Truckee Meadows Community College, in Reno, NV, recently created a nursing wing that resembles a real-life hospital, complete with mannequin patients who react to treatment. Now, California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), is doing something similar to further educate student nurses. Four classrooms at the university have been converted into a laboratory space called the Nursing Skills Laboratory, which includes six beds, a smart...  Read More »

You’ve gone through nursing school and taken the NCLEX. Now what? How do you want to move your career in nursing forward? A blogger by the name of The Nerdy Nurse recently posted an entry called Life after NCLEX: How to Advance Nursing and Your Nursing Career. The Nerdy Nurse points out five steps to consider when advancing your career: Motivation Education Positive attitude Networking Integrity On the topic of a positive attitude,...  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...  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...  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...  Read More »

According to a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges, there will be a shortage of 63,000 physicians in the United States by 2015. With the possibility of a shortage, a report about nursing was released just in time. The Institute of Medicine, along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, issued The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, which calls for regulatory burdens to be removed so that advanced practice...  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 »

As many nurses are graduating and taking the NCLEX, one question is on many of their minds: How easy will it be to get a job? The standard expectation has been that, as a nurse, you will be in demand and that finding a perfect job should not be a struggle. Recently, however, many experts are questioning whether there still is a nursing shortage due to the difficulty new grads are having with finding work. Rebecca Hendren of HealthLeaders...  Read More »

There are a lot of credentials out there to be earned. An interesting article in the Philadelphia Inquirer highlights some of the issues surrounding different degrees for the advanced-practice nurse. Specifically, it explores the new trend of advanced-practice nurses earning a doctor of nursing practice degree (NPD). Enrollment in NPD programs have risen from 70 in 2002 to more than 5,000 last year, according to the Inquirer. To be clear,...  Read More »

Nurses are well aware of the stress that comes with the job. Taking care of numerous patients atl varying levels of sickness, and dealing with many competing priorities, is enough to make anyone stressed out. Now, with the help of the BREATHE technique, nurses and patients can lower their blood pressure, heart rate, and experience a decrease in stress. The BREATHE technique was developed by John M. Kennedy, medical director of preventative...  Read More »