Children being involved with sports and other physical activities is a normal and healthy part of their life. Unfortunately injuries can happen. Thankfully healthcare professionals are working to find ways to better treat and prevent injuries. Here are a few examples...

Almost half a million children visit emergency rooms annually in the U.S from traumatic brain injuries due to sports. CT scans have risk of radiation, can be costly, and don't detect concussions.

According to Dr. Shireen Atabaki, emergency medical specialist at Children's National Health System, "It's been estimated that people who get a single CT scan in the first 22 years of life have a 300 percent increase risk of cancer in their lifetime."

Dr. Atabaki has been working on creating a diagnostic tool for concussions that would reduce the need for CT scans. The technology she developed is now used in the electronic health record at Children's Hospital. The hospital saved more than $800,000 in one year by reducing CT scans by 556.

Gregg T. Nicandri, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon and assistant professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center division of Sports Medicine said, "The biggest trend I see currently is an epidemic of ACL injuries. An ACL tear is something that usually requires surgery to repair and typically requires a year-long recovery."

According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, about 70 percent of sports-related ACL injuries happen through movements like pivoting, cutting, sidestepping and awkward landings, while about 30 percent result from collisions with other players.

ACL injury prevention programs have shown great results. Dr. Nicandri, who was involved in a URMC ACL injury-prevention program in Rochester said, “We found that we were able to decrease the rate of ACL injury by about 70 percent in the group of athletes that did the program.”

Dr. Mark Link from UT Southwestern says commotio cordis is the second-leading cause of sudden death in youth sports, with one medical study declaring it "the single, most common cause of traumatic death in youth baseball." He also went on to say, "It is a tragic, unfortunate event that happens to normal, healthy kids when they're struck in the chest. But there has to be multiple things that occur at the same time."

A teenager's rib cage is more flexible than an adult's, which means a sudden blow to the chest can cause the ribs to bend inward and touch the heart. "That allows the energy of the ball to be transmitted to the heart," Link explains. If the blow hits at "the upstroke of the T wave," in the last part of a heartbeat -- a window of time that's 15 times faster than the blink of an eye -- the heart will go into ventricular fibrillation.

"The heart is being electrocuted," Dr. Link says. "It's the sudden-death rhythm. The pumping chambers just quiver. When they quiver, they can't effectively pump blood. There's no blood flow to the brain."

After Dr. Link told Karen Acompra what had really killed her son, she wanted to find a way to prevent deaths like this from happening. She believes that learning CPR and having an automated external defibrillator (AED) at all sporting events can make a difference between life and death. She says there are still 30 states that don't mandate AEDs on school grounds but is working to make it a national law.

As a Nurse what are your opinions on children playing contact sports? Do you agree it should be mandatory for AEDs to be on school grounds? Please comment below with any thoughts!

There are many Nursing specialties to choose from. There may be jobs that suit your needs and interests perfectly, but you had no idea they existed as an option. Here are some positions you might not have considered as a career path for yourself.

Camp Nurse

Camp nurses serve typically children or teens, in a camp environment. This can include summer camps or other camps that last from days to weeks to even months at a time, but are usually temporary.

According to RegisteredNursing.org, Nurses with a background in emergency care, pediatrics, and/or trauma will do well in a camp nursing environment. Beyond this, camp nurses usually work alone or fairly independently, so being able to make decisions and deal with any sort of medical emergency is a routine part of the job. Some camps may not even have reliable phone or internet service, so camp nurses need to have enough professional experience to expedite care in this type of environment. Camp nurses also need to have managerial skills, as they generally oversee the whole health office, and must be able to effectively document and record all visits and treatments administered.

NASCAR Nurse

A NASCAR medical liaison coordinator (MLC) is a Registered Nurse who no longer practices “hands-on” nursing. Five full-time nurses are based at corporate headquarters in Daytona Beach, FL.

Responsibilities consist of managing the day to day operation of the department and focusing on the medical needs of the Racing Series. A minimum of two MLCs travel to a new racetrack on a weekly basis.

Disney Nurse

Disney is the place where dreams come true. Could your dream job be there as well? With competitive wages and excellent benefits, jobs in theme parks like Walt Disney World provide Nurses with a positive place to work. These jobs require a skill set they would use to help the park's cast memebers.

Yacht Nurse

As a Nurse/Stewardess you will be expected to maintain the on-board medical ward and Nursing station. This would include stock take, ordering supplies and recording inventories. Depending on the yacht owners health you may be required for certain medical duties.

