DiversityNursing Blog

By Ian Lee

 Far from the sea, a man-made coral reef is taking shape -- and it could change medical operations forever.

Step inside the OkCoral lab in Israel's Negev Desert and you'll find row after row of quietly bubbling fish tanks, each containing a precious substance.

It is hoped the coral grown in this surreal "farm," could one day be used in bone operations -- encompassing everything from dental implants to spinal procedures.

Unlike animal and human bones, coral can't be rejected by the body, say medical experts at the company CoreBone, which manufactures bone replacements from coral.

Grown in the lab, this coral is also free from the diseases you might find in the oceanic variety.

Start-up science

Assaf Shaham founded the unusual laboratory six years ago at a cost of $2.5 million, with an ambitious vision of tapping into the billion dollar worldwide bone grafting industry.

But first he'll need the approval of authorities in the European Union and U.S., with a decision expected next year.

The father-of-two's dedication to the business is astounding -- if not a little disconcerting.

"In six years of growing corals, I haven't left these four walls for more than 12 hours -- not even once," he said.

"For me, it's 100% learning as I go. I take the mother colony, and I cut off a branch of the coral with a diamond saw. Then I glue it to another base made out of cement."

The delicate ecosystem needs constant care to ensure the water's salinity, temperature, and chemical make-up is perfect -- any variations and the coral could die.

The fish swimming around each tank are essentially the "worker bees" of the artificial reef. They eat the algae growing on the coral, their feces helps feed the coral, and finally, their movements in the water keep the coral strong.

And much like the traditional canary in the coalmine, if the fish die, you know something's not quite right in the water.

Clever company?

Happily for Shaham, his ambitious experiment appears to be thriving, with coral in the lab growing at ten times the normal rate.

Just a small container of the coral costs roughly $5 to $10 to produce, and sells for around $250.

One of the biggest benefits of the business is its environmental sustainability.

"We have a constant supply," says Ohad Schwartz of company CoreBone.

"We don't have to worry that in several years, harvesting from the sea could be forbidden."

It's a concern they'll never have to think about, when harvesting these remarkable fruits of the desert.

Source: http://www.cnn.com

www.bestmedicalassistantprograms.org

There are a number of fantastic nursing blogs on the internet. Whether you’re an aspiring nurse, a working nurse, or a curious patient, you are sure to be entertained by these sites. We have narrowed down a list of the top 100 nursing blogs online to give you plenty of reading material for the future. Prepare yourself for hours of education and entertainment.

Top General Nursing Blogs

The Nursing Site Blog
The Nursing Site Blog is just one of those sites that you have to read as a nurse. We love it because it constantly has new articles to read, from helpful advice to healthcare news and more. The blog is run by public health nurse Kathy Quan, RN. Kathy has been in the nursing industry for more than 30 years now, and you can see evidence of her experience on her site. Kathy has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and most of her working life has been spent in hospice and home health care. She shares her stories and lessons learned on her blog, along with other information that any nurse would love to read. 

The National Nurse for Public Health
The National Nurse for Public Health is a blog run by The National Nursing Network Organization. This is an organization that is working hard to create a better working environment for professionals in the public health industry. The blog provides news updates for work that the organization is doing, as well as other news from the nursing sector. The commentary on here comes from doctors, nurses, and other important workers in healthcare. 

Scrubs Mag
Scrubs Mag is considered the “The Nurses Guide to Good Living.” The name may sound like a catalog for working attire, but the information within this site is far from that. Scrubs Mag offers a wide range of helpful articles for new, existing, and future nurses, including style secrets to keep you looking great on the job. There are a number of writers who work for Scrubs Mag, so you can see everything from career advice to personal stories on the site. You can even sign up for free giveaways to get cool outfits, accessories, and tools to use on the job. 

Confident Voices in Health Care
Confident Voices in Health Care is a blog run by Beth Boynton. Beth is a published author and nurse consultant who specializes in communication and collaboration in the healthcare industry. What we love about Beth’s blog is the fact that it offers advice for patients and professionals alike to ensure that everyone works together in harmony. Many of Beth’s posts are about her medical improv workshops, where she helps healthcare workers become better speakers and listeners through improvisational training. Confident Voices also features articles from many a number of credible guest bloggers who share their insights into nursing and healthcare. 

Nursetopia is a blog written for nurses by nurses. It is designed to honor these wonderful members of the healthcare world and showcase their influence on the modern world. The articles in the blog cover nursing news, career advice, business help, personal stories, art, freebies, and more. You always get a chance to see something different when you come here. Nursetopia is one of the most active blogs on our site, and it is one you will see in countless blogrolls from other bloggers on here. We’re subscribed to it for a reason. 

