Nurse Sean (dot) com

HP and Crospon have developed a skin patch which uses microneedles that barely penetrate the skin. The microneedles can replace conventional injections and deliver drugs through the skin without causing any pain. The skin patch technology also enables delivery of several drugs by one patch and the control of dosage and of administration time…

read more | digg story

Health campaigners today condemned an NHS trust for asking its staff to resign, work for no pay or take unpaid leave in order to reduce its multimillion-pound deficit.

read more | digg story

This costume is incredible! Talk about an imagination! I can’t imagine too many social events where this wouldn’t be “taboo.”

read more | digg story

I believe that my new iPod touch will usher in a new age of blogging for me. Now, If I feel the urge to blog while I’m away from the computer–no problem! I just have to pull my iPod out and type away. It will give me something to do in my break at work. Heck, I could even blog during my walk to and from work.


OK, as you may have noticed, I really don’t have any real content for this post. I just wanted an excuse to try blogging from my iPod. I must say, it was as east as pie!!!


See you soon when I actually have something to say.


Sean

Ask a registered nurse about the severity of the nursing shortage and compare the response to that of a facility chief executive officer. According to a new report, you may get an entirely different answer.

read more | digg story

When Laura Dominguez is at work, she often feels torn.

A registered nurse in the intensive-care unit of Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville, Dominguez sometimes cares for three critically ill patients at once.

read more | digg story

Advancements in technology have drastically changed the way nursing is done.

read more | digg story

It’s a cold, winter day here. Snow fell overnight and stuck nicely to the ground. The dog won’t stop barking every time the snowblower drives past our apartment window. As a nice tribute to this weather, I have changed to a nice winter theme on my blog.I’m having a great week that has involved many exciting new things. Thanks to my new twelve-hour shift rotation, I frequently have several days off in a row. Right now, I’m smack dab in the middle of seven days off.

I have taken this time to work on many projects. First of all, of course, I’ve been continuing on with my critical care nursing certificate. I’m still on the physiology course, and have two more tests to go. I got over the two biggest challenges: the massive and complex cardiac unit, and the (in my own opinion) dull and difficult to learn neurology unit. Now I’m onto renal physiology; I’m enjoying reading a unit that interests me and is much more straight forward. Then I just have a unit on the body’s defense systems and I’m done!

The next course is critical care assessment–I’m looking forward to the change. It’s apparently a much easier course and takes up less time.

I have also spent a lot of time updating my technology. Yes, I’m a big tech geek and love to spend hours upon hours playing with new technologies and gadgets. Firstly, I got myself an iPod touch. This thing is incredible! The iPhone isn’t yet available in Canada, and due to carrier restrictions, I may never actually get one. The iPod touch is the next best thing. I can’t gush enough about how great this thing is! Anyone who doesn’t have an iPod touch/iPhone MUST get one right away.

I also updated my operating system to Leopard, and upgraded to iLife 08. I just can’t express how much macs are better than anything else out there. I used a mac back in the 90s, then a PC in the early 2000s before moving back to Macs. I really don’t think I will ever go back to Microsoft PCs: there just isn’t a good reason to.

I have decided to learn a little Cantonese. We have a large population of patients that speak Cantonese and I would love to be able to communicate basic ideas. As expected, it isn’t going so well. I’m still on the first three or four phrases and just can’t seem to get the hang of it. I’m determined to keep working at it though.

So, that’s how I’m spending my time off. I am so much happier with work now that I have switched to twelve-hour shifts. I feel much more relaxed and calm; I’m starting to love work again. Of course, my first shift back will probably be horrible and ruin that!

We’ll see…..

I wrote this while in nursing school. I was pondering my thoughts following my first experience with a patient death. If you hate poetry, move along to the next blog now…

The First Woman I saw die


I remember adjusting your
old fake
dirty teeth,
after cleaning them (of course).
Just like I promised that woman.
your daughter?
She was very demanding, but
you should have seen the way she wept,
and told you you’d be home soon.


I’ve never heard a wail like that,
and the way she begged,
“There must be something you can do”


Then sand through sifter…
You were gone.
beauty
peace
evolved throughout your room,
folding on itself like smoke,
so beautiful when pierced by light.


later,
I sat outside, weeping.
For you or your daughter?
The buzzing orange light above,
the only interruption
in the white snow’s perfect muffled silence.


You were my first, did you know that?
To see you die became my passage
all of us must take
from that place to which
we cannot return.

I just wanted to share a website I found today. It is named Value Cares Value Nurse and focuses on nursing politics, issues, and legal matters. Check it out! It’s simple and easy to navigate.

Clear here to get to the site.