My husband was discharged from the hospital following two heart valve replacements, and a week later was readmitted with a side effect of the surgery that occurs ten percent of the time. He was taken to his room directly from the ER. I hadn’t the foresight to bring along my coloring book and pencils—mindless relaxing…… Continue reading The Surreal Hospital Experience
Category: Health Care Services
Unconventional Nursing
This Post from 2012–written by my fellow nursing classmate, Ruth Donoghue–describes an episode occurring in the early ’90s. Early ‘90’s December NAKED IN THE DELIVERY ROOM Nursery in a Catholic hospital where 5,000 babies pass through in a year The call comes via unit secretary A nurse is requested as soon as possible to pick…… Continue reading Unconventional Nursing
SECOND GUESSING CANCER
I’ve written in a previous post about my experience of being diagnosed with breast cancer 18 years ago. I’ve always wondered if I should have forgone a mastectomy and adopted a watch and wait stance. However, when my doctors never gave me that option and my family was aghast at my doing anything less than…… Continue reading SECOND GUESSING CANCER
WHEN A NURSE IS AS GOOD AS A DOCTOR
I couldn’t pass up sharing this article in Consumer Reports about nurse practitioners and physician assistants especially since I just registered with my new provider, a nurse practitioner a week ago. She and a physician assistant cover for each other. Best of both worlds. Check the comments, which are so positive. When a nurse is…… Continue reading WHEN A NURSE IS AS GOOD AS A DOCTOR
WAS I DREAMING? PART TWO
Last week, I attended the second and last part of the TeamStepps workshop. In another post (“Was I Dreaming?”) I described the first workshop and my surprise at how the doctors willingly and enthusiastically participated in the dialogue and group activities. What would I find this time around? TeamStepps is a program that promotes teamwork…… Continue reading WAS I DREAMING? PART TWO
WAS I DREAMING?
I have been a nurse for eons. Sometimes I feel I go back to Flo’s era. Even though I have been retired for ten years, I try to keep current with nursing/health issues. One evening two weeks ago I attended a TeamStepps workshop sponsored by the large teaching hospital where I volunteer. The purpose of…… Continue reading WAS I DREAMING?
PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER: MD OR NP?
My husband and I moved to Raleigh four months ago. Yesterday, I went to the Farmers Market for the first time. It had opened just the week before. It was more eclectic than I imagined. Besides spring onions, sweet potatoes, a bunch of radishes, strawberries and a baguette from the stand of a local French…… Continue reading PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER: MD OR NP?
THE FALL
I entered a large department store on a rainy Sunday two weeks ago. My foot hit a slick spot and I became airborne. You know that awful feeling when you’re going down and there is nothing you can do about it. I drifted in slow motion closer and closer to a display table, finally making…… Continue reading THE FALL
THE HEALTH WAGON
In the last post I wrote about Sandeep Jauhar’s essay in the New York Times, Nurses Are Not Doctors. Dr. Jauhar doesn’t condone independent nurse practitioner practice and he suggests that in order to expand the number of primary care physicians their salaries should be increased. Somehow that last statement has hounded me. Not so…… Continue reading THE HEALTH WAGON
NURSES DON’T WANT TO BE DOCTORS
For the life of me I don’t know why the New York Times published Sandeep Jauhar’s essay, “Nurses Are Not Doctors,” in the Opinion Pages on April 30, 2014. His essay argued that nurse practitioners shouldn’t practice independently. As a nurse practitioner it’s obvious that I wouldn’t agree with his opinion but his case was…… Continue reading NURSES DON’T WANT TO BE DOCTORS
Getting Older: Charting the Uncharted 