You're at your weekly staff meeting, and you've just presented your brilliant idea on how to boost productivity and save money. But then your boss shoots down your idea with a vague reason or two. You know you're right and your boss is wrong. So should you remain quiet or stand up for your idea? Joseph Grenny, a coauthor of "Crucial ...

This week I had to put my dog of 16 years to sleep. He was my best friend and constant companion for all those years. I had him before I married my wife and was there for me for all the good and bad parts of my life. After I left the vet’s office, it got me thinking about the debate ...

A diabetic patient can be difficult to handle, especially if the patient has been recently diagnosed. Treating diabetes requires careful monitoring of blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Newly diagnosed diabetic patients may also have to abruptly change their diet, get more exercise and take insulin. As a caregiver, you’ll probably not only treat the patient but also serve as ...

Are you a new nurse? Do you find yourself bewildered by doctor-speak? Don't panic! Auntie Jo has your translation guide right here. Physician: "This will feel like a pinch." Translation: "This will feel like I'm shooting you with a small-caliber handgun in slow motion." Physician: "The patient presents with an interesting medical history…" Translation: "Way too much to go into here; ...

When you’ve worked so hard to get that first job after college, the last thing you want is to screw it up. Sadly, new grads do it all the time. The problem rarely stems from lack of knowledge or poor technical skills. It often goes back to something simpler: Your persona in the workplace, particularly during your first few weeks on ...

The current economic climate doesn’t exactly lend itself to asking for a raise. With all the talk of bailouts, budget cuts and layoffs (not to mention undue bonuses), many an employee is wary of asking for more money. But what if you deserve a raise? According to some experts, you are in luck. Now could actually be the best time to ...

While my first reaction is that this is a Duh Study, the more I think about it, the more important a study like this may really be. Nurses know how to give good nursing care. They also know they are extremely limited in giving quality care by the number of patients they have on any given shift and how much care ...

Once again, the dynamic ER duo Dr. Brady Pregerson and Nurse Rebekah Child are back and ready to compare notes on the superbug MRSA. But first, they release some of the tension surrounding this very serious issue with a frank and open discussion on the experience of treating ‘abscess al Kahuna.’ Is MRSA the most repulsive epidemic to find its way ...

Once again, a coworker called in sick, and once again, you’ve been asked — no, make that required — to stay into the next shift. You’ve already worked 12 hours, you haven’t seen your kids all day and you have guests coming in tomorrow. Staying late was not in your plans. First, take a deep breath. Responding in haste isn’t going ...

Crazy is as crazy does sir. You know crazy don’t you? It’s a garden variety day for most staff nurses. ‘Crazy’ is probably the only constant thing that happens at work. It’s a guarantee that the ‘you-know-what’ will hit the fan inevitably. The question isn’t ‘if’ it will happen, the question is ‘when’ it will happen (more than likely at the ...

I don’t care. Those aren’t the words you want to hear coming from the mouth of a nurse. Now true, nurses are human, and there are things that we don’t care about, but the phrase itself, while on the job, just sounds so… unprofessional. As nurses, we encounter so many challenges every day. Often times we have to wait on other ...

I think we all can appreciate the argument. Nurses feel overwhelmed when the nurse-to-patient ratio is extended beyond our means. Not only beyond our means, but also when it borders on compromising patient safety. That has always been the source of our angst and distress. Having one nurse care for additional patients in a single assignment becomes cumbersome and borders on ...

Perhaps it is because nurses are consistently voted as the most trusted profession, but some patients and their family really do let it all hang out. Not that I don’t want my patients to be completely comfortable with and all procedures that we encounter together, but there is something to be said for an effort to maintain modesty. We owe it ...

On a scale of zero to ten, how often do you wish you could somehow wave a magic wand and know how much pain your patient is in—zero being never and ten being every day? Four? Ten? Twenty? ER Doc Brady Pregerson and Nurse Rebekah are ready to “go there” in the first of a four-part series on pain management. Dr. ...

Coming from an era where women’s sports weren’t an option, I found the “new” team-building concept that was introduced in my last year of nursing school in 1972 very exciting! Learning how to build, manage, work with and lead successful teams to harmonious, well-run days was a welcome relief from memorizing the millions of potential childhood diseases, taking post-op vitals and ...

I find it interesting how the most grumpy, disgruntled people react to kind gestures. It’s been my experience that usually someone with an attitude has a pretty good reason for it. There are the occasional crapheads who are just crappy for no reason, but usually there is some sort root cause for most meanness I experience in my nursing practice. I ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vagueonthehow/ / CC BY 2.0 1. Once More With Feeling The Show: Glee Like any other classic tale of geeks banding together in the face of adversity, the outcast characters of Fox's Glee made drama and singing cool again. An aspiring Broadway starlet, the captain of the football team, the head cheerleader, and the lowest of social misfits on the school ...

"I get so attached to my patients that I just can’t get them out of my head when I go home." "Every week I find myself getting distraught over a new favorite patient who isn’t doing well." Is this you? As a nurse, you witness the fear, pain and suffering of others every day. But when you get too immersed in ...

Nursing certainly has its ups and downs, but the happy moments make the profession worthwhile. Here is a collection of quotes from nurses as they reflect on the best moments of their career. 1. “The ‘ups’ of nursing are when a discharged patient and his family knock on the ICU door with heartfelt thanks to you and your team for taking ...

Have you ever wondered why certain patients act the way they do around nurses? Why some are pleasant and cooperative and some are disrespectful or difficult to engage? It is easy for a nurse to have expectations of patients because naturally we all want them to be kind, cooperative, and appreciative. But it is important for nurses to keep in mind ...