DiversityNursing Blog

By Megan Murdock Krischke

Why do new nurses often leave their jobs in the first year? And what can be done to keep their careers on track, improve nurse retention and keep the costly issue of turnover in check?

A new study published in the July-August issue of Nursing Economic$ may help to answer these questions.

A few years ago the North Shore-LIJ Health System (NSLIJ) in New York set out to identify some of the key reasons for nurse loss in the first year of employment and created a nurse residency program to counteract that loss. A team of nurses at NSLIJ monitored the before and after results in order to measure the efficacy of program.

“What we recognized was the way we were orienting new nurses wasn’t meeting the needs of this computer-minded generation,” said M. Isabel Friedman, DNP, MPA, RN, BC, CCRN, CNN, program director of nurse fellowship programs for the Center for Learning and Innovation at North Shore-LIJ Health System and the lead author on the study. “We created a program that met the needs of our new nurses and helped them transition from new graduate to functioning practitioner.”

This study looked particularly at the Pediatric Nurse Fellowship Program (PNFP) at Cohen Children’s Medical Center for pediatric critical care, pediatric emergency department and hematology/oncology specialties. This specialty orientation program was designed to bridge the gap between the novice nurse and the new high-acuity pediatric specialty while providing new graduate RNs with important mentoring and support tools.

“We found that when nurses feel supported, their loyalty to the hospital system increases,” Friedman explained. “Additionally, our new hires go through the fellowship program in cohorts of 5-10. The community and peer support offered by the cohort is a factor in increased retention.” 

The PNFP used a blended learning model. The core curriculum that nurses focused on during the initial weeks of the program was chosen from the curriculums offered by the national professional organization for each specialty. Each week had a theme, such as respiratory. Nurses then had seminars, skills and simulation labs, and clinical days that addressed that week’s topic. 

One of the key findings of the study was the effectiveness of having a senior nurse whose specific job it was to work with the cohort of fellows as they were transitioning to working in direct patient care.

“Study of our previous orientation showed that the transition from orientation to direct patient care in the six- to nine-month timeframe was when first year retention rates began to drop significantly. Having a senior nurse who could be by a nurse’s side as he or she did a new procedure, or easily available to ask questions, increased the confidence of our new nurses and the quality and safety of the care they provided.” Friedman stated. 

Friedman and her colleagues found that the nurse fellowship program decreased turnover significantly in the PICU and that general retention rates were statistically significant when comparing length of employment before and after the program was implemented. “As you can imagine this was good for the bottom line. When comparing expenses for the 2.5 years before instituting the PNFP and the 2.5 years following, there was a potential cost savings estimate of over $2 million.”

As an added bonus to increased nurse retention and cost savings, nurses who participated in the PNFP are showing a greater value for continuing their education through specialty certifications and pursuing master’s programs. 

“This program is easily adaptable for other specialties. We had our first residency program in adult critical care. In addition to the PNFP, we have fellowships in cardiac cath lab and labor and delivery nursing, as well as having a fellowship for nurse practitioners. Every fellowship cohort is altered to some degree in response to the feedback we receive from our fellows, preceptors and others involved in the program.” 

“One reason this particular manuscript was a good fit for Nursing Economic$ is because it addresses the measures, methods and metrics. If we are going to make a business case for caring we have to make sure that we have the data that supports nursing’s work. This article showed in black and white how what they were doing helped the bottom line,” remarked Donna M. Nickitas, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, CNE, editor of Nursing Economic$.

“It emphasizes what we have been saying all along: to have a healthy work environment, you have to have a healthy workforce,” Nickitas continued. “We need to make sure our nurses are more than adequately educated and trained. This study demonstrates that the PNRP is worth the investment in time, effort and finances.”

“I love the program and I love my fellows,” Friedman effused. “They are bright and capable young people and we owe it to ourselves to educate the next generation of people who are going to be taking care of us and our loved ones. It is a fabulous feeling to see their success and see them grow and become nurse managers and to see them continually aspire to bigger and better things.” 

For more information, see the Nursing Economic$ study:
“Specialized New Graduate RN Pediatric Orientation: A Strategy for Nursing Retention and Its Financial Impact”

Source: NurseZone.com

By Samantha Cronk

For Berkeley County native Dorothy Leavitt, 93, the desire to help people is natural, so when the call came for volunteers to assist soldiers wounded in World War II, Leavitt needed no other prompting.

While she was aware of WWII and its effects, the war became personal for Leavitt after she helped care for eight severely wounded soldiers who were recovering in an army hospital in Martinsburg.

Leavitt graduated from Martinsburg High School in May 1937 at 18 and by September, she began training to become a nurse. In 1940, Leavitt graduated as a registered nurse as part of a graduating class of fewer than 10 women.

Journal photo by Samantha Cronk
Berkeley County native Dorothy Leavitt, 93, used her profession as a nurse to help soldiers wounded during World War II who were sent to recover at the Newton D. Baker Hospital in Martinsburg.

"I knew even when I was a young girl that I wanted to be a nurse. My mother had her babies at home and the nurses would be helping the doctor, and I just always wanted to be a nurse," she said.

It was during her time as a nurse that Leavitt chose to volunteer her services to wounded World War II soldiers at the Newton D. Baker Hospital, a military hospital, in Martinsburg. In 1946, the Newton D. Baker Hospital became the VA Medical Center as part of the Veterans Administration.

"I always worked in the paraplegic ward. There were about five cubicles, and each one had eight men in it. They were all young men in their 20s, paralyzed from the waist down. We always went back to the same eight men, so those eight are the ones you say you took care of," Leavitt said.

"We worked during the daytime and then every night for 18 months we went down from 7 to 10 p.m. or later, because sometimes they had to pull us away," Leavitt said.

Leavitt described her job as anything that would make the men comfortable, including rubbing their backs, washing their faces and changing their sheets.

Eventually, the men Leavitt cared for were transferred to hospitals close to where the men lived. Along with other nurses who volunteered in the paraplegic ward, Leavitt helped form the Newton D. Paraplegic Group, which kept soldiers and nurses connected.

Through the group, soldiers and nurses would stay in contact through letters and meet at least once a year for food and fellowship.

As a nurse, Leavitt worked for several local doctor's practices as well as in private duty. She also worked at the VA Center for one year in the medical ward.

Through her career as a nurse and life in Berkeley County, Leavitt has experienced many professional milestones, including working with Martinsburg's first radiologist, as well as witnessing almost a century's worth of change to Martinsburg.

"I liked to take care of patients, and I just didn't want to be behind a desk. At the time I was going for my training, it was just a job. Now, I've had some time to think back, and I realize that some of that stuff I saw during my nursing career was really miraculous," Leavitt said.

Leavitt's thumbprint can be found throughout Martinsburg. Of the 64 acres Leavitt and her late husband Charles owned as orchards, Leavitt retains 53 acres. On some of the land she sold sits the Martinsburg water tank and Orchard View Intermediate School.

"The amount of change, it's amazing. It's still a good place (to live). You can see the changes. Of course they paved the roads, we get mail and they've changed the name of (Delmar Orchard Road) so many times," Leavitt said.

Leavitt can recall living through the Great Depression, claiming that her family was fortunate to avoid the harsh conditions many families found themselves in during that time. Leavitt credits her father with providing for her mother and siblings, saying that he worked hard to find work and always provided them with new shoes and textbooks before every school year.

"I went to a two-room school house through the eighth grade. When we finished eighth grade, we had to go to the old Martinsburg High School and take a test for two days to see whether or not we were allowed to go to high school. I made the second highest (grade) in the county. You remember that kind of stuff," Leavitt said.

Leavitt said her parents supported her ambition to become a nurse. Although it has been many years since she has worked professionally, Leavitt still considers herself a nurse.

"Once you're a nurse, you're always a nurse," she said.

Source: The Journal 

By Kateri Allard

In the first year of my career as a registered nurse, I continued my education, wrapping up my bachelor's degree in nursing, not yet a requirement to work as an RN but a well-worth-it continuation of a degree to make you a more well-rounded and, to be honest, respected nurse. One of the requirements for this degree was a course called "Professional Issues and Trends." The course explored the profession of nursing, barriers it is facing, and the way that we, as nurses, can change that. I learned many things in that course, but the most important, the thing that has stuck with me the most, was this:

A few days into the course, our professor made one thing very clear: Each and every one of us, from that moment on, needed to remove "just a nurse" from our vocabulary.

