Archive for November, 2007

Here’s a blog written by a group of students using Second Life for their fundamentals of nursing class:

Nursing 211: Second Life Medical Field Trips

Also, here’s a news article about using emergency room simulations in Second Life for nursing students:

Area nursing students work in cyberspace ER

And finally, here’s the link to the Ann Myers Medical Center blog. AMMC is a virtual hosptial used to teach med students.

I tried to go on Second Life myself but am finding it to be a huge time-sucker and I haven’t really gotten anywhere with it. Anyone else out there have any experience with Second Life?

As some of my readers may know, my son was conceived through IVF. The reason for our infertility was never diagnosed and so my husband and I wanted to go straight to IVF. Luckily we found a doctor who agreed with this approach, and we were successful on the first try. Here is an excellent article from Slate that outlines the case for going straight to IVF:

Skipping Baby Steps

A couple weeks ago I asked if the flu shot can make you sick. This week I am asking if the flu shot can give you Guillian-Barre syndrome (GBS). Here is a scary story about someone who suspects she got Guillian-Barre from a flu shot.

It’s very ominous to me because although the CDC doesn’t list GBS as a possible complication from the flu shot, it does say that “people who developed Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) within 6 weeks of getting an influenza vaccine previously” should not get the flu shot. Why is this?

If you look further on the CDC website you will find this:

“It is thought that GBS may be triggered by an infection. The infection that most commonly precedes GBS is caused by a bacterium called Campylobacter jejuni. Other respiratory or intestinal illnesses and other triggers may also precede an episode of GBS. In 1976, vaccination with the swine flu vaccine was associated with getting GBS. Several studies have been done to evaluate if other flu vaccines since 1976 were associated with GBS. Only one of the studies showed an association. That study suggested that one person out of 1 million vaccinated persons may be at risk of GBS associated with the vaccine.”

According to a CDC podcast, as many as 130 million doses of the vaccine will be manufactured. if you go by the one person out of one million from the one study, then could that mean that 130 people could be at risk for Guillian-Barre?

Okay, so I know that this is a very loose extrapolation, but this is still kind of scary stuff.

On a much lighter note, while researching this post I came across this:

The Shot Nurse

It is basically a nurse-run clinic that offers immunizations, TB tests, and cholesterol checks among other things. They also contract out to visit businesses who do not have a full-time nurse and they also can provide health and wellness fairs. Not a bad idea for a nurses wanting to start their own businesses.

I just liked the picture on their website. I could imagine that when people are walking along around that shopping center they take special steps to avoid having to walk by “The Shot Nurse.” It just sounds so scary.

Nursing not a hot career choice today

My favorite quote is, “I’m not burned out. I’m cremated.”

I also like being reminded that on average, an elevator installer makes more money than I do. Although when you really think about it, elevator installers have people lives in their hands as well.

Nurses Claim Company Administers Adult Vaccines To Children

So here’s the story:

Two nurses working in a clinic were given a flu vaccine that was only meant for adults and were instructed by their supervisor to administer it to children. One nurse read the insert and realized that the vaccine wasn’t meant for children, and so refused to administer it to children. The other nurse did not read the insert and did end up giving the vaccine to the children.

The strange thing about this case?
Both nurses were fired for the incident.

If you think being a nurse is all about drawing blood and taking blood pressures, you should read this article from the University of Washington.

Still thinking that nursing isn’t all that exciting? Read ERnursey’s true story about delivering a baby in a truck last weekend.

Hiring One Extra Nurse Might Help Hospitals Save Lives

Whoever that One Extra Nurse is, he or she must be pretty darn efficient.
( ;

Let’s Blame it on the Travel Nurse!

So I’m reading this article about a resident who failed to perform a time-out before performing a bedside neurosurgical procedure on an 82-year old woman. The resident proceeded to make an incision into the wrong side of the patient’s head before it became known that it was in fact, the wrong side. This appeared to be an error in not following the procedure, as the hospital did have a policy in place to perform a time-out before every surgical procedure.

Fine, fine, fine. We all know that time-outs are absolutely essential from the most complex surgery down to a simple bedside procedure. Or do we?

It was this paragraph that called out to me:

“The department’s statement of deficiencies noted that “the nurse was a travel nurse and not familiar with the procedure.” Travel nurses are hired through agencies to fill in when a hospital does not have enough of its own nurses available. Gifford said that every hospital uses travel nurses and must have procedures in place to make sure any newcomer knows the protocols.”

I will tell you that I took my first per-diem agency assignment in an ICU last weekend. I will also tell you that I did not receive one minute of orientation, and received no briefing on the protocols, policies, and procedures of the unit. I am told that this is the norm for per diem agency nurses.

Dear reader, it did not go well. I will save the details for a later post, as I am still reeling from this harrowing experience (beginning with my first patient running out of their vasopressin drip and ending with my conclusion that I am a complete and utter failure as a nurse.)

I’m starting to recover, though, and after reading this article I’m beginning to think, “Hey, maybe it’s not such a great idea to take care of ICU patients without any prior orientation to the unit.” More on this later.

Become a L&D nurse in Santa Cruz County, CA. According to this article, labor and delivery nurses at Dominican Hospital make $83,000 - $110,000 per year. Of course the median house price in Santa Cruz County is $750,000 so if you actually wanted to be a homeowner there, you might have to consider some serious moonlighting. It also causes problems because under federal guidelines, Santa Cruz is considered a rural area and so doctors are paid significantly less for Medicare patients. In fact, according to the article, “Primary care doctors with 11 years of higher education might earn a starting annual salary of $90,000 to $150,000,” meaning that there are some Santa Cruz nurses out there who could be making more than the Santa Cruz docs.

That’s awkward.

On another note about getting paid, here is an hourly pay calculator, I found. As an agency nurse I get offered a variety of contracts at a variety of pay rates, so this helps me figure out which ones are worth taking.

Everyone from the drug reps to nursing admin to the docs know that the way to nurses’ hearts is through their stomachs. I wish I could report that this was another one of those nurse-y stereotypes, but I have seen living proof of this. Just drop in on any unit during Nurse’s Appreciation Week and you will be greeted with a buffet that could rival Luby’s. And I can attest to this personally because as I walk through the halls of the hospital with my bag o’ flu shots, I am often greeted with the phrase, “Got any candy?” Nurses are constantly being showered with candy, cake, donuts, take-out food, baked goods, and other assorted goodies, and as a result of this, it is damn near impossible to lose weight while working in the hospital.

So I was happy to read this story about a group of nurses who have decided to take a stand against the feeding frenzy:

Nurse ‘Losers’ Winning Big

Diet on, brothers and sisters! You are an inspiration to us all.