All Entries Tagged With: "Nurses’ Week"
A picture is worth 1,000 words: Tell your nursing story in photos
In a continuing effort to recognize nurses, the Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA) is requesting high quality photos that depict nurses’ work and the relationships they form with patients and families. The winning photograph will be featured in an AARP print and/or web publication.
CCNA hopes to gather images of nurses across all healthcare settings in professional practice and leadership roles, as well as in recruitment and retention activities, and nursing education.
The contest is running through June 25, 2010, and all rules can be found by clicking here.
Even if your submission is not a winner, all qualifying photos will be featured in the CCNA’s new public repository of images.
In honor of Nurses Week: 10 Reasons to Become a Nurse
I would like to introduce Jennifer Johnson, who will be a guest blogger on the topic of nurse practitioner schools among other hot topics in nursing. Welcome Jennifer to the Leaders’ Lounge!
Here is a list of 10 reasons to become a nurse:
- To meet a critical need. There is a great need for qualified nursing professionals to fill vacant positions at healthcare facilities across the country. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the nursing shortage is only expected to increase.
- To ease pain and suffering. Nursing is the sort of profession where one’s daily responsibilities directly contribute to helping patients improve their condition. Rarely a day goes by where a nurse is not making someone’s life better and taking steps to improve someone’s health. Whether you’re a military nurse caring for wounded soldiers in the field or an oncology nurse preparing a patient for chemotherapy, your work makes a difference. For this reason, many nurses find their work very rewarding.
- Nurses are in-demand and will be for years to come. A good RN doesn’t stay unemployed for long in the U.S., and it’s likely to stay that way well into the future
- To teach patients how to live a healthier lifestyle. Patient education is a huge part of being a nurse. Not only do nurses educate patients on how to appropriately manage their diseases and conditions, but they also encourage them to make lifestyle changes that can contribute greatly to the patient’s overall health.
- Nurses can specialize. If you have a passion to work with a particular population group, such as newborns, children, or the elderly, you will have the opportunity to work specifically with those patients. Over time, nurses gain the skills necessary to become certified in a specific area and can seek out work in areas that are of particular interest to them. [more]
A Touch. A Word. A Cause for Healing: Honoring nurses
This post is from Ron Watson who is director of communications for Doylestown Hospital in Doylestown, PA. He discusses his experience at Doylestown, where he was hospitalized for 10 days and now praises his nurses for all they did.
I’m familiar with order sets and eMAR. I understand root cause analysis and composite scores. I can recite our hospital’s infection rates, patient satisfaction scores, and average length of stay.
I was clueless about nursing and the healing power of a touch, a word, a smile.
Ten days as a patient in Doylestown Hospital were an education. As I went from sick to sicker to surgery and recovery, fleeting moments with nurses and techs were lessons in the meaning of health “care.”
It was obvious from the start. I was in the ER with abdominal pain. A CT scan was ordered. When the contrast agent returned with the force of a fire hydrant, a nurse and tech consoled me and contained the mess. When I stopped long enough for a deep breath, Annemarie, my nurse, was already wiping the perspiration from my brow. [more]
Recognizing nurses with Cinnabons and parade floats
As Nurses Week is upon us (May 6-12), many organizations and companies are coming up with ways to honor nurses in any way they can. Whether it is free cookies in the break room, banners hanging from the ceilings, or a placard with quotes from physicians on why they appreciate nurses, most facilities are honoring their nurses. But it doesn’t stop there. Even some companies are honoring nurses.
Take Cinnabon, for instance.
Collaborating with The DAISY (Diseases Attacking the Immune Systems) Foundation, these two companies found a way to show their appreciation for nurses and the extraordinary service nurses provide on a daily basis. During Nurses Week, when a nurse shows their healthcare badge at any local Cinnabon bakery, he or she will receive a free Cinnabon Classic Roll.
“Nurses always put others before themselves, so we’re happy to thank them for their constant ‘WOW’ service,” said Gary Bales, Cinnabon president, in an official statement. [more]
Celebrating Nurses’ Caring: Meaningful Activities for Nurses’ Week
I would like to introduce Wendy Leebov, Ed.D., who is a new monthly contributor to the blog! She will be posting a variety of articles to help educate and empower staff. She comes to the Leaders’ Lounge with more than 30 years experience in communication, training design, and delivery. Welcome, Wendy, to the Leaders’ Lounge!
Every year in May, as Nurses Week approaches, I stop and reflect about the gifts of caring that nurses deliver to patients and families day in and day out. These gifts are remarkable.
While nurses’ acts of caring deserve recognition year-round, there are so many ways to use Nurses Week to express our appreciation and support. Here are favorites from my experience as chief human resources officer at the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network where I worked before leaving to become a full-time consultant (fanatic) on the patient experience. [more]
‘Nurse of the Year’ winner arrested for being fake nurse
In 2008, guests attended a fancy dinner honoring the Connecticut Nursing Association’s Nurse of the Year. The only problem was, the woman wasn’t a nurse at all.
This week, a bizarre news story broke after Betty Lichtenstein was charged with pretending to be a nurse. Following a patient complaint, investigators discovered Lichtenstein, who worked as a nurse in a Connecticut doctor’s office, had no nursing license. Lichtenstein is being charged with reckless endangerment and criminal impersonation. She had been dispensing medications and giving medical advice at the neurologist’s office where she worked.
According to the arrest warrant, she reportedly paid for the 2008 event out of her own money and prosecutor’s say the organization does not even exist. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison.
What is your reaction to this story?
Source: ABClocal.com
Ten lucky nurses win best-selling book from HCPro
As part of our Nurses Week celebration, HCPro, Inc. included a quiz about Florence Nightingale in its nursing e-newsletters. We asked you to send us the answers. The reward for a perfect score? A chance to win a copy of the best-selling Ending Nurse-to-Nurse Hostility: Why Nurses Eat Their Young And Each Other.
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Counting down to Nurses Week: How well do you know Florence Nightingale?
Florence Nightingale is regarded as the founder of modern nursing. She helped establish the profession in its modern form and became a personal hero to nurses of all ages. Her pioneering work during the Crimean War led her to understand that keeping hospitals clean and free from infections improved patient outcomes. Her lifelong devotion to nursing—and her tireless efforts to reform military hospitals—forever changed patient care.
Nightingale is on our minds as we gear up for Nurses Week, which every year ends on her birthday, May 12. So to celebrate Florence and all she has done for nursing, we are giving away 10 copies of our best-selling book Ending Nurse-to-Nurse Hostility: Why Nurses Eat Their Young and Each Other.
To qualify for the drawing, simply provide correct answers to the following five questions about Florence:
1. In what year was