot of revelations in my professional life, but there is one that still affects me emotionally to this day, and it’s about nurses. I had been a PICU doctor for a number of years,…

I wouldn’t say I’ve had a lot of revelations in my professional life, but there is one that still affects me emotionally to this day, and it’s about nurses.

I had been a PICU doctor for a number of years, and I was rounding on all the patients in the PICU with the rest of the team. The background sounds consisted of the usual beeps, alarms, and humming from the patient’s …

Read more…

Nurses are the reason doctors look good

Physician voices

Being a nurse is the noblest profession

Angelo Falcone, MD

May 16, 2014May 16, 20149

It was recently Nurses Week in early May and there were a lot of adulations being offered on social media and throughout hospitals regarding the appreciation we have for those among us who have chosen to be on the “front…

As an emergency physician I could speak about the many times a nurse has grabbed me and pulled me into a room …

Read more…

Being a nurse is the noblest profession

Physician voices

A nurse masters the art of medical slang

John F. Hunt, MD

January 12, 2014Jan 12, 20143

An excerpt from ASSUME THE PHYSICIAN: Modern Medicine's "Catch-22". “What did you learn today?” I asked, fearing the answer. I was suspecting a recitation about the new methods of documenting nursing competencies, or a delineation of the process by which…

An excerpt from ASSUME THE PHYSICIAN: Modern Medicine’s “Catch-22”.

“What did you learn today?” I asked, fearing the answer.

I was suspecting a recitation about the new methods of documenting nursing competencies, or a delineation of the process by which she helped the hospital maintain its “magnet” status to attract more nurses to work here. Or perhaps she had learned a new set of pharmacy rules that replaced …

Physician voices

Doctors and patients: Always thank your nurses

Maria Yang, MD

January 6, 2014Jan 6, 20145

As I noted earlier, hospitals permit around-the-clock observation of patients. If you don’t need around-the-clock monitoring, you don’t need to be in the hospital. Who is doing this around-the-clock monitoring? Nurses. Therefore, whether you are a patient or a physician,…

As I noted earlier, hospitals permit around-the-clock observation of patients. If you don’t need around-the-clock monitoring, you don’t need to be in the hospital.

Who is doing this around-the-clock monitoring? Nurses.

Therefore, whether you are a patient or a physician, one of the best things you can do is get on the good side of the nurses.

If you are a patient, a nurse watches over …

Physician voices

Who’s in control? Why both doctors and patients are frustrated

Shirie Leng, MD

November 6, 2013Nov 6, 20132

I hate being told what to do. I will scratch and claw when ordered around. It takes a conscious act of will to smile and say, “sure, I’ll get going on that right now.” This is a problem since, as…

I hate being told what to do. I will scratch and claw when ordered around. It takes a conscious act of will to smile and say, “sure, I’ll get going on that right now.”

This is a problem since, as an anesthesiologist, I get told what to do all the time. My kids order me around all the time. When I was a nurse I used to bristle at the term …

Physician voices

Doctors can learn from how nurses provide care

Kevin R. Campbell, MD

October 1, 2013Oct 1, 2013

In today’s health care environment, we are all driven to see more patients in less time and do more with less support. Obviously most of this is financially motivated -- the delivery of medical care had unfortunately become more of…

In today’s health care environment, we are all driven to see more patients in less time and do more with less support. Obviously most of this is financially motivated — the delivery of medical care had unfortunately become more of a business than an art. As more physician groups are now owned by hospital systems, the “bean counters” and administrators are now …

Nurses and nursing

Articles, page 12

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