Although long working hours are required, the benefits are amazing with salaries often  higher than other Nursing positions. Yachting is not for the faint hearted though and must have a sense of adventure and an urge to travel.

Flight Nurse

Flight Nurses are Registered Nurses who provide nursing care on board medical helicopters, airplanes or jets. In the United States, flight Nurses respond to 2 primary types of cases or requests for assistance: response to accident scenes (commonly referred to as scene calls) and requests for inter-hospital patient transfers.

Transgender Youth Nurse

More children and adolescents are identifying as transgender or gender fluid, and they are being seen in a variety of healthcare settings where Nurses are present. Transgender and gender fluid youth are a vulnerable population and are at risk of poor health outcomes, including suicide. Nurses hold a unique position of trust and are therefore perfectly situated to support these youth at every health-related interaction.

Nurses interact with transgender and gender fluid youth in a diverse array of clinical settings, including primary care, the emergency department, and other hospital units, as well as in schools, community settings, and most other areas of care.

Health Policy Nurse

According to the University of California San Francisco, Nurses with policy expertise are employed by health services research firms, work in legislative and regulatory offices at the county, state and federal levels, or hold elective or appointed office. Others work in the legislative or policy offices of health maintenance organizations, advocacy organizations, health care companies or health care provider associations, or consult for these and other organizations. One can also find Nurses with careers in policy and program planning at international government health organizations and non-governmental organizations.

If you know of other unique Nursing positions please comment below!

For many people, the holiday season is their favorite time of year, with excitement building for months. Spending time with family and friends, decorating, sharing laughs and getting in the holiday spirit means so much to so many. For these same reasons, this time of year can be the most difficult time to be in the hospital.

Fortunately, there are many ways to bring joy into hospitals during the holiday season.

Shriners Hospital Celebrates Holidays with Atrium Performance Series

The holiday season brings the gift of music to Shriners Hospitals for Children — Northern California, where singers and musicians volunteer their time and talent as part of the Atrium Performance Series. Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, choirs, school bands, and local business groups perform in the hospital lobby to make spirits bright.

Gingerbread village event at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital

Gingerbread houses were assembled and decorated by patients and guests in the lobby of Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital who layered them with white frosting roofs and assorted, colorful candies. Other houses were sent to patients on the units who could not come down for the event. Whenever a house was completed, Santa or one of his helpers placed it on a large display structure designed to evoke the shape of a Christmas tree. Patients got to take a Teddy bear and the book of their choice.

Akron Children's Hospital Holiday Tree Festival 2017

According to cleveland.com, there are 85,000 strings of lights at the festival at the John S. Knight Center. There are 140 trees, wreaths galore and holiday gifts all donated by an individual, group or business. Click Here to See Photos of all the trees!

Santa takes a helicopter to UVM Medical Center Children’s Hospital

Santa made a trip to visit kids at the University of Vermont Medical Center Children’s Hospital. According to the Burlington Free Press, No reindeer were used for this pre-holiday visit. Santa Claus hovered in a helicopter at the hospital entrance, waving to the children gathered on a balcony inside.

There are plenty of ways to bring holiday cheer to your facilities halls. Here are a few ideas:

• Have a family member bring in a LED menorah or a small tree to make it feel more like home.
• Light up a hospital room with a simple strand of lights.
• Play some classic Holiday music.
  
• Watch a Christmas movie.
• Share thank you notes and holiday cards.
• Bring Holiday desserts and treats.
• Open some presents with loved ones and staff members.

 If you have other ideas or tips to celebrating the holidays in a hospital, please comment below! Happy Holidays!

It can be difficult making the transition from Nursing student to professional. So we’ve put together a list of tips to help you during the first few months and set yourself up for a successful career. If you have any other tips you think we should add to our list, please leave a comment below!

Give yourself a chance to acclimate to shift work. 

There's a good chance you are going to be tired during the first few weeks of your shifts. Don't worry hang in there, it will get better once you're adjusted to the hours. But if you are continually fatigued and don’t see improvement after a few weeks, talk to your hospital wellness team or your supervisor to discuss some solutions.

Don’t be so hard on yourself if you make an error

Every new Nurse makes mistakes. Please don’t set that unrealistic expectation that you’ll just do it right the first time, every time. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself very disappointed in yourself, when in actuality it’s normal to make mistakes and learn from them.

