The Nurse and the NFL Player

By Jenna Knight, Excite Education

Recent salary surveys show that the estimated annual increase in the salaries of nurses and NFL players is the same. This might come as a surprise to many. However, the nursing sector has gained importance and recognition over the years, both in professional as well as academic circles.

Many young students are now opting for a degree in nursing at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. This has helped the country meet the ever-increasing demand for nurses in the healthcare sector. Now that nurse salaries have increased, the chances of growing professionally have also increased.

Many across the country and the world at large admire national Football League (NFL) players. With a fan following in millions, they have lucrative salary packages in order to maintain a lavish lifestyle. However, there are some interesting facts that make nursing an equally attractive area of work.

Professionals in the field of nursing have experienced exponential increase in their salaries over the past couple of decades. In the last five years, average annual increase in income in the nursing sector stands at approximately 1.5%.

Speaking of NFL players and nurses in the same breath, research shows that the projected average salary increase for both these professionals for the year 2014 will be approximately 3%. The satisfaction that one receives while serving humanity is surely equal to (if not more than) the jubilant fame for NFL players because of their fan following.

Not only those who practice it, but a significant number of laymen as well see nursing as a sacred profession. Monetary advantages in this area of study make it a perfect match for many people. Although people must opt for work according to their level of interest, nursing is something that gives inner peace and satisfaction. Most nurses do not enter this field simply thinking that it’s not that rewarding in terms of salary. This is false. And with the annual salary increase touching almost 3%, one can expect a very bright future for those who wish to serve mankind.


Thanks for this info Jenna!

Image courtesy of [ID10032183] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Double Celebration Today!

As Nurses Week comes to an end, we celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale.
We also celebrate Mother's Day this year.

So Happy Nurses Week and Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Nurses Day!

Happy Nurses Day! Celebrate being a nurse and making a difference in someone's life everyday!

Make a Difference for Nurses During Nurses Week

On Nurses Day, Monday, May 6, we begin the week long celebration of Nurses Week 2013. There are many ways to honor nurses. One way would be to support legislation that would help elevate the nursing profession by establishing an office of the National Nurse for Public Health which would bring attention to the nursing profession and provide national leadership in the health care community to meet the needs of the public.

" There is overwhelming evidence supporting the critical need to boost health promotion and prevention efforts as well as answer the public demand for increased leadership in nursing. HR 485 will bring forth the significant and trusted voice of the nurse to the ongoing conversation about health and health care in America. " Teri Mills RN, MS, CNE President National Nursing Network Organization

HR485 The National Nurse Act of 2013 is an active bill in the House of Representatives. It was introduced by a nurse, Eddie Bernice Johnson TX-30.  To date there are 54 co-sponsors for this bill. Give yourself and your colleagues the best Nurses Week gift by calling or emailing your U.S. Representative and either thanking them for their support of HR485, or encouraging them to step up and co-sponsor the bill now. Ask to speak to the aide in charge of health care issues. Tell them you're a constituent.

Monday night (5/6/13) at 9PM EST, Susan Sullivan, Secretary of NNNO (National Nursing Network Organization) will be on RN.FM Radio to discuss the bill and answer questions from listeners. Please listen in and tell your friends. To listen LIVE on your computer, visit this link (http://bit.ly/Yl7Cyt). You can listen on your phone by calling (347) 308-8064. The program will also be available after the broadcast for archived listening at http://bit.ly/Yl7Cyt. It will also be available as a free podcast on iTunes.

RN.FM Radio welcomes callers, and also has a live Tweetchat during the show. Listeners can interact with one another and post questions or comments to the hosts and guest. Use Twitter, and please insert the hashtag #rnfmradio in your tweets. You can also follow the chat at http://tweetchat.com/room/rnfmradio.


Happy Nurses Week!

Nurses Week 2013

Nurses Week 2013 takes place May 6-12. The theme chosen by the American Nurses Association for this year is Nurses Delivering Quality & Innovation in Patient Care.

The ANA offers a multitude of tips and ideas for media blitzes and programs to celebrate nursing at your facility. They also have a nice catalog for gift ideas. You can find all of their information here...

