| War Watch |
|
| Seven nurses share their
thoughts on the prospect of armed conflict in Iraq
Read |
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| A New Attitude |
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| Pediatric nurse opens
nation's first alternative care center after the
miraculous recovery of her premature infant Read |
| |
| At Their Service |
|
| Map the career of Ken
Most, RN, and it’s apparent he’s tuned
into a guidance system, although it’s quite
unlike the high-tech spy plane electronics he worked
on in the U.S. Air Force. Read |
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| Speed of Right |
|
| In a world where computerized
decision-support systems are supposed to help health
care providers provide safer, faster care, an eight-hour
lag in charting can mean that decisions are based
on out-of-date information. The world of nursing
yearns for a data-entry revolution. Read |
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| Change of Scenery |
|
| Barbara Hope, RN, thought
there might be greener pastures in the bluegrass
of Kentucky. But as far as nursing goes, what she
found in taking a big step from Louisville hospitals
to the smallest of community facilities is that
it is different, not necessarily better. Read |
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| Never Forget |
|
| On Sept. 11, 2001, the
staff of the University of California, San Diego
Medical Center’s Regional Burn Center watched
the unfolding tragedy at the World Trade Center
on television and, along with the rest of the world,
felt shock and dismay. Read |
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| Art of Healing |
|
| Diane Flood, RN, said
she’d long heard about the art and science
of nursing, but “very quickly I began to question
what the art of nursing was. I didn’t see
anybody talking about that,” she said. Read |
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| Shifting Gears |
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| Joe Parker stood in the
middle of the dark, unlit street, rain furiously
beating down, as he and his fellow paramedics carefully
lifted the elderly woman into the ambulance. Read |
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| E-House Calls |
|
| A national survey has
found that American consumers are eager to use home
health care electronics to monitor their own health.
Read
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| A Family Affair |
|
| The letter from an old
box of personal things was dated 1967 and addressed
to “My Little Nurse.” It was from Margaret
Potvin, RN, seven years before she died at age 82
in Vermont. Read |
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| East Meets West |
|
At the time, Cathie Haynes,
MS, RN, had no idea how the unexplained death of
a teenager would influence her and shape her thoughts
about health care: the Western system we know vs.
traditional Chinese medicine and similar models
of
India and Japan. Read |
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| Weighty Matters |
|
| Kathy Reed, RN, walked
into her home after another late-night shift at
Charlotte Regional Medical Center in Punta Gorda,
Fla. The evening had been busy, leaving no time
for dinner, so the 44-year old nurse found herself
satisfying her hunger with a late-night, high-fat
snack before heading off to bed. Read |
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| Five Alive |
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| When the lighted ball
has descended into Times Square and “Auld
Lang Syne” has been sung in every time zone,
what’s different about 2003? That’s
something for each RN to decide by making and—here’s
the important part—keeping what might be the
Top 5 New Year’s resolutions for nurses. Read |
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| A Little Sunshine |
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| When people learn about
Bridget Ferns, RN, and her career, they invariably
comment, “I don’t know how you do that.”
Even the oncology nurse herself never thought she’d
practice in pediatrics, but from the moment she
walked into St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
in Memphis, Tenn., for an interview 10 years ago,
she knew it was the place to be. Read
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| Survivor: Trauma |
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| If practicing wilderness
medicine has taught John Bleicher, RN, anything,
it is this: Never give up on a trauma patient. Read
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| Put It to Rest |
|
| Sleep. It’s the
first thing to go when nurses are squeezed by the
demands of their professional and personal lives.
But to sacrifice it so easily is a mistake with
career implications, said Denise Howland, RN, who
has made a 23-year career at the Sleep Disorders
Center of Alabama in Birmingham. Read
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| Louisville Slugger |
|
| It’s easy to let
Deborah Tuggle, MN, RN, a critical care clinical
nurse specialist, tell her own nursing story. It’s
one of family tradition and caring, entrepreneurship
and education and a passion for the best in all
of nursing, not just her specialty of cardiac care.
Read
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| Experience Counts |
|
| Marcelline Macdonald,
ME, RN, knows nursing shortages. She lived the big
one of the 1960s as an OB nurse in Billings, Mont.,
and has survived staffing crises of the ’70s,
’80s and ’90s, right up to today. Read |
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| Happy Endings |
|
Wouldn’t it be great
if, at the end of the day, the patients got up and
went home healthy? It happens just that way in the
very real Hollywood world of Erinn Tracie Brown,
RN—at least when she’s working as a
technical adviser for nursing on television and
movie sets. Read |
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| Danger Zone |
|
| The image of nurses is
almost always one of comfort, help and gentleness.