Become efficient at charting

You've probably heard this a thousand times by now.  I will say it again anyway, it is worth repeating.  You absolutely MUST chart everything you do. Be careful not to chart only what was verbalized.  Wait for the orders to be placed and then document accordingly. 

Use a Mentor

If you work with a Nurse whom you admire and is simply awesome at what they do, you can watch them quietly and learn from how they go about their work. This is a silent mentoring relationship where you just learn through association and observation.

If that isn’t your style, Nurse.com recomends you actually verbalize your wish for a mentor to the Nurse in question. This could involve setting up a regular meeting for you to ask questions and receive coaching, or it could be more of an informal, as-needed arrangement.

Don't be afraid to ask questions

If you act like you know everything (which isn't possible) then you won't ever learn anything. Nurses ask lots of questions all the time, it is a constant learning process. No one expects you to know everything.

Any experienced Nurses have tips to add for new Nurses?  What helped you in your first year after Nursing school? Comment below!

You see problems with the equipment, software, bedding, clothing, etc. you use in your job every day. If you have an idea to make something better, here are a few inspirational stories of Nurses who acted on their ideas to create a better solution to the problems they encountered.

Decades ago, Bessie Blount Griffin was a a volunteer Nurse at a New Jersey hospital. According to marketplace.org, while Griffin was there, she noticed lots of veterans had lost the ability to use their limbs. She decided to create an invention that would allow paralyzed veterans to feed themselves using a tube they could bite on with their teeth.

Even though she had worked for so long and invested thousands of dollars of her own money into her invention, the VA wasn't interested in paying the $100,000. So instead, she donated it to the French government who used it in military hospitals nationwide.

Bessie was determined to prove "that as a black female, we can do more than nurse their babies and clean their toilets."

Jill Byrne is an operating room Nurse who created a garment that could help surgeons reduce heat stress. Heat shortened the tempers and focus of surgeons. So Jill fashioned a vest from scrap draping material common in hospitals. Outfitted with pockets for re-freezable ice packs placed around the body, the garment was designed to fit under a surgical gown. She created this piece in her living room.

Heat stress is an occupational hazard for surgeons. They must keep the thermostat in operating rooms above 68 degrees—a standard set by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services—and that's before factoring in warmth from lights, impervious layers of protective clothing and the intense physical demands of some surgeries, such as joint replacements.

As little as 30 minutes of overheating starts to tax internal organs and is associated with weight gain, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and a hindrance on cognitive performance, according to peer-reviewed research and stress studies by the Mayo Clinic.

According to medicalxpress.com,  the first surgeon who wore the cooling vest showed such a dramatic change in personality, Byrne said, he was singing show tunes and was calm, polite and clear of mind during the procedure.

In a product trial at several Cleveland Clinic facilities, 97 percent of the surgeons, technicians and nurses who tested the vest said they would wear it again; it was lauded for its low cost, light weight and how its disposability does not create an additional source of contamination or laundry.

Byrne secured a provisional patent and is working with a team from Cleveland Clinic Innovations to license the property to a third-party manufacturer, and the vest could be for sale within a year.

Registered Nurse Georgann Carrubba created a product that could improve the quality of life for the more than 800,000 Americans who use ostomy pouches after surgeries. The Choice Cap System and Nurse Carrubba went before a panel of judges at the Rochester Venture Challenge and won the $25,000 grand prize.

The cap system is a double-flanged wafer that a patient could then connect to either a traditional pouch, a light-weight, air-tight and waterproof cap; or a smaller pouch stored in the cap.

Genesee Community College Director of Nursing Kathleen Palumbo said, “Put yourself in the place of these patients — having a bag on your abdomen that fills with stool, that sometimes smells. Even going to the grocery store, a restaurant, never mind swimming, playing golf, tennis or anything like that. Some of these people become virtual shut-ins, they become afraid, embarrassed.”

The Choice Cap is meant to add a more secure and less obtrusive option that will work and cost the same as the traditional systems. Carrubba said users can be more comfortable in public, in activities and in intimate situations.

“One of the biggest struggles patients had was changing their lifestyle to accommodate a pouch,” Carrubba said. “This is going to bring them back to doing the activities they’ve avoided or feared.”

A Nurse named Sister Jean Ward invented neonatal phototherapy in the 1950's. She was in charge of the Premature Unit at Rochford General Hospital in Essex, England and realized that sunlight reduced jaundice in newborns and premature infants. This discovery led to phototherapy, which probably is the most common clinical treatment applied to newborn infants.