"Are you a doctor?"

"No, I'm just a nurse."

I have spent six years since trying to avoid that phrase. More so, I have worked to avoid that feeling. I work hard at what I do, but I am often aware that my friends and family have no concept of what nursing is. I don't bring you to your room at the doctor's office, sit you on the table, and check your normal blood pressure, then go and get the doctor. Instead, I am often in a room with a small child on a ventilator, multiple intravenous medications infusing through central lines keeping the vascular system constricted or dilated. I monitor blood gases and adjust ventilator settings accordingly. If the blood pressure goes too high, I adjust the medications related to these values. I keep my patient adequately sedated and paralyzed, for their safety, without over-medicating them. It is often my responsibility to determine this balance.

Recently, I had a nearly 2-year-old patient who pulled his own breathing tube out in the early morning. We weren't sure whether he would do okay without it, so I monitored his respiratory status closely all morning. By mid-afternoon, he seemed to be doing well enough. By then his sedation had worn off and he had no interest in staying in bed. Concerned that he would harm himself moving around through multiple IV and arterial lines, plus a BiPap machine, and monitor leads, I decided to hold him. He had no family present but needed close to a dozen IV medications over the next five hours. I collected them all and lined them on his bed. I pulled his syringe pump that would be used for the medications off of the IV pole and placed it on the bed in front of me. I lifted him out of bed and onto my lap, into my arms. For five hours we rocked and I held him close. He stared into my eyes, played with my hair with his one arm, tried to suck his thumb through IV sites and arm boards. I gave his medications one by one until the nurse who would relieve me for the oncoming shift came in.

I'm not just a nurse. I am a nurse. I can over the course of the 12-hours shift go from interpreting serial blood gases to comforting a sick child while continuing to monitor vital signs, respiratory status, and administer medications.

I am the eyes, hands, and feet of the physician. I am not their eye candy or their inferior. I don't stand up when they enter to room. I don't follow their orders, I discuss the pathophysiology of the patient's condition with them, and together we make a plan. Often the things I suggest are the course of action we take, and other times I learn something new I had not understood from this doctor. They don't talk down to me; we discuss things together.

I had an experience this weekend, one of the first of its kind for me, and I was surprised by how angry and affected by it I was.

A friend cut their arm and hours later still struggled to stop the bleeding. I assessed the wound and created a pressure dressing out of the supplies you have available in a frat house cottage. I reluctantly informed the friend that the wound would likely need a stitch or glue. It wasn't large, but it was deep and wide and would likely heal poorly, if at all, and even if it didn't become infected would leave a decent scar. I am not one to jump to big medical interventions; if anything, I ride the line of noncompliant and under-concerned.

My opinion was shared but another guest, a doctor, decided it would probably be fine with a Band-Aid and heal without issues. He may be right, or I may be right. But a close family friend who I have known almost my entire life chimed in.

"No offense, Kateri," he said, "But obviously we're going with the doctor over the nurse for this one."

"You're just a nurse," he might as well have said, although he didn't.

I felt like I had been smacked in the back by a two-by-four. My best friend knew this would be my reaction and turned in horror as the color left my face and the posture left my shoulders. Something inside of me sunk.

The following day I struggled to understand why I was still upset. Surely he had no idea what his words had meant, or how they felt. But over lunch the following day, as I discussed my new job with my family, it became clear. My job is so much, and so much of it is misunderstood. And maybe this is no one's fault but my own. Sure, I'm a nurse. Yup, some days are sad. Yeah, blood and poop don't bother me.

But that's all I say. I don't tell you what I really do. And the media definitely doesn't either. Nurse friends, help me out here. Maybe it's time that we stop pretending we are less than we are, that we do less than we do.

I came across the following blurb this morning. I wrote it a few years ago for Nurse's Day, and it rings as true today as it did then. I may not be a doctor, but I am a nurse. And if you are someone whose mind says "just a nurse" please, go ahead and ask the nurse you know best what it is that they do. I think you may be surprised.