Nurse Together
Nurse Together is a fun and informative blog run by a team of nurses. The bloggers here range from nurse educators to RNs and beyond. While we may love the site for its blog-like articles, Nurse Together also offers a job board, nursing school guide, discussion panel, and much more. The Nurse Together Facebook page has more than 21,000 fans, showing just how much people love visiting this site. There are new blog posts on here every day, so you can always look forward to something new to read. 

Lippincott’s Nursing Center
Lippincott’s Nursing Center is a site dedicated to helping nurses be the best workers they can be. The site is home to more than 50 nursing journals online, including the American Journal of Nursing, Nursing2014, Nursing Management and The Nurse Practitioner: The American Journal of Primary Health Care. In addition to these peer reviewed journals, Lippincott’s Nursing Center features more than 1,300 continuing education activities for nurses, making it easy to maintain a career as a nurse here. The authors on the site are mostly advanced practice nurses and registered nurses who share their career expertise with the world. 

Off the Charts
Off the Charts is a product of the American Journal of Nursing. It mostly provides news updates and research study reports for the nursing community. With this in mind, you can also find a number of helpful career advice articles on this site. Some popular categories for posts on here include patient engagement, healthcare, medical prices, nursing research, nursing perspective, and more. Off the Charts is authored by a number of nursing professionals, most of whom have a graduate level education. The blog commonly highlights influential nurses from the past to inspire nurses of the future. 

Not Nurse Ratched
Not Nurse Ratched is a wonderful nursing blog that has been around since 2007. The blog is run by a writer, nurse, and medical editor who enjoys “investigating ways to save time.” The articles on here fit into categories like applications, gadgets, technology, personal, medical, humor, and more. Most of the articles are written with a great sense of humor, which is sometimes hard to find in healthcare blogs. 

Nursing Stories
Nursing Stories is a heartfelt blog about one woman’s experiences in nursing. Marianna Crane, the blogger, has been in nursing for over 40 years, and she now uses her blog to share her stories from the past and present. She has been a certified adult nurse practitioner since 1981, and she has a passion for writing that is evident in her blog posts. Marianna says, “My goal for this blog is to encourage nurses to boast.” You can get inspired to be a better nurse thanks to this woman and the great stories she shares on her blog. 

The Nursing Show
The Nursing Show is more than just a blog. It is a compilation of entertaining videos about nursing. Each episode teaches a new lesson about this ever-changing career, from getting through college to dealing with tough patients. The episodes are included in short, easy-to-read articles that summarize what the videos are about. There are already more than 300 episodes of The Nursing Show for you to watch, so you don’t have to worry about getting bored on this site. 

Advances in Nurse Science Blog
The Advances in Nurse Science Blog is tied to a nursing publication that comes out four times a year (appropriately titled Advances in Nursing Science). The blog allows readers to discuss big issues that are mentioned in ANS so that they can understand and expand upon these ideas. The ANS journal was founded back in 1978 by Peggy L. Chinn, RN, PhD, FAAN. It has been in publication ever since, but the blog was a much more recent addition to the ANS world. 

Reality RN
Reality RN is a pretty interesting blog because it is run entirely by new nurses. You may not think these men and women have a lot to share about their experiences, but they convey what “reality” is like for people who are new to this profession. If you are a nursing student worried about what you might be getting yourself into, this blog should be able to answer all of your questions. Best of all, there is a great list of “must read” blogs on the home page that link to even more top nursing blogs online. 

AllTop – Nursing
This site doesn’t exactly fit the “norm,” but we thought it was important to put it on our list. Essentially AllTop is just a directory for other websites, but it shows you the most recent posts from many nursing blogs online. It’s a one-stop-shop for nursing tips and news online, and it features the work of several other sites on our top 100 nursing blogs list. If you want to stay updated on other topics from around the web, AllTop has plenty of other categories for you to explore.

Diversity Nursing
Diversity Nursing offers a number of helpful articles and services for nursing professionals. The blog on the site features news information and career tips for nurses, but the site as a whole has a job board, college guide, and much more. There is even a forum on the site where nurses, patients, and nursing students can discuss important issues in healthcare. Diversity Nursing started off as a basic job board back in 2007, but it has grown to be so much more since then. You can even use this site to post a resume so you might get a better job in the future. Here is a look at some memorable posts from the Diversity Nursing blog:

• Disabilities in Children Increase, Physical Problems Decline
• New Device Will Help Monitor Parkinson’s Patients
• 7 Surprising Facts from a School Nurse

Nursing Ideas
Nursing Ideas is a blog that covers a variety of variety of nursing related topics. The blog was started back in 2008 as an online resource for nursing students. Rob Fraser, the blog’s founder, began writing articles for the blog while he was an undergraduate nursing student at Ryerson University. In 2013, Rob refocused the blog to be more about professional interviews so that his readers could see what life is really like as a nurse in today’s world. 

Soliant Health is a healthcare staffing company that offers some great advice for nursing professionals around the country. You don’t have to be a member of the Soliant Health network to benefit from the articles on their blog. Even if you already have a job as a nurse, you could learn from some of the news articles and tips on the blog. If you are in fact looking for a job, you can look through the job board on Soliant Health to see what opportunities may be available for you. 

Nursing Daily
Nursing Daily is a fairly new blog, especially compared to other sites on our list. Nevertheless, it has already developed a great reputation in the nursing community, and we’re hoping it sticks around for years to come. Nursing Daily is dedicated to providing “nursing tips, advice, and humor” for anyone who wants to read it. Many of the posts on here are quick, simple images that will make you chuckle a little about life as a nurse. 

The Nurse Path
The Nurse Path is a beautiful, entertaining, and inspiring blog that is dedicated entirely to nurses. The blog features a number of categories, including: nurse mind, nursing skills, health and fitness, technology, funnybone, and more. The motto for this site is “helping nurses find the way,” and every article here is evidently doing just that. You’ll find at least one new post a week on this blog to read and learn from, so this is definitely worth putting in your RSS reader. 

Living Sublime Wellness
Living Sublime Wellness is a blog dedicated to transforming the nursing community for the better. The blog is authored by Elizabeth Scala, an RN with an MSN/MBA and years of working experience as a nurse. Elizabeth is a public speaker who visits nursing associations, hospitals, and other healthcare organizations to teach people what they can do to make their working environments better for nurses. Living Sublime Wellness features a lot of great resources for current and future nurses, making it a great site to visit no matter where you are in your career. 

RTConnections Nurse Blog
The RTConnections Nurse Blog is designed to connect all members of the nursing world so they can educate and inspire one another to do better in their careers. This blog is particularly beneficial for new nurses because they can read stories from experienced professionals that they may aspire to become. One of the big focuses on this blog is nurse bullying, which has become a hot topic of discussion over the last few years. You can learn ways to avoid and prevent bullying in the work place by reading some of the posts on RTConnections. 

Dear Nurses
Dear Nurses is essentially a portal for several sites under the “Dear Nurses” umbrella. These sites are all focused on educating nurses through captivating illustrations. Dear Nurses combines simple graphics with helpful information to show nurses how to improve their skills and services. It also contains multi-part educational series that expand upon other posts they have on their sites. Dear Nurses has been online since 2006, and it has grown significantly in that time. 

Your Career Nursing
Your Career Nursing is centered around the idea of helping nurses improve their careers. The articles here teach nurses of all stages about the skills and processes they need to succeed in this profession. There are several categories of posts to choose from here, including education, entrepreneurship, lifestyle, networking, nursing success stories, online learning, unique nursing jobs, and more. No matter who you are, you can find something to like here.

Source:www.bestmedicalassistantprograms.org

Growing up, Adriana Perez experienced the kinds of challenges that are at the core of the immigrant experience in America. She learned English as a second language, attended underperforming public schools in a small town, and struggled to pay for college because her parents—who were farmworkers—couldn’t afford to send her.

Through it all, Perez focused on the gifts she received during her upbringing: love and support from her family, guidance from her teachers and mentors, a strong work ethic derived from a culture that values hard work, and a personal drive to make a difference in her community.

When she reached adulthood, she made an unusual choice—at least for her demographic group: She became a nurse. Now an assistant professor of nursing at Arizona State University, Perez, PhD, ANP, is a member of the most underrepresented racial or ethnic group in nursing.

In 2013, Latinos comprised 3 percent of the nation’s nursing workforce, according to a survey by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and the National Forum of State Workforce Centers, and 17 percent of the nation’s population, according to a U.S. Census Bureau fact sheet. And their numbers are growing: By 2060, Latinos are projected to comprise nearly one-third of the U.S. population. But their growth in nursing has been slow, Perez said.

Recruiting more Latino nurses is about more than parity in the nursing workforce; it’s about improving health and health care for Latinos, who have disproportionately high rates of HIV transmission, teen pregnancy, and chronic conditions like obesity and diabetes, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Latinos also are less likely to have health care coverage than other racial or ethnic groups.

More Latino nurses can help narrow disparities, experts say, because they are more likely to be able to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate care to Latino patients. “Having a culturally competent nurse really makes a difference in terms of compliance and patient outcomes,” said Elias Provencio-Vasquez, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAANP, dean of the nursing school at the University of Texas at El Paso and an alumnus of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Executive Nurse Fellows program (2009-2012). “Patients really respond when they have a provider who understands their culture.”

The Institute of Medicine (IOM)—the esteemed arm of the National Academy of Sciences that advises the nation’s leading decision-makers on matters relating to health and medicine—agrees. In 2004, it published a report calling for a more diverse health care workforce to improve quality and access to care and to narrow racial and ethnic health disparities. And in 2010, the IOM released a report that included calls for greater diversity within the nursing profession in particular.

Latinos Aren’t Flocking to Nursing

Yet despite their growing numbers, Latinos are not flocking en masse to the nursing profession.

That’s in large part because of inequity in education, said Dan Suarez, BSN, MA, president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. “Many Latinos come from poor educational systems, and few concentrate on the kinds of science and math courses that are needed to enter nursing school. Latinos have the highest high school drop-out rate in the nation, and many students are just focused on staying in school and making it to graduation.”

Meanwhile, there are relatively few Latino nurse leaders and educators who can serve as role models, coaches and mentors to the next generation of nurses, Perez said. “When young people aren’t able to see themselves in those roles, it’s hard to imagine that they could be in that role.”

Language and culture also play a role. Latino parents often discourage Latino youth—and especially boys—from pursuing nursing because it is regarded as a low-status, low-pay service job in Mexico and parts of Latino America, Suarez said. “Parents tell their children they can do better than nursing ... Nursing has an image problem, and we’re trying to change that.”

The culture’s emphasis on traditional gender roles also discourages Latina wives and mothers from working outside the home and, if they do, from pursuing leadership positions, said Mary Lou de Leon Siantz, PhD, RN, FAAN, a professor at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis and an RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows program alumna (2004-2007). “The majority of Latina nurses go into associate degree programs and don’t see the need to go back for more education.”

Racism against Latinos, she added, is “full-blown,” especially amid the national debate over immigration. Academics and others retain unconscious biases against Latinos and members of other groups that are underrepresented in nursing.

RWJF is committed to increasing diversity in nursing through programs such as New Careers in Nursing, which works to increase the diversity of nursing professionals to help alleviate the nursing shortage, and the RWJF Nursing and Health Policy Collaborative at the University of New Mexico, which prepares nurses, especially those from underserved populations in the Southwest, to become distinguished leaders in health policy. The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, a joint initiative of RWJF and AARP, is working to diversify the nursing workforce, with help from Perez and others. The National Association of Hispanic Nurses, meanwhile, offers scholarships to Latino nursing students.

But more needs to be done, Siantz and others said. Educational bridge programs to help students transition into nursing school are needed, as are interventions to dispel negative stereotypes about nursing among Latinos and increased mentorship for aspiring nurses and nursing students.  “Latino nurses often talk about the influence of a family member, or a role model, or a mentor who told them to be a nurse,” said Perez, whose grandmother, a nurse in Mexico, encouraged her to pursue nursing in the United States. “We need to do more of that kind of outreach.”

Source: http://www.rwjf.org

It's the mother of all hackathons — a group of MIT researchers are bringing together engineers, designers, health experts and parents with the goal of building a better breast pump. "We really want to bring the breast pump out of the lactation closet," said Alexis Hope, a research assistant at the MIT Media Lab. "If you talk to moms about something that makes the first part of having a baby miserable, they always say the breast pump. They're loud, they have a million parts, they're impossible to clean, heavy. They're completely impractical for the realities of your life."

In May, a small group from the lab came together to brainstorm, and a blog post about their efforts drew so much interest the organizers — who include four moms — decided to expand. They expect up to 80 people to join forces Sept. 20 and 21 and work all weekend "to make the breast pump not suck." Participants will split into five-person teams and then pitch their prototypes to the group at the end. Hope said it's "just a starting point," but ideally some of the innovations will catch the eye of pump manufacturers.

