Many valuable lessons learned in nursing school stem from the bedside, while others start at the circus. According to The New York Times, performers from the Big Apple Circus led 132 students at New York University’s College of Nursing through “clowning” workshops this fall. The workshops, which covered how clown techniques can be applied in the clinical setting, aimed to help students sharpen their observational skills to better sense patients’...  Read More »

Similar to drilling for oil, global climate change, and political party allegiance, talk of unions in healthcare stirs people’s passions on both sides of the debate. But if you are considering working in a facility where nurses belong to a union, it’s important to understand some of the commonly used lingo and your roles and responsibilities as part of a unionized labor force. Get started by familiarizing yourself with the following terms from...  Read More »

Are nurses more honest than teachers? Are their ethical standards higher than those of physicians? According to a recent survey, the answer to both questions is yes. Nurses topped Gallup’s 2008 annual Honesty and Ethics of professions survey for the seventh year in a row. More than 1,000 Americans aged 18 or older participated in the survey, rating the ethics and honesty of 21 types of workers. Nurses won the vote of 84% of participants, who attributed...  Read More »

“Now I will read the last policy and your orientation will be complete.” And the winner is … (drum roll, please) … John Jackson! Congratulations, John! Thanks to everyone who submitted a caption. They were all hilarious! And, the contests keep coming! In the spirit of the season, we’re asking for you to share the best and worst holiday gifts you’ve ever received. Feel free to include who the giver was and the context...  Read More »

Instructors at Ridgewater College in Willmar, MN, are hoping parmesan cheese and lemon juice are two ingredients that will cook up many successful nursing careers. According to StarTribune.com, mixed together, the two create “vomit” in one of the many graphic simulation exercises in the college’s nursing program, which aims to expose students to the real-life aspects of patient care. Practicing the art of “moulage,” a French term...  Read More »

Real-world nurses bring competency, professionalism, and passion to the hospital everyday. But according to a new study, it wasn’t until recently that onscreen nurses exhibited these qualities. David Stanley, MSc, RN, RM, lecturer at the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Curtin University of Technology, in Perth, Australia, studied 280 films featuring nurses produced throughout the U.S., U.K., Western Europe, Canada, Japan, and Australia between 1900...  Read More »

Drugs are sorted into classes or related groups, such as beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, benzodiazepines, etc. One of the cool things about pharmacology is, generally speaking, members of drug classifications behavior in a similar fashion. Let’s consider this list: Pindolol Propranolol Sotalol Timolol Metoprolol We would note a certain similarity in the last syllable of each and suspect they belong to the same family. Learn the characteristics...  Read More »

“Who cares about a lunar eclipse?!?” And the winner is … (drum roll, please) … Suzanne Conway! Congratulations, Suzanne! Thanks to everyone who submitted a caption. They were all hilarious! And, we’ll be back next week with a brand new cartoon! Will YOU be the next winner?   Read More »

The nursing shortage places a heavy emphasis on the education and development of competent nurses to provide the safest patient care. A Web site is now offering nursing school educators and students some assistance outside the classroom. Liko North America, a supplier of patient lift and transfer products and resources, recently launched a “Nursing Schools” section of its Safe Lifting Portal Web site to help educators develop curriculum and safe...  Read More »

The reality is that we have operated for years in an environment where people were punished or looked down upon for making errors. Such negative energy around mistakes has decreased our sense of self-esteem. Therefore, many nurses find it hard to receive feedback and even harder to give feedback directly to the person involved. The culture is changing, however, and your response to mistakes in the workplace is critical to creating a safer environment for your...  Read More »