I am a nurse. I didn't become a nurse because I couldn't cut it in med school or failed organic chemistry, but rather because I chose this. I work to maintain my patient's dignity through intimate moments, difficult long term decisions, and heartbreaking situations. I share in the joy of newly-born babies and miraculously-cured diseases. I share in the heartbreak of a child taken too soon, a disease too powerful, a life changed forever. My patient is often an entire family. I assess and advocate. Sometimes I wipe bottoms, often I give meds, but that isn't the extent of what I do. There are people above me, and people below. I work closely with both; without them, I could not do what I do well. I chose this profession and love almost every minute of it. I know I am not alone, and I appreciate all of the nurses who work alongside me. Many of them have shaped me into the nurse I am. Someday I will shape others into the nurse they will be. This wasn't my plan B. It was my plan A, and I would gladly choose it again.

This post originally appeared on According to Kateri.

By Leah Thorsen

Margie Long was a 24-year-old nurse when she held the smallest baby she’d ever seen.

It was Jan. 31, 1947. Little Sharon Lynn Kaiser weighed just 1 pound, 14 ounces, measuring 12 inches long.

She had arrived more than two months early and was delivered by Caesarean section.

Doctors didn’t think she’d survive more than a day.

Long had become a nurse to help people. She knew that baby needed help, and she devoted herself to caring for the newborn during her 73-day stay at Suburban Hospital in South Gate, Calif.

“She looked like a rubber doll,” Long said Thursday as she and that grown baby — now a 66-year-old great-grandmother whose married name is Sharon Bolles — sat on the couch of Long’s home in De Soto.

In the decades since Bolles’ birth, the two have shared a bond experienced by few nurses and patients. They have corresponded by letter and phone while separated by thousands of miles, and have enjoyed the occasional face-to-face meeting.

“She never, ever missed my birthday or Christmas,” Bolles said of the cards from Long, whom she credits with saving her life. She has cherished those cards and letters. Now, they talk on the phone at least once a week.

Bolles drove from her home in Tulsa, Okla., to visit Long on Thursday. She brought mementos. They looked at old pictures, including one of Long cradling Bolles as her parents beamed, as well as photos of other visits through the years.

Bolles brought newspaper articles too, some from her time in the hospital and after. One headline read, “Tiny babe, given no hope to live, is a big girl now.”

And Long, now 89, told of Bolles’ tenuous first months, when that bond began.

“I got pretty attached to her,” Long said. “I kind of hated to see her go home.”

MEDICINE DROPPER FOR MILK

Long — who grew up in St. Patrick, Mo., and took the job in California while visiting a cousin there — remembers feeding Bolles a teaspoon of breast milk from a medicine dropper every hour.

A newspaper article reported Bolles gained three-quarters of an ounce each day during the first three months.

Long recalled that she cut a cloth diaper so it was small enough for the tiny baby. She constantly worried that Bolles wasn’t warm enough, and hurried to feed, bathe and dress her, keeping her wrapped in a blanket.

Bolles pulled out a newspaper story with the headline “30-ounce baby makes progress in incubator.”

Long remembers that incubator — it was a bassinet with a 5-gallon jar of water beneath it. Two 500-watt bulbs heated the water, and a sheet covered the top of the bassinet to keep Bolles warm. An oxygen tube ran beneath it so she could breathe.

Bolles said Thursday she had never heard that description.

Long remembers the two blood transfusions Bolles received, when she worried the baby wasn’t going to survive.

And she remembers Bolles’ twin sister, Augusta Lee, who died hours after birth.

“Respiratory distress,” Long said. “We couldn’t save her.”

The record for the lowest birth weight of a surviving infant is held by Rumaisa Rahman, who weighed 9.17 ounces — about a third of Bolles’ birth weight — when she was born in 2004, according to Guinness World Records.

Bolles weighed 5 pounds, 11 ounces when she was discharged from the hospital.

She kept the hospital bill from her stay. It was $597 — that included a $3 per-day charge for 73 days, another $256.50 for 19 oxygen tanks, and $55 for blood, plasma and transfusions.

The two reunited for the first time when Bolles was 1 year old.

“She was still on the tiny side,” Long said.