Half of all new moms in the United States now breastfeed for the six months recommended by pediatricians. Many of them use pumps to produce milk for when they return to work or are away from the baby. Studies have shown breast milk and nursing has health benefits for both the infant and the mother.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com

A study in the current issue of Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice estimates 17.5% of newly licensed RNs leave their first nursing job within the first year and 33.5% leave within two years, according to a news release. The researchers found that turnover for this group is lower at hospitals than at other healthcare settings.

The study, which synthesized existing turnover data and reported turnover data from a nationally representative sample of RNs, was conducted by the RN Work Project, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The RN Work Project is a 10-year study of newly-licensed RNs that began in 2006. The study draws on data from nurses in 34 states, covering 51 metropolitan areas and nine rural areas. The RN Work Project is directed by Christine T. Kovner, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor at the College of Nursing, New York University, and Carol Brewer, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor at the School of Nursing, University at Buffalo. 

“One of the biggest problems we face in trying to assess the impact of nurse turnover on our healthcare system as a whole is that there’s not a single, agreed-upon definition of turnover,” Kovner said. “In order to make comparisons across organizations and geographical areas, researchers, policy makers and others need valid and reliable data based on consistent definitions of turnover. It makes sense to look at RNs across multiple organizations, as we did, rather than in a single organization or type of organization to get an accurate picture of RN turnover.”

According to the release, the research team noted that, in some cases, RN turnover can be helpful — as in the case of functional turnover, when a poorly functioning employee leaves, as opposed to dysfunctional turnover, when well-performing employees leave. The team recommends organizations pay attention to the kind of turnover occurring and point out their data indicate that when most RNs leave their jobs, they go to another healthcare job.

“Developing a standard definition of turnover would go a long way in helping identify the reasons for RN turnover and whether managers should be concerned about their institutions’ turnover rates,” Brewer said in the release. “A high rate of turnover at a hospital, if it’s voluntary, could be problematic, but if it’s involuntary or if nurses are moving within the hospital to another unit or position, that tells a very different story.” 

The RN Work Project’s data include all organizational turnover (voluntary and involuntary), but do not include position turnover if the RN stayed at the same healthcare organization, according to the release.

Source: http://news.nurse.com

Fastaff

Making the transition to working nights may feel a bit intimidating, but many night nurses, myself included, have grown to love the position! It tends to be quieter and less chaotic because the patients are generally asleep, and there's a special camaraderie that develops between a team of night nurses. Put these tips into practice to survive, and even thrive, in your night shifts.

Stack several night shifts in a row: Rather than spacing out your night shifts during the week and having to switch between being up during the day and up during the night, try to put all your night shifts for the week in a row. That way, you can really get yourself onto a schedule of being awake during the nights you work and sleeping during the days in between.

Nap before work: As you transition from being awake during the day to being awake as you work at night, take a nap in the afternoon to help you go into your first night shift as rested as possible. Alternately, if your schedule allows, stay up later than usual the night before your first night shift and sleep in as late as you can the next morning.

Fuel up with healthy foods: While sugars may seem like they provide energy, they also come with a crash. Before heading into work, eat a filling meal with a healthy balance of carbohydrates, protein, and fiber. Then bring healthy snacks for the night that include protein and fiber to keep you going strong. Some options include yogurt, mixed nuts, hard boiled eggs, cheese cubes, or carrots with hummus dip

Plan caffeine carefully: It can be tempting to drink a cup of coffee anytime you feel sleepy, but you may develop an unhealthy dependence or be unable to fall asleep when you get home after your shift. Therefore, try to limit yourself to just one or two cups of coffee per shift, and drink your last one at least six hours before you plan to go to sleep.

Create a restful sleeping environment at home: The key to surviving night shifts in the long term is getting lots of restful sleep after each shift. Set up room darkening curtains and a white noise machine to help you block out signs of the day. When you get home, don't force yourself to go to bed right away. Instead, develop a routine that includes some time to bathe, read, and relax as your body winds down after work. Try to avoid bright screens, which block your body from releasing melatonin, the hormone that makes you feel sleepy.

With some attention to detail, you will probably find yourself really enjoying working at night. Many of the night nurses I know started out stuck on the shifts, but grew to prefer them. Plus, the pay differential doesn't hurt at all!

Source: http://www.fastaff.com

By Marijke Durning

AN INTRODUCTION TO NURSING CAREERS

Emergency department nurses aren't like the rest of us - they are more extroverted, agreeable and open - attributes that make them successful in the demanding, fast-paced and often stressful environment of an emergency department, according to a new study by University of Sydney.