People turn to nurses when they are sick or in pain.
It is particularly ironic that nurses, whose job
it is to soothe and reassure, are the ones most
often in danger. Whether it is violence, hostility,
sexual harassment or discrimination, nurses are
near the top of the victims list. Read |
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| It's Automagic |
|
| Janice Falca, RN, is charting
new waters for her hospital, leading physicians,
nurses and other staff into the paperless world
of informatics, the electronic documentation of
medical care. Read |
| |
| A World of Difference |
|
| When times are tough because
of the nursing shortage or any other reason, Kathy
Phelan, RN, draws on those two or three experiences
that stick with a nurse for a career and say “I
make a difference.” Read |
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| Relic Hunter |
|
| When Jerri Rich, RN, settles
into the office of her Sterling Heights, Mich.,
home to prepare to teach a first-aid or CPR class,
she does so against the backdrop of nursing history.
The office is a showcase for a growing collection
of “nurse things.” Read |
| |
| Follow the Leader |
|
Next stop: the top. In
the meantime, Cyndie Miculan, MSN, RN, is honing
her skills and thoughts on nursing, leadership and
education as a relatively new nurse manager in
Greenville, N.C. Read |
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| RN Express |
|
| Home health nurse Craig
Rhyne, RN, eventually may be regarded as a modern-day
circuit rider who hop-skips by plane across rural
America to deliver medical care, especially to American
Indians. Read
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| A Helping Hand |
|
| Rita Strickland, Ed.D.,
RN, stands before class after class of would-be
registered nurses as proof that African Americans
needn't be underrepresented in nursing. Read
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| Small Miracles |
|
| There is no good way to
tell a woman that Connie Wright, RN, is going to
be her nurse because it means that something has
gone wrong-sometimes terribly wrong-with her pregnancy.
Read
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| Born to Roam |
|
| On the strength of the
nursing shortage, Terri Hill, RN, has traveled from
the operating room to the boardroom of her own small
but growing company, HC Travelers. Read
|
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| Crimefighting RN |
|
| Karen Chabert, RN, takes
the mystery out of nursing and turns it over to
law enforcement, social services and the courts.
Read
|
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| Aide-de-campus |
|
| Ever wonder what becomes
of those desperately ill children years after they
leave pediatric intensive care?
Sherrill Bookey, RN, said she's found nothing
more challenging and rewarding than the continuing
care of one such boy, a second-grader in Anchorage,
Alaska, as she discovers just how far some school
districts will go in the care of their students.
Read
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| Take Heart |
|
| After he suffered the
biggest disappointment of his life, Conrad Cordova,
RN, took what he had left and parlayed it into a
nursing career, first in cardiac intensive care
and now as a cardiac inpatient educator. Read |
| |
| True Grit |
|
| As it's been for 23 years
running, Viola Ose, RN, spent the third week of
July dressed in a Western blouse, bolo tie, boots
and a cowboy hat, tending to professional cowboys
at the "Daddy of 'em of All," the Cheyenne
Frontier Days rodeo. Read |
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| Rash Diagnosis |
|
| Bull's-eye.
Constance Dickey, RN, would have been right on
if she had seen the trademark bull's-eye rash
of Lyme disease. But she had a different rash,
knew little about the disease, and was not overly
concerned about it despite two tick bites. Read
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| The Spirit Moves Her |
|
| As Amanda Burr, RN, recalls,
it was 1969 when it became fashionable for caregivers
to tell people the truth about dying. She was a
nursing student at Columbia University and had just
seen Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, MD, author of the seminal
On Death and Dying. Read |
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| Parallel Universes |
|
Jan Babcock, RN, worked
Sunday and gave birth to a son the following Wednesday.
Twelve weeks later, she was back at work, answering
for the fifth time the question that working mothers
everywhere face: resume a career or stay home to
rear children? Read |
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| Breaking the Sound
Barrier |
|
| Call Terri Jacque, RN,
to break the uneasy silence when a deaf person arrives
at the ER unannounced and in crisis at East Texas
Medical Center in Tyler, Texas. Read |
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| Smooth Operators |
|
| Melania English, RN, an
education coordinator and certified specialist in
poison information (CSPI), laughed at the notion
of a typical day at DeVos Children's Hospital Regional
Poison Center in Grand Rapids, Mich. Read |
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| Good Chemistry |
|
| "I can tell you ways
to get high you wouldn't believe," Sandi Schraut,
RN, says with such conviction that you know it must
be true.