Bolles would never be big — she weighed 33 pounds at 5 years old, and was just 110 pounds when nine months pregnant with her own daughter, she said.

Long moved to De Soto in 1959 after being stationed with her husband, who was in the Navy, around the country and in Panama. She worked as a nurse for the Jefferson County Health Department for 18 years.

The two met again in 1969, when Bolles’ husband was stationed at Scott Air Force Base, and again in 2006 when Long passed through Oklahoma on her way home from a trip to Texas.

Thursday was their fourth get-together. Long told her grandson that “my preemie” was coming to visit. Bolles certainly wasn’t the only premature baby she’d cared for during her nursing career, but Long didn’t need to explain any further.

“He knew who I was talking about,” she said.

Still, neither can quite explain why their connection has endured.

“I know how special she is,” Bolles said. “I’ve always known that.”

Source: STL Today

by Paul Millard

Our brain is divided into left and right hemispheres. The left is the logical, linear and reasoning side while creative, intuitive and artistic operations reside in the right side. We all use both parts daily, but our culture strongly encourages the exercise of the left hemisphere. Nursing profession especially emphasizes this in all our “ology” classes: Pharmacology, Biology, Psychology, Microbiology to name a few. But it's interesting that common myth states men do better in sciences whilst nursing is traditionally a female pursuit though nature has seen fit to give us equal size in each hemisphere.

Non-scientific beliefs occur almost to everyone. Who hasn't worried about a black cat crossing their path, of the number 13 (many tall buildings won't even allow a floor numbered 13! and of course Friday the 13th!) or the effects of a full moon? All these arise from the mythical thinking of the right brain. However, nurses need to be positive thinkers to be able to render the quality care every patient deserves. 

Before the reader concludes that I'm criticizing this, I must confess that I've always had a problem with math teachers. Given a test, I would go through the test assigning the correct answers to the questions (intuitive, right hemi thinking), then go back and try to put enough stuff on the paper to “show your work.” This leads me in an argument with the teacher “how can you mark these questions wrong when I got the right answers?” to which the teacher retorts “but you can't get that answer with the work you put on the paper” (scientific, left hemi thinking).

Most of my years as a nursing professional, it has been in the desert Southwest. Very interesting culture and hemisphere clashes occur here. Smile at how cute a Hispanic baby is and the mother might start yelling “mal ojo, mal ojo” (evil eye) believing that I am stealing the child’s spirit with my eyes. Soon I learned to always touch a child on the shoulder or head when looking at it to prevent “stealing his spirit.” The Native Americans believe that what we call the soul resides in the person’s hair. If forced to shave or cut hair from a Native American, I always carefully return all the hair so that the owner can dispose of it through the proper ritual. A friend working with the Navajo tells of having treated a woman for a heart attack. Afterwards, the woman would return periodically and insist on being hooked up to the 12 lead EKG machine. Asymptomatic, it wasn't even necessary to do an EKG. She believed that the connection had healing powers.          

All of that said, a recent question on a website about “Energy Bracelets” caught my eye. There were some positive responses, and some claiming “it's a scam.” I hope someday we'll find an easy way to quantify the power of belief. There were so many naysayers of the energy bracelet that I doubt they would all be atheists. Belief in a higher power requires a certain amount of faith in the unprovable (right hemi), yet belief in an energy bracelet is criticized.

Having witnessed three exorcisms, I supposed tolerance is a virtue all nurses should nurture. Belief, generically speaking, is far more powerful than credited. Over the years, I have seen many things that defied scientific explanation and have had to remind myself over and over that the patient's belief plays a larger role in their outcome than is credited. Just as we must always tell people to make their own decisions because our own answers might not be right for them, we must also avoid projecting our beliefs upon our patients.

Science or superstition, nursing profession is still an art that uses a magic touch that helps ill patients heals and recover from their illness.

Nurses and nursing students, if you are interested in sharing your nursing knowledge and experiences with our audience, please click here.

Source: NurseTogether

By Debra Wood 

While among the most rewarding professions, nursing is not without its challenges. Nurses are exposed to numerous risks, sometimes with life-changing or life-ending consequences, such as nurses who died during the SARS outbreak or lost their lives falling asleep at the wheel after a long shift. Most adverse events are more mundane, but a back injury can end a career and a needlestick can pose serious health risks. 

