Picture this: You’re propped up in a hospital bed waiting to receive a test while a nurse sits by your bed. It’s not really a nurse though; it’s a robot. Her name is Actroid-F, and according to News Gather, she is the first realistic robotic nurse being tested in Japanese hospitals. She was created by the Kokoro Company Ltd in Tokyo, Japan, and was designed to be an observing nurse who sits bedside with a patient as they undergo different tests. News...  Read More »

Nurses at Watsonville Community Hospital in Watsonville, CA, didn’t want more money on top of their average salary of $140,000 in a new proposed contract. Instead, this week, they asked for more nurses to improve patient care. The hospital sent a statement to KIONrightknow: “The registered nurses walked off the job for a three-day strike, despite being offered a contract proposal that includes a wage increase.” Initially, the nurses planned to strike...  Read More »

We all know that nurses often visit patients at home. Did you know some travel by bike? Nurse practitioner Jody Hoppis, who travels to her patients’ homes and workplaces on two wheels, started Mobile Medicine two years ago. Her bike is specially designed to hold all of her essential supplies while caring for her patients. Why did she start Mobile Medicine? Hoppis told The Seattle Times that by visiting her patients at home, it saves them the time of getting...  Read More »

Nurses care for hundreds of patients during their career. Ask any nurse and they’ll have happy stories, sad stories, crazy stories, and even horror stories of difficult patients they’ve dealt with. A blog by psychiatric nurse Angela Brook speaks about difficult patients: “We do not always like the patients to whom we administer care. It sounds harsh, but let’s be honest, we do not have to like them. We do however, have to provide the best possible...  Read More »

Nurses give their patients time, attention, nursing care and assessment, and even find time to offer a sympathetic hand to hold. But a nurse in Billings, MT, gave one of her patients something more: one of her kidneys. Vickie Lindt, a nurse at Billings Clinic, went under the knife to give her patient, Roger Gravgaard, the kidney transplant her desperately needed. Though the surgery happened in August, Lindt and Gravgaard are only now going public and sharing...  Read More »

The sharp eyes of nurse Nicola Sharp alerted the parents of a two-year-old child to a dangerous cancer developing in the child’s eye. Sharp, who has been a pediatric nurse for more than 20 years, was browsing through her friend Michele Freeman’s Facebook photos when she saw a photo of Michele’s two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Grace. Sharp’s attention was immediately drawn to Grace’s left eye. Grace’s right pupil was red, showing the typical red...  Read More »

The first time newly registered nurses are on their own in a patient’s room dealing with a tough situation can be a scary learning experience. Truckee Meadows Community College, in Reno, NV, is trying to eliminate as much stress as possible by creating a specially designed nursing wing in its nursing department that helps prepare students for real-life hospital situations upon graduation. The nursing wing is described as an exact replica of a real hospital...  Read More »

A new survey found that patients in the Northwest believe nurse practitioners provide primary care that is just as good as physicians. Oregon Public Broadcasting News just completed a survey of 1,200 residents of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho comparing the quality of treatment provided by nurse practitioners and physicians. The survey found that 49% of Northwesterners agreed that they receive treatment from a nurse that’s just as good as from a physician....  Read More »

Nurse-to-nurse hostility, nurse bullying, and “nurses eat their young” are all common phrases that new nurses hear when entering the nursing profession. Imagine this scene: You’re a new, 25-year-old nurse and you ask an older, experienced nurse a simple question. The older nurse responds in an angry, know-it-all way, making you feel inferior to her. Later that day, the same nurse gives you a difficult patient to attend to, knowing your experience level...  Read More »

My 94- year-old grandmother has been in the hospital for a variety of complications. During visits, I’ve been introduced to her physician and her nurse. The funny thing is, the physician was introduced as “Dr. Smith*,” whereas the nurse was introduced as “Nurse Emily*.” (*names changed) Christopher Johnson, MD, a pediatric intensive care physician, remarks on this same issue in a blog post on KevinMD.com. He discusses the issue of calling nurses...  Read More »