Where I work as a clinical resource nurse, I had some good plans for the week, but they fell by the wayside because of pandemic preparation and a lot of other work. On the other hand, because I’m in Canada, I have an extra week to see if we can manage something. The goal is to recognize the difficult job that they do.

Why a national week?

Why is it important to honor nurses? Well, if you think about it, Administrative assistants get tons of attention during their week, and teachers the same for Teacher Appreciation. But nurses? Most people don’t even seem to know that their is a Nurses Appreciation Day, let alone a week.

I wrote about what nurses do over on my own blog, Marijke: Nurse Turned Writer . I wrote about what nurses really do and why they should never be considered to be lower than doctors. Nurses may not have the same training as doctors do, while we can’t do their job, they very likely can’t do ours. Why? Nurses have a completely different approach to health and patient care.

My post there starts like this:

Reactions to nurses range from “only an idiot would choose to be a nurse” to “only very special people can be nurses.” Well, I’ll tell you – I’ve met some people I would say are idiots and I wonder how they get their nursing license and I’ve met some nurses who truly qualify as someone very special. But, for the most part, nurses are like everyone else. We’re people, we have our good days and our bad days. We do our best but we make mistakes. We laugh, we cry, we stress and we relax – we’re people with a serious job and we hold lives in our hands.

So, if you know a nurse, if you have to be in a healthcare institution either as a patient, family member or visitor, remember that there are many people who make that place run, from the housekeeping staff to the executive director. And, don’t forget that the nurses are the ones who are your advocates, who work directly with you all the time. People don’t have to buy gifts or make a big deal over things, but a quiet thank you, a note of appreciation to a superior, a smile – they’re all things that make a huge difference in the life of a nurse.

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Images: Newscom.com and Stock.xchnge

Post from: Blisstree

Be nice to a nurse this month

The graveyard shift is the worst time to call code blue, a new study finds. Patients who go into cardiac arrest while in the hospital are more likely to die if it happens after 11 p.m., when staffing may be lower or patients are watched less closely.

The ER is the only place that there was no difference in death rates. Among day shifts in all other units hospital wide the success rate of patients that cardiac arrested was 20% and the night shift rate was 15%. Either way it is not real good odds but I would take the first over the latter.

Why the difference? I would suppose most would blame it on fatigue and lower staff numbers. Interesting enough, while weekends had lower success rated then weekdays they were not nearly as pronounced as night versus day.

via Houston Chronicle

Post from: Blisstree

Working the nightshift… stay on your toes for that code blue!

Suffering from cardiac arrest while staying in a hospital might be more deadly than receiving such a fit at a crowded airport, according to a new study.

Being a nurse, I find this hard to believe. I would think that we would respond quicker and get CPR and an ET tube in place quicker than an innocent bystander looking for the AED on the wall. I can not remember more than a 3-4 minute lag or down time for any code situation that I have ever personally been involved in. And what if the person needs to be trached or a balloon pump inserted for concractility of a mushy heart? I don’t see that happening on a mall floor.

The study published by the New England Journal of Medicine stated that in 1/3 of all hospital cardiac arrests, nurses and doctors did not move quickly enough resulting in brain deprivation and death. Hmm… I don’t know about this one. What do you think?

via Mens Daily Health

Post from: Blisstree

Safer To Cardiac Arrest In A Mall Bathroon Than A Hospital…

Today at Genetics and Health, I’ve got an interview with ER nurse Kim McAllister of Emergiblog. In the interview, we talked about Beatrice Vance, the woman who died of a heart attack while waiting in her local hospital’s emergency room. Come take a look to see what Kim thinks of the tragic situation.

Post from: Blisstree

Thoughts From ER Nurse Kim McAllister of Emergiblog