More nurses week gifts are available from sites such as Halo branded solutions. Take the opportunity to honor yourself and your co-workers for the excellent jobs you do everyday. Get involved and make a plan. No you won't be able to offer huge raises, or more vacation time, but token gifts along with recognition of all that you do to make a difference are important to all of us.

For additional information about Nurses Week ideas and gifts, you can check out my websites TheNursingSite.com and Housecalls-Online. We also sponsor a Nursing Site Store at Cafe Press.


Happy (early) Nurses Week!!

Nursing in the Future of Health Informatics

Modern medicine requires nurses to be aware of new technological developments that deliver a holistic approach to healthcare. Health informatics combines informational science with health care and computer technology in an effort to help better track patient treatment and progress. Health informatics can lead to greater improvements in nursing specifically.

The Technology Streamlines Patient Care
This new technology allows for greater efficiency in current data processes which streamline patient care. Keeping digital records is a way to reduce medical expenses and errors, as well as help eliminate the unnecessary repetition of clinical procedures.

Better Nursing Care through Mobile Technology
Registered nurses (RNs) have always been on the front-line of patient care. Mobile technology allows nurses to use their mobile devices at a patient’s bedside to look up clinical information which reduces errors and saves valuable time. Mobile technology, therefore, is making encounters with patients more effective.

Consolidate and Access Information Faster
The advancement of medical software and record keeping programs help nurses keep accurate and up-to-date records of their patients. This digital data can be retrieved across multiple platforms by numerous healthcare workers much more quickly than ever before.

Bringing Back the Kiosk, Apple Style
Today’s kiosks are smart devices such as the iPad. These modern electronic checkpoints enable the patient’s medical histories to be entered, as well as medications and demographics to be updated. No longer will nurses have to physically hunt down doctors to have them sign off on something, which can be a waste of precious time. Doctors can now easily be notified and sign off electronically.

Health informatics has made a global impact on patient care. Through better data management and ease of information accessibility, the convergence of computer science and healthcare will continue to push for advancements that focus on providing higher quality patient care.

Tyana Daley is a writer for University Alliance, a division of Bisk Education Inc. She writes about career related topics in the nursing industry such as, career advancement through RN to BSN programs. You can follow her on Twitter @Tyana_Daley

One of Those Days!!!

Not too long ago we experienced what at the time seemed like an unusually busy day. (Worth noting it had been a full moon the night before.) One patient was out of specialty supplies and we had scrambled to get some only to find out that morning that it wasn't all that urgent after all.. The caregiver had found some in another closet. OK we could stop and take a breath and not be rushing around so much.

However, about a half hour later we had a situation with a patient who was not scheduled to be seen that day. Suddenly this patient was reporting new issues with pain that wasn't responding to her current scheduled and break through medications and had to added to a nurse's schedule. The sooner she could get there the better. This required a few phone calls to push some visits later in the day and move one to the next day.

Within a half hour another patient was acting out and biting and punching staff at her assisted living facility. The new med tech there wasn't about to get close enough to try to give any medications. So we had to find another nurse who had to also juggle his schedule around to go and assess the situation and hopefully get her symptoms under control.

Meanwhile the patient who originally needed the supplies was an urgent problem again. Apparently the caregiver found that the supplies she located were damaged and some were expired which is why she suspected someone had moved them to the other closet in the first place. So now we had to find someone to get supplies out to this patient ASAP as well. 

And of course, we received a referral for a new patient being discharged from the hospital imminently to go home to die. They expected she might not last more than 1-2 days, if that, and the family was willing but very scared and needed a nurse as soon as we could get one there.

Well somehow we got everything covered, made all the visits necessary, and lived to tell about it. However, I wouldn't doubt that someone had been commenting about how quiet things were the day before! Never say that word!!!

While this type of day may not be considered completely typical, it's also not that unusual. A nurse's life is never easy and flexibility is a requirement.

I often have students and new nurses ask about the meaning of prioritizing and re-prioritizing and how or why it's so important to the nursing profession and the nursing process. This certainly was a day where those skills were essential and priorities kept changing from seemingly one moment to the next. It seemed as if patients were playing leap frog for who needed to be seen the quickest.

And how was your day??!

 

Beyond Scrubs: Utilizing your Nursing Career into Other Fields of Health Care

Kathryn Norcutt has been an active member of the health care community for over 20 years. During her time as a nurse, she has helped people from all walks of life and ages. Now, Kathryn leads a much less hectic life and devotes much of her free time to writing for RNnetwork, a site specializing in traveling nurse jobs.

Forensic Nurse
This field is certainly not for the faint of heart. Nurses in this line of work are in contact with victims or perpetrators of violent crimes, so their jobs can be very challenging. However, for those who are passionate about justice, being a forensic nurse can also be rewarding. Forensic nurses spend a great deal of time working with investigators. They collect evidence from the people involved, provide evaluations and host community outreach programs to prevent violent crimes. Nurses should not expect their jobs to be identical to television dramas. On the subject of forensic nurses, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics [1 - page 5 of document] says that forensic nurses in television dramas are under-credited for their many problem-solving contributions. While there are a variety of paths to becoming a forensic nurse, each one includes a considerable amount of education. Nurses may enter this sub-specialty by becoming death investigators or sexual assault nurse examiners [2]. Alternately, there are masters and doctoral programs designed specifically for forensic nurses.

Legal Nurse Consultant
Since court cases vary widely in nature, experts are needed from almost every field imaginable. Some cases require a nurse's assistance. Legal nurse consultants work with attorneys and their legal teams to evaluate the details of various cases. In this setting, a nurse must review medical documents. Legal nurse consultants also work with insurance companies, government agencies and large medical facilities. To become a legal nurse consultant, professionals must receive specialized training and pass the American Legal Nurse Consultant Certification Board's official exam [3].

Nursing Informaticist
Nurses who decide they want to further their careers by earning a medical informatics degree or a degree in information technology can work as nursing informaticists. These jobs rarely include patient contact. Informaticists work for consulting firms, corporations and large medical facilities. They perform a wide range of IT developing and marketing duties. As technology advances, the need for more elite software programs and electronic organization systems continues to rise. The systems these specialists develop usually focus on reducing overall costs and improving quality of care. Most of the nurses who become informaticists train nurses who are working in health care settings how to use new systems [4]. With their additional degrees and training, nursing informaticists can earn attractive salaries.

Nursing Administration
While nursing administrators or managers may still find themselves interacting with patients, the majority of their days are spent performing administrative tasks. They are often responsible for interviewing and hiring new nurses and nursing support staff [5]. Since they must oversee all activities, they are responsible for maintaining files for each employee. They are also responsible for reviewing patients' care plans and concerns. Administrators must develop efficient policies for their facilities. Whether they work in public health clinics, hospitals or other settings, they are vital players in the overall success of facilities. Since these jobs come with a great deal of responsibility, a Master of Science in Nursing is usually the required degree. Some nurses also choose to combine a Master of Business Administration degree with the MSN degree.

Nursing Researcher
Since the days of Florence Nightingale, research and nursing have been fields that intersect with one another. Nursing researchers are scientists who are committed to improving the field of nursing through both quantitative and qualitative methods. They are responsible for postulating ideas, collecting data, analyzing study results and reporting the data they uncover [6]. This field is ideal for nurses who have always dreamed of making large-scale discoveries or molding new ideas. Since nursing researchers are constantly striving for more effective treatments and medical devices, their jobs are very rewarding. The pay is also rewarding, but this title is only awarded to nurses who pursue their education to the highest degree. A doctoral degree with an emphasis in research is an ideal asset for professionals entering this field. Some of these jobs are temporary, so individuals who enjoy variety can also appreciate this sub-specialty of the nursing field.

Nursing Instructor
Nurses who are strong leaders and enjoy helping others succeed often choose the rewarding path of nursing education [7]. By becoming an educator, nurses have the opportunity to teach one or more specific subjects they enjoy. For example, nurses who specialized in pediatrics in college could teach classes related to that specialty. There are also a wide variety of general subjects that nurses can teach. Nurses who teach subjects that also require hands-on experience may find themselves in scrubs for clinicals. However, their roles in working with patients include showing students how to perform various tasks and how to respond to different situations. Instructors may work for private nursing schools, universities, vocational schools or community colleges. To become an educator, a nurse must earn a masters or doctoral degree in nursing education.