To keep you healthy and safe, NurseZone.com queried a panel of experts who share this list of 10 reminders and tips on how to minimize the chance of nursing job-related injury or illness:

1. Clean your hands 

“Wash your hands to prevent illnesses’ spread,” said Arvella Battick, MSN, RN, PHN, an instructor at Everest College in Anaheim, Calif.

When it comes to illnesses, my number one rule is to wash your hands, agreed Jumi Harris, MHA, MT (ASCP), manager of ancillary services at Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital. It “sounds very basic, but this is the best way to avoid getting sick.”

2. Use the lift and transfer equipment 

My number one way to avoid injuries on the job is to use lift devices instead of trying to lift a patient or resident manually, said Harris, adding, “Sometimes a nurse may think it’s too time consuming to get and use a lift or that the person is not too heavy. However it only takes one wrong move to injure yourself, so my advice is always use a lift device with the proper training and protocols.”

Renee Watson, RN, BSN, CPHQ, CIC, manager of infection prevention and epidemiology at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, added that nurses should use the appropriate equipment to lift anything heavy, such as soiled linen bags. 

3. Watch for hazards and practice good body mechanics 

Practice ergonomics and good body mechanics, suggested Watson. 

Battick recommended nurses watch for hazards and keep the environment free of clutter. If there’s something on the floor, pick it up. Don’t just step over it. 

Nurses should wear supportive shoes and watch for fall risks for themselves, not just their patients, advised Nick Angelis, CRNA, MSN, author of How to Succeed in Anesthesia School (And RN, PA, or Med School). Changing positions and muscle movements helps minimize pain and discomfort over time. Rotate tasks between hands, he added, and avoid hunching over to chart or care for a patient; elevate the patient’s bed, or, when documenting, find a place to sit or stand straight. 

4. Speak up and step up 

Whether dealing with a potentially violent patient or just needing a hand to move someone or something, ask a colleague for help. 

“It’s safer to transfer with two people,” said Battick, but she acknowledged that help is not always available. 

On the other hand, step up and offer your assistance to peers, as well.

5. Get vaccinated for the flu 

People working in hospitals, clinics and other care settings are at greater risk of acquiring the flu and of transmitting the disease to patients and peers.

Influenza is a contagious disease that could spread by simply sneezing and coughing, explained Tanielle Sterling, MSN, NP, clinical program manager for employee health at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. “Combating the myth of getting the flu through vaccination is the biggest challenge in improving compliance rates. By getting the flu vaccine, you protect yourself and may avoid spreading influenza to your patients, colleagues and your family.” 

6. Immunize against other pathogens 

Immunize the body and keep good immune health, advised Watson at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, which requires nurses stay current with hepatitis B, tetanus and diphtheria, the measles, mumps and rubella series and influenza vaccinations. 

“Hepatitis B infection is an occupational health hazard that is preventable by vaccination,” Sterling said. “All direct-care providers should be screened for hepatitis B surface antibody and offered the vaccine series. Education on the importance of completing the series and infection control practices helps to heighten awareness, change practice and attitudes towards vaccination.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends health care workers be vaccinated against the highly infectious hepatitis B, a bloodborne pathogen that can remain infectious on surfaces in the environment for at least a week. The vaccine produces a protective antibody response in more than 90 percent of people after the third dose. 

Healthcare workers born in 1957 or later without serologic evidence of immunity or prior vaccination should receive the measles, mumps and rubella series, varicella, and tetanus and diphtheria vaccines. 

7. Practice safe needle handling 

Do not recap needles, and use needless connection systems, advised Watson. 

Each year, hospital-based health care personnel experience 385,000 needlestick- and sharps-related injuries, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This equates to an average of about 1,000 sharps injuries per day in U.S. hospitals.

Mary Foley, PhD, RN, chairperson of the Safe in Common campaign to prevent needlestick injuries, called it essential that nurses and other members of the health care industry work together to raise awareness of these types of injuries and find ways to prevent them in the future. 