Schraut, 52, deals with the chemically dependent
in a 28-bed alcohol rehabilitation unit and 12-bed
detox unit at the Anoka (Minn.) Regional Treatment
Center. Read
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| With a Little Luck |
|
| Candy striper. CNA. LPN.
RN. That's the journey of Vernetta Parsons from
14-year-old hospital volunteer through the welfare
system to charge nurse on the med/surg floor of
Bannock Regional Medical Center in Pocatello, Idaho.
Read
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| One Step At a Time |
|
| With the deck seemingly
stacked against her, Debbie Manning, RN, beat the
odds and is on a roll to a new role in medicine:
ob/gyn physician from obstetrics nurse. Read |
| |
| An Independent Mind |
|
| Talk about walking a mile
in someone else's shoes. Certified diabetes educator
Barbara Bodzin, MSN, RN, does it every day. And
she does it with a cane as she covers the northeast
quarter of Ohio to help blind people manage their
diabetes. Read
|
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| You Are What You Eat |
|
| In life as in nursing,
Gabriele Franklin, RN, tends to run counter to convention.
So it made perfect sense that on a Saturday afternoon
she and her husband, Andy, were covering their front
lawn in Northfield, Minn., with mounds of dirt.
Read
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| Lifeline for the Future |
|
| Molly Nash's life was
saved by a stem cell transplant from cells obtained
from her new brother's placenta. Baby Adam never
received a shot or was ever in any danger during
the donation of cells to his sister. Read
|
| |
| Just One of the Guys |
|
| Pete-Reuben Calixto's
first inkling to move from the Philippines to the
United States can be traced back to the simple task
of reading textbooks in nursing school.
The books were written by American authors, and
Calixto, RN, noticed that the technology they
described was a far cry from the equipment being
used in his country's hospitals. Read
|
| |
| Creature Comforts |
|
| Working for a time in
pediatrics showed Kathleen Thompson, RN, that nursing
is the right career for her and that sometimes it's
better that dreams don't come true. From her first
days on the back of a half-Arabian horse as a 12-year-old
in Arizona, she grew up wanting to be a veterinarian.
Read
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| Alzheimer's Care |
|
| If you're lucky enough
to reach age 85, you face a 50 percent chance of
developing Alzheimer's. As the American population
ages, dementia will play an increasing role in health
care-which means nurses have some studying to do.
Read
|
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| So You Want to be a
CRNA ... |
|
| A 17-year-old boy went
into full cardiac arrest 27 years ago in the emergency
room of a rural hospital in Missouri. Respiratory
therapist Sally Bass Witkowski was on duty that
evening, and the incident would change her life.
Read
|
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| Objective Assessment |
|
| Long before pain was declared
the fifth vital sign, nurses were at the forefront
of pain management. Day after day and year after
year, nurses continue to assess and intervene to
minimize pain; it is their responsibility. Read |
| |
| Read the Signs |
|
| It takes a lot of nerve
to buck the opinion of a panel of Nobel Prize-winning
scientists, but that's what experience and an abiding
interest in astrology tells Mary Frances Vester,
RN, to do. Read |
| |
| For Kierra's Sake |
|
| If it were not for personal
tragedy, Pam Rowse, RN, might be just another anonymous
Las Vegas nurse excelling in emergency care as she
has in critical care, as a flight nurse, paramedic
coordinator and educator/trainer. Read |
| |
| Balancing Act |
|
| In the coldest terms and
in many ways, what the federal Patients' Bill of
Rights is all about is patient care vs. dollars.
And smack dab in the middle of that equation are
RNs who, as utilization review staff, help managed
care providers determine appropriate interventions
and judicious use of health plan resources. Read |
| |
| A Look Ahead |
|
| Every time Kathleen Sanford,
RN, heard people talk about the nursing shortage,
the same old problems and solutions seemed to come
up: recruitment bonuses, shift differentials, talk
of restructuring the workplace, day care for nurses
with children. Read |
| |
| Do Your Homework |
|
| Combining a vacation to
an exotic location with learning a language sounds
great. But before you book a flight, be sure that
study abroad is right for you, said Jennifer Lewis,
product manager at studyabroad.com. Read |
| |
Behind the Walls |
|
| Patty Daugherty, RN, is on the inside
looking out across the grounds of the Edna Mahan
Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, N.J.