Anita Dorr, RN invented the first crash cart in 1968. According to workingnurse.com, while working in the emergency department she became concerned about how long it took the staff to round up all the equipment needed to treat a critically ill patient. With her staff, she compiled a list of items that would be needed in any type of emergency.

Anita and her husband John measured everything and built a red-painted wood prototype in their basement. The original cart had a laminate top and included wheels for quick movement to the bedside. Everyone called it the crisis cart.

Nurse Adda May Allen worked at Columbia Hospital in Washington, D.C. in the 1940s. Allen realized it was exhausting for babies to nurse on bottles so she created a disposable liner that moms and hospitals could throw away after just one use. While a baby sucked on a traditional bottle, a partial vacuum formed, inverting the nipple. A plastic liner, however, allowed the sides to close in as a baby drank her milk.

In 1985, Nurse Teri Barton-Salinas wanted to make IV lines different colors to reduce medical errors. Barton-Salinas got the idea when she was working as a labor delivery Nurse and had to use the lines in newborns.

According to dailyrepublic.com, it remained only an idea until 2003 when she and her sister, Gail Barton-Hay, got what they call ColorSafe IV Lines patented. Now, with the help of retired California Highway Patrol officer Royce Brooks, who runs Creative Safety Solutions, the two nurses hope to make hospitals and medical centers safer with their invention.

We hope you are inspired by these creative Nurses and the improvements they contributed to the medical community. Do you have an idea to make things better for you and your patients? If so, how about acting on it? We’d love to hear about it!

In addition to our DiversityNursing.com Annual $5,000 Education Award, we thought it would be helpful to provide a list of other scholarships that might be of interest to you.

Good Luck!

AACN Scholarship $2,500- https://www.hurstreview.com/AACN

ACLS Medical Training Scholarship Program $1,000-   https://www.aclsmedicaltraining.com/scholarship/

Advancing Men In Nursing Scholarships- http://www.aamn.org/resources

AfterCollege-AACN Scholarship Fund $2,500- https://www.aftercollege.com/content

American Cancer Society Graduate In Cancer Nursing Practice Scholarship $20,000- https://www.cancer.org/research

Asian American/ Pacific Islander Nurses Association, Inc. Scholarships- http://aapina.org/scholarship-awards/

BestNursingDegree.com Scholarship $2,500- http://www.bestnursingdegree.com

Deloras Jones RN Scholarship Program- https://www.scholarsapply.org/delorasjones/

Elizabeth J Davis Scholarship $3,000- http://vnavt.com/elizabeth-j.-davis-scholarship/

Equality Scholarship $6,000- http://www.equalityscholarship.org/

FNSNA Undergraduate Scholarship Program- http://www.forevernursing.org/undergraduate-scholarships.html

Gladys D Goodson Scholarship $2,500- http://www.lcf.org

Health Careers Scholarship Program $7,500- https://www.gallagherstudent.com/scholarship/

Healthcare Leadership Scholarship $2,000- http://www.healthgrad.com/scholarships

HealthGrad.com Leadership Scholarship $2,000- http://www.healthgrad.com/scholarships

IMPACT Technology Recruiting Scholarship $1,000- http://go-impact.com/payments

Jean Andrews Nursing Scholarship $1,200- http://www.vsac.org/pay

Kentucky Nursing Incentive Scholarship Fund $3,000- http://kbn.ky.gov

Kings Daughters Health Foundation Health Career Scholarship $2,500- http://www.kdhealthfoundation.com/scholarships

Madeline Pickett Cogswell Nursing Scholarship $2,500- http://www.dar.org/national-society/scholarships

Medsite Medical Scholarship $5,000- https://www.medsitemedical.com/scholarships/

Mildred Nutting Nursing Scholarship $2,000- http://www.dar.org/national-society/scholarships

NAHN Scholarships- http://nahnnet.org/NAHN/About/Scholarships

National CPR Association Scholarship $2,000- https://www.nationalcprassociation.com/scholarship/

NBNA Scholarships- http://www.nbna.org/content

Nurse Plus Academy $1,000- http://nurse.plus/#scholarship

Nurse.org Healthcare Leaders Scholarship $1,000- http://nurse.org/healthcare-leaders/

Nursing.org Scholarships $2,000- http://www.nursing.org/scholarships/

Oliver Joel And Ellen Pell Denny Healthcare Scholarship $3,000- https://www.wsfoundation.org