“Nurses need to be sure that the safety mechanism on needlesticks is automatic and will not interfere with normal operating procedures and processes,” Foley said. “Activation of the safety mechanism should also not create additional occupational hazards or cause additional discomfort or harm to the patient. Perhaps most importantly, the used safety devices should provide convenient disposal and mitigate any risk of reuse or re-exposure of the nonsterile sharp. Following these rules will help to ensure that nurses are safe from the threat of needlestick injuries so that they can remain healthy and active for their patients.”

8. Don personal protective equipment (PPE) as appropriate 

Take no shortcuts when it comes to protection against bloodborne pathogens. Always select and wear the appropriate gloves, gowns, masks, eye protection and other items to prevent exposure to patients’ body fluids. Such equipment places a barrier between the hazard and the nurse. 

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta promotes using PPEs when clinicians know or suspect the patient has a communicable disease. Watson advised, “If it’s not your wet, put something between you and it,” and “protect your eyes, nose and mouth from coughing.”

9. Get plenty of sleep 

Multiple studies, including “Fatigue, Performance and the Work Environment: A Survey of Registered Nurses,” published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing in 2011, from the University of Missouri in Columbia, have found that fatigue negatively influences nurse performance. 

In the book, Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses, Ann E. Rogers, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia, warned that “in addition to jeopardizing patient safety, nurses who fail to obtain adequate amounts of sleep are also risking their own health and safety.” She pointed to the risk associated with drowsy driving, the increased chance of accidents of all sorts and that one’s immune system rarely works at peak performance when the body is tired. 

10. Practice good self-care 

Physical health requires overall wellness and staying strong, Watson said. Children’s in Atlanta promotes a holistic approach that includes daily exercise, good nutrition and fitness. It offers fitness classes and unit-based stretch breaks. Buddy coverage often is available for nurses who want to take a quick walk or class. Wellness includes obtaining psychosocial support when needed, particularly after dealing with emotionally taxing situations, such as participating in debriefings after traumatic incidents or seeking professional help through an employee assistance program. 

When you’re sick, stay home and rest, Battick added.  

Angelis recommended “exercising, packing nutrient dense foods for lunch; ingesting probiotics, either as supplements or in foods such as kefir or traditionally cultured vegetables; and staying well rested are all ways nurses can keep their immune systems in great shape against the barrage of germs that assault us daily.”

© 2013. AMN Healthcare, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

By Betty Reid

By JANE GROSS

View Video Here

Dozens of teachers and health care providers went back to the classroom recently. They attended the I-pad Institute at the University of Cincinnati. 

Local 12's Liz Bonis got to sit in and learn a few things too. From the letter you get by email when you are accepted to nursing school, to no more paper in the classroom. The first thing I learned at the I-pad Institute is that going I- Tech, is likely a heartbeat away from a health care setting near you!

For health care providers or in this case, nurses in training. "We are helping them learn how to use the technology to deliver safe patient care," says Robin Wagner, assistant professor.

Robin Wagner, a nursing instructor, says for example, even if you are sitting here, with the help of iPad learning, you can virtually go inside the doctors office and when it comes to giving hands on care, such as taking a blood pressure, not only can you see how in here, you can see what's happening in the body on this virtual organ because, believe it or not, there's an app for that! "They can actually see what the hearts doing and in the past we would have just described that, this valve opens this one closes. Now, they can actually see that," says Wagner. 

The really exciting part of all this however, is not just what happens here in the teaching and learning environment, it is what happens when you take that to the next level. Perhaps with robotics? In this I-Tech learning lab for students and staff, I got to observe just a few weeks ago, I met Flo-Bot. "They are going to be using the iPad to control Flo-Bot, our robot, so it has an app that will allow the students to drive the interaction with patients," says Chris Edwards. 

As Chris Edwards explains, Flo-Bot is designed for health care providers to be able to better diagnose and assist patients, even at a distance if needed.  

Please view the video in the below link.

Source: Local 12 Cincinnati (Video Available Here)

When it comes to nursing education, African Americans tend to aim for more advanced degrees, yet their percentage among all U.S. nurses is far lower than it is in the general U.S. population. Phyllis Sharps, PhD, RN, FAAN, intends to find out what is behind that disconnect as a key step toward correcting it.