She sees herself in graduate school, possibly in
the fall, working to become a nurse practitioner
specializing in adult care. Read |
| |
| B is For Attitude |
|
| In Houston's first celebration of
National Black Nurses Day on Feb. 1, Mary Holt Ashley,
Ph.D., RN, encouraged her audience of more than
200 African-American nurses to adopt "Ashley's
B-Attitudes." Read |
| |
| Yesterday's Gone |
|
| For three years now, Ola Arije, RN,
has ensured the physical and emotional well-being
of 30 long-term care residents. Arije's patients,
whom she regards as her second family, are Alzheimer's
disease patients. Read |
| |
| Prime-Time Perceptions |
|
| One of the topics at this year's
American Medical Association's Leadership Conference,
"It Must Be True, I Saw it on TV," addressed
the health care community's concern over how patients
are affected by what they see as "good medicine"
on television. Read |
| |
| Rough Road Ahead |
|
| The path to the chief executive officer's
suite is far from smooth for many nurses, women
in particular. Many of them spent years, if not
decades, juggling the responsibilities of frontline
health care jobs and raising families before establishing
a clear career path to the top. Read |
| |
| Open-Door Policy |
|
| Some hospitals allow families to
be present in almost all instances, including rounds
and shift changes. Some encourage families, with
the patient’s permission, to sit in on discussions
about charts and care plans. Read
|
| |
| Nurse entrepreneurs strike out
on their own to find rich rewards, challenges |
|
| It was Saturday and Karon White Gibson,
RN, and Joy Smith Catterson, RN, were making visits
to several patients in their new home care business.
They were also on their way to a wedding, so they
were dressed more sophisticated than usual for a
home visit. Read
|
| |
| When Opportunity Knocks |
|
| Nurses traverse many roads when starting
their own business with differing motivating factors
and approaches that precede their transition. Read
|
| |
| All-Access Pass |
|
| Should hospitals draw the line at
allowing family presence during a code situation
or resuscitation? Read
|
| |
| Clue Collectors |
|
| Nurse lawyers make a case for RNs
to apply their medical knowledge to the legal field
Read
|
| |
| No Regrets |
|
| Flexibility, job security and meaningful
work spell satisfaction for career RNs Read
|
| |
| Making of a Mentor |
|
| How important is mentoring in nursing?
As many nurses have long known and many hospital
administrators are learning, it's vital. And not
everyone can do it.Read
|
| |
| Fired Up |
|
| N.Y. nurses among torchbearers for
2002 Games Read
|
| |
| Heart to Heart |
|
| Mona Barmash wants never to see another
young athlete die on a sports field as the result
of an undiagnosed heart disorder.Read
|
| |
| Read the Signals |
|
| In the workplace, people see you,
not your credentials. Sending appropriate nonverbal
signals can give you an edge in your career or make
your working environment a better one. Read
|
| |
| Paving the Way–Origins of
Forensic Nursing |
|
| Virginia Lynch didn't invent forensic
nursing, but she did give it a name years before
it was recognized as a specialty. Read
|
| |
| Making a Connection |
|
| Nurses who take the time to reach
out to patients leave a strong, positive impression.
Read
|
| |
| Customized Care |
|
| At Navajo Nation Hospital, medicine
men work alongside physicians and nurses, and some
of the RNs on staff are healers. Read |
| |
| Knights Tale |
|
| The events of Sept. 11 hold personal
significance for Cheryl Knight, director of clinical
services for pediatric oncology and the oncology
ICU at Children's Hospital of Orange County, Orange
Calif. Read |
| |
| No Reservations |
|
| One nurse in the Army Reserve relates
why caring for American troops is a rewarding experience.
Read
|
| |
| Double Duty |
|
| Find out about the dual role of military
nurses. Read |
| |
| Donor Data |
|
How can you use the web to research
the transplant
process? Read |
| |
| Staying Power |
|
| Once you lure re-entry nurses back
to the hospital, how do you keep them? Read |
| |
| Back to the Beach |
|
| How did "China Beach" create
a Cherry Ames-type nurse heroine out of Dana Delany?
Read
|
| |