Perinatal Graduate Nursing Scholarships $5,000- https://www.marchofdimes.org/nursing

Philippine Nurses Association of America, Inc. Scholarship $2,000- http://www.mypnaa.org/News

Professional Caretakers Scholarships $1,500- https://professionalcaretakers.com/scholarship/

Sarah Margaret Macdonald Nursing Scholarship $6,000- https://s-caf.org/index.php

The Genvieve Renn Roscher Nursing Scholarship $1,000- http://johnrandolphfoundation.org

The Meland Foundation Nursing Scholarships $2,000-$5,000- http://melandfoundation.org

The Nurses Foundation of Wisconsin, Inc. Scholarship $2,000- http://wisconsinnurses.org/education/scholarships/

The Rick And Sherry Murray Medical Futures Scholarship $5,000- http://webfl.alsa.org/site

Transcultural Nursing Society Scholarships- http://www.tcns.org/Foundationawards.html

Travel Nurse Source Scholarship $2,000- https://www.travelnursesource.com/resources/scholarship/

Western Governors University Scholarships- https://www.wgu.edu/tuition_financial_aid/scholarships/nurses

Click Here to register for our $5,000 Education Award!

Nurses are a constant presence at the bedside and regularly interact with physicians, pharmacists, families, and all other members of the health care team but, physicians may spend only 30 to 45 minutes a day with even a critically ill hospitalized patient. This means Nurses have the critical role in ensuring a patient's safety.

Nurses ensure their patient's safety by monitoring them for clinical deterioration, detecting errors, understanding care processes, and performing countless other tasks. There are many ways to help you achieve quality safety for yourself and your patients. Here are a few...

Nurse-to-patient ratios

According to Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, assigning increasing numbers of patients eventually compromises a Nurses' ability to provide safe care. Several seminal studies have demonstrated the link between Nurse staffing ratios and patient safety, documenting an increased risk of patient safety events, morbidity, and even mortality as the number of patients per Nurse increases. The strength of these data has led several states, beginning with California in 2004, to establish legislatively mandated minimum Nurse-to-patient ratios; in California, acute medical–surgical inpatient units may assign no more than five patients to each registered Nurse.

Safe and healthy workplace

OSHA, which enforces the Occupational and Safety Health Act of 1970, ensures employers are providing a safe and healthy workplace for workers and comply with OSHA’s regulations. Some of the obligations include:

• Complying with your employer’s policies and procedures based on its obligations under OSHA;

• Using personal protective equipment, including masks, when indicated;

• Informing your Nurse manager and others designated in the facility policy of workplace violence (e.g., bullying, intimidation, verbal abuse);

• Using proper body mechanics when lifting, pushing wheelchairs or otherwise working with patients;

• Reducing risks for slips, trips or falls by removing obstacles, wiping up wet walking surfaces and wearing shoes that support your feet and your walking;

• Speaking with your Nurse manager and CNO when policies and procedures governing safety are not being followed.

Overtime and long shifts

It is common for hospitals and clinics to request that their Nursing staff work overtime. While working overtime can be an effective solution to a Nursing shortage, it also can present a number of problems. Nurses risk becoming burned out, tired and/or stressed if they take on too much overtime.

 A study conducted by the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System showed working a 12-hour shift or working overtime was related to having trouble staying awake during the shift, reduced sleep times and nearly three times the risk of making an error. The most common medication errors identified in the study due to Nurse fatigue were wrong doses, dose omission and extra doses.

Communication

Health care teams that communicate effectively and work togehter reduce the potential for error, resulting in an improved clinical performance. According to the American Hospital Association,  A key aspect in improving teamwork and communication in health care is engaging patients and families. Increasingly, research shows a correlation between increased patient and family engagement and fewer adverse events. Determining how patients and families want to be involved in their care and then engaging them in designing their plan of care increases their understanding of tests, procedures, and anticipated care outcomes, including a successful discharge.

If you have any questions about patient or staff safety, please click below to ask your question and a Nurse Leader will respond.

Workplace conflict is common across all industries especially in a fast paced and stressful field like Nursing. Conflict mediation can be complex and typically Nurse managers step in to help resolve the problem.

Acoording to Nurse.com, conflict is a disagreement between two or more people who differ in attitudes, beliefs, values, feelings or needs. It’s a part of every work environment, including healthcare organizations. The ingredients of conflict include: