My Nursing School Was Never This Much Fun!

Halloween in the simulation lab:  nursing students assessed the (deplorable) conditions that the patients were found in today.  The student who found the most deficiencies won a prize.  The above patient was hard to assess because spider webs had spun up over his bed...don't think he's been seen by a (good, anyway) nurse for quite awhile.

How creative is that?  Considering the patient they are assessing in this photo had a syringe and needle still sticking out of her arm, there were plenty of examples of poor nursing care to be found!

Do you dress up on Halloween?  I have mixed feelings about nurses dressing up.  In Pediatrics, I can understand it;  I think the kids and families expect it.  And if the whole nursing unit goes with one theme on an adult unit, I think it might be kind of fun.

It seems awkward, though, for the patient who is critically ill and possibly dying; hard for the family to take comfort from a nurse dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz or Princess Fiona.  If it's a hospice patient, that might be different.  Maybe things like dressing up for Halloween and celebrating holidays are important and bring a little joy and laughter to the situation. 

BUT, if it's a sudden and very serious illness or injury, I don't think the patient and family want to receive bad news from a clown.  I'm pretty sure that if I was in a bad motor vehicle crash today or found out I have cancer, I'd like to have health care team attending to me who are concentrating on their job and not taking selfies in their costumes.

Well, It Works for Birth Control...

There’s a ring for everything.  Belly buttons, eyebrows, toes, noses, vaginas, and now eyes.  A ring that goes in the eye is awaiting FDA approval; it will eliminate the need for reading glasses.  AND, it’s removable, not implanted and left forever.  Apparently, the ring part is the "close up" lens, like the lower portion of the bifocals some of us are all too familiar with.

Hallelujah!  No more stiff neck from tilting my head back to see the computer screen through the bottom of my glasses.  Finally, a ring for us oldies.

Big News...Not

*courtesy ihealthtran

Becker’s Health IT and CIO Review reported a survey which resulted that 75% of nurses looking for a new job list the organization’s electronic health record system as one of their top three priorities when deciding whether to accept a position or not.  Read the story here.

In a related story, they report that over 90% of nurses are unhappy with the electronic health record they use.

Is this news?  Not to any nurse that's got a pulse.

Here are the revelations in this story.  

To summarize, it interferes with patient care and hasn't made communication any better.

And, here's another newsflash:

The reason they aren't working for nurses is because nurses weren't involved in the selection and implementation.  

Seriously?

Here's what would be big news:  IF SOMEONE DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT.