I remember back when I was an art student just barely getting the ball rolling on changing my major to nursing. I knew that nursing was what I wanted to do and that switching majors and switching schools was the right thing for me, but the big question was where do I go? At the time, I didn’t know a lot ...

Contemporary Forums, providing quality, accredited continuing education conferences for thousands of nurses for more than 25 years, is now bringing this valuable content to you online! The actual conference presentations are available through its new Online CE Library in a streaming synchronized format that is conveniently accessible on a 24/7 basis. Many of these presentations are viewable here at Nursing Link ...

When Carmen Carrillo, RN, CHPN, interviewed for a palliative care nurse position in a Southern California hospital system, she had little idea she was about to become part of a new trend in end-of-life care. “After I heard more about the position, I learned more about the palliative care movement and I wanted to be part of it,” says Carrillo, now ...

I am in my second year of a three-year BSN program, and yesterday our Health Promotion instructor posed an interesting question to our class. We were discussing various change theories and ways we can go about helping our clients make decisions. She wanted us to experience what it’s like for a client to use a structured tool to make decisions, so ...

If you could imagine the greatest gift to receive, what would it be? Some would say a winning lottery ticket. Others would argue that the car of their dream or house they’ve always wanted would suffice. And some would stray from the material world and deem that marrying your soul mate or seeing your kids grow up into successful adults would ...

There are many of them, but two in particular stand out for me. They involve patients I have taken care of (of course). The first patient story I have blogged about previously. Here is an excerpt: During all of my 'normal' routines, this particular patient ever-so slightly placed her warm hand on my forearm, and with the stare of appreciation she ...

I’m having flash backs. I’ve been here before. This rut of feeling like, “oh my gosh, how am I ever going to get all of this done!?!” The panic is setting in and despite having a ton of work sitting in front of me, I can’t quite figure out where to start. Everything I need to work on is top priority ...

With an ability to think quickly, act decisively and stay calm when lives are at stake, critical-care nurses are among the in-demand healthcare professionals who make life-or-death decisions about patient care every day. Critical-care nurses treat patients at high risk for actual or potential life-threatening health problems and also tend to the emotional well-being of those patients' families. That's no small ...

Not since the revolutionary invention of Gutenberg’s printing press in the 15th century has a single technology so dramatically changed the future of education as the web. Just as movable type helped create a booming university culture in the late-middle ages, so too has the modern web created an educational paradigm shift. Not only has the web democratized education, it has ...

This past weekend I attended the annual conference of the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) in Indianapolis, Indiana. For those of you that have ever attended a conference before, you know what it is like. Several days of sitting in lectures, networking and collecting free pens from all the exhibitors. I have been to a few different ones in my ...

1. Dorms College is a time of extreme freedom but, let’s face it, not everything about college screams unfettered space. Students don’t usually have a lot of extra money and that means that their personal space is limited. In fact, the average college student has bunked down in a dorm room. According to the 2000 census, about 2 million students ...

Nurses nationwide are hoping for the best when it comes to healthcare reform: the best for their patients and the best for the future of their own profession. Fortunately, those who are drafting healthcare reform legislation are being careful to include as many voices as possible as they make their decisions—especially the voices of those who are interacting with patients every ...