"Emergency nurses are a special breed," says Belinda Kennedy from Sydney Nursing School, a 15 year critical care veteran who led the study.

"Despite numerous studies about personalities of nurses in general, there has been little research done on the personalities of nurses in clinical specialty areas.

"My years working as a critical care nurse has made me aware of the difficulty in retaining emergency nurses and I have observed apparent differences in personality among these specialty groups. This prompted me to undertake this research which is the first on this topic in more than 20 years.

"We found that emergency nurses demonstrated significantly higher levels of openness to experience, agreeableness, and extroversion personality domains compared to the normal population.

"Emergency departments (ED) are a highly stressful environment - busy, noisy, and with high patient turnover. It is the entry point for approximately 40 per cent of all hospital admissions, and the frequency and type of presentations is unpredictable.

"Emergency nurses must have the capacity to care for the full spectrum of physical, psychological and social health problems within their community.

"They must also able to develop a rapport with individuals from all age groups and socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, in time-critical situations and often at a time when these individuals are at their most vulnerable.

"For these reasons, ED staff experience high levels of stress and emotional exhaustion, so it's understandable that it takes a certain personality type to function in this working environment.

"Our research findings have potential implications for workforce recruitment and retention in emergency nursing.

"With ever-increasing demands on emergency services it is necessary to consider how to enhance the recruitment and retention of emergency nurses in public hospitals. Assessment of personality and knowledge of its influence on specialty selection may assist in improving this.

"The retention of emergency nurses not only has potential economic advantages, but also a likely positive impact on patient care and outcomes, as well as improved morale among the nursing workforce," she said.

Since this article is from Aulstralia, do you agree that Emergency Room Nurses in the US should have the same characteristics to be successful in a US Emergency Room?

Source: http://sydney.edu.au

By Meaghan O'Keeffe

Sometimes, being part of the nursing profession can feel exactly the same as being part of a family. You love it dearly, you can’t imagine your life without it, but there are lots of things about nursing (and family) that can drive the most balanced person completely nuts.

Deep down, you love nursing, even with all of its vein-popping, blood pressure elevating quirks.

Here is Scrubbed In’s list of things about nursing that drive nurses absolutely nuts, but we deal with anyway.

1. Call lights: Of course the purpose of call lights is to enable patients to get help when needed, but it’s hard not to get annoyed at the call light itself. It’s blinking, beeping, and taunting you because you just sat down to document. (See #2)

2. Documentation: For the love of all things nursing. Documentation is our greatest tool and the bane of our existence, all wrapped up into a flowchart, and an I&O’s chart, a nursing note, an incident report, a pre-anesthesia evaluation form, a…

3. (For our guys) Being called “male nurse:” For the men in our nursing community, hearing someone refer to them as a nurse, without “male” automatically attached, would be a breath of fresh air.

4. Body fluids: Nurses deal with body fluids all the time. It’s par for the course. But it’s not exactly something one wishes for. We don’t need to name them all. You’re well acquainted with most. They can really dampen your day. Pun intended.

5. Waving your ID to get into your bathroom at home: Many healthcare facilities have areas where you need to scan your ID to unlock the door. When you’ve tried that to get into your bathroom at home, it might be time to take a vacation.

6. Trying to use your fingerprint at the ATM: If you regularly use your fingerprint to get into medication and supply stations, you might find yourself trying to do the same at the ATM screen. Just hope that no one saw you.

7. Hearing a patient-alarm-like sound (outside of work): You’re out and about and someone’s cell phone ring sounds uncannily like an O2 sat alarm. Before you’ve had a chance to process, your pulse has quickened and you’re on high alert. Calm down, nervous system; you’re off duty today.

8. Patients who don’t take the full course of antibiotics: When a patient gaily reports that they stopped taking their antibiotics because they feel sooo much better, there’s a specific protocol you must follow. It involves closing your eyes, taking deep breaths and counting to 10 before calmly explaining the rationale behind completing the course in full.

9. Waking up at 5 a.m. on your day off: Finally, finally you can sleep in. You’ve been looking forward to it for days. But your brain seems determined to wake up as if you need to work today. At least you can stay in bed with your feet up.

10. Bringing a coffee to work, then drinking it cold four hours later: A hot cup of coffee at the start of your day is one of the simple pleasures of life. But did you really think you were going to drink it? You might at some point, it just may be more like iced coffee by then.

Your Turn

What drives you nuts about nursing?

Source: http://scrubbedin.nurse.com