Travel Nursing
Nurses who seek alternative sub-specialties are usually people who enjoy challenges and are not afraid of change. They embrace new experiences. It is possible to enjoy a wide range of alternative jobs and non-bedside jobs by joining a travel nursing agency. These agencies give nurses the opportunity to enjoy new work experiences, meet new people and see other cities. Travel nurses are needed for temporary jobs and special projects. Agencies often pay for the majority of a nurse's travel-related expenses or provide reimbursement. One of the most important lessons nurses learn during school is that life is precious, so it is important to make the most of it. By becoming a travel nurse, every motivated nursing professional is able to find a way to showcase his or her talents, experience new places and learn to enjoy life even more.



1 http://www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2003/fall/art01.pdf
2 http://www.iafn.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=577
3 http://www.aalnc.org/page/LNCC/?
4 http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/Career/91/Nursing_Informatics
5 http://diplomaguide.com/articles/Nurse_Administrator_Career_Summary.html
6 http://www.discovernursing.com/specialty/nurse-researcher#.UQ-BoB2sSC0
7 http://www.mynursingdegree.com/nurse-educator/career-overview.asp

Relative Crude

Can a DNA test be wrong?

97.7% DNA match is overwhelming evidence of paternity. That explains why Eden Braverman, RN, vacillates with her capacity to trust her brother-in-law. Rachel Westbrook, the child’s mother, propels Eden on a journey to find the truth behind the DNA results and Rachel’s suspected ulterior motives. After all, Jarod Fairgate is a multimillionaire.

Eden suddenly finds her own life compromised with accusations of drugs, patient abuse, and the final insult, her sister’s murder. To find answers, she traverses a winding road of paternal sins and fraternal passions that will ultimately end with her fighting for her own life.

Relative Crude, the first is a series, introduces the reader to my protagonist, Eden Braverman, a determined, feisty, and very knowledgeable RN. She will need to use all those attributes to solve the mystery that has become very personal to her.

My name is Alida Chaney and I’ve been an RN for over 40 years working in many critical care areas. ICU is where I spent most of my time, though ED and PACU are also part of my DNA. As with many RN’s, I have done my share of middle management, overseeing a Medical-Surgical floor, Telemetry floor, and Med-Surg ICU. With this background, Relative Crude takes you on an adventure with the realistic backdrop of ICU nursing and the politics that help and hinder her investigation into her sister’s murder.

With the advent of DNA kits on the internet, I thought it would be interesting to investigate what happens if a DNA test could be wrong. Relative Crude does just that.
I hope you all would think that this possibility would peak your interest in reading this medical mystery. This is the first in a series of Eden Braverman books.

Relative Crude can be obtained from Outskirts Press, Amazon.com or directly through me by emailing me at ritr511947@gmail.com.

Come along with me and get to know a knowledgeable, sassy, no nonsense RN. The kind we all hope to be.


Editor's note:
I can't wait to read this book. Have to carve out some time somewhere!!! Have you read it?

Shared Decision Making

We are in the midst of a paradigm shift from a sick care model to a health care model. Nurses (and all other health professionals) are helping patients learn to share the decision making aspects of their care and learning to assume responsibility for their own health status and outcomes.

This is a complicated process and a new role for nurses; especially those who are accustomed to doing for the patients. This often stems from time constraints that prohibit nurses from teaching patients. It's just easier to do it yourself. But as we move towards patient responsibility, patient education becomes much more important. Preventative care and reducing the risks and complications posed by chronic illness have to be moved to the front of the line in order to reduce the staggering costs of health care.

I've come across a couple of great tool-kits this week to help nurses better understand and implement these processes. One is from Dorland Health. It focuses on empowering patients and helping them become part of the decision making process in their health care.

The other is a Teach-Back process from Iowa Health System and it is focused on helping to ensure patients understand what we are teaching them. Health care literacy is vital to the success of the health care model. If patients don't have a clear understanding of what's expected of them and how to maneuver through the health care maze, they won't succeed in assuming responsibility for their health care. And their outcomes will not improve.

I hope you find the information helpful.