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...  Read More »

Colorado anesthesiologists lost the fight in opposing a policy change allowing certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNA) to administer anesthesia to patients without physician supervision. A long-running debate finally came to an end on Tuesday, September 28, when Colorado became the 16th state to end the requirement that CRNAs be supervised by physicians. The Colorado Society of Anesthesiologists states that CRNAs may put patients...  Read More »

I have a couple friends who have graduated with nursing degrees and are on the hunt for a job. They’ve studied for long hours, interned in hospitals and doctors’ offices, and put their knowledge to the test for the NCLEX exam. It never dawned on me that none of these nursing friends are males; they are all female! But according to an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, more male nurses than ever are coming into the nursing world. Duquesne...  Read More »

Not being a nurse, I’ve never really thought about what happens when patients are admitted to the hospital and they are smokers. However, this is something that nurses and healthcare providers have to deal with all the time, and a recent survey says that many are not offering patients any help with quitting. The survey, published in the July issue of Nicotine & Tobacco Research, finds that nurses and healthcare professionals often...  Read More »

There is a reason why, “The family that plays together stays together.” Recreation is about reconnecting and redefining relationships. Fun makes us human to each other, it opens opportunity to build understanding and connect on a deeper level. I’ve done volunteer work with families that have placed their teens in interventional boarding schools. When those children come back home, relationships have to be rebuild and redefined,...  Read More »

Working in healthcare is dangerous for your health, says Daniel Johnson, PhD, a clinical psychologist in Macon, GA. The profession is dangerous because of the enormity of the daily challenges staff face (e.g., the responsibility of caring for seriously ill people, lack of support, shift conflicts, resource constraints). These daily challenges can build up and affect resilience to stress and strain.  Read More »   Read More »

Editor’s note: Author Kathleen Bartholomew will be speaking at the 26th annual NSNA MidYear Conference in November in Reno, NV. Until then, we’ll occasionally be featuring excerpts from some of Bartholomew’s captivating and influential publications. Here’s one from Stressed Out About Communication Skills: Of all the professions on the planet, those of us in nursing have the honor of dealing with the most challenging...  Read More »

Former pilot Gary L. Sculli, RN, MSN, ATP, no longer works in the skies. But some might say he now leads his nursing unit to even greater heights. Aviation safety concepts Sculli learned during his previous career are changing the way his staff members practice nursing at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, TN. Now nurse manager of a 40-bed unit, he has transferred his knowledge and experiences in the air to the bedside in the quest to...  Read More »

Retention continues to be a hot topic in the world of nursing. Whether you are a staff nurse (or soon to be) or a seasoned nurse manager, the following excerpt from HCPro’s newsletter The Staff Educator, can help get the retention wheels turning. Share some of these ideas with your manager or use some of them on your staff. One of a hospital’s top priorities should be to retain competent nurses within its facility. According...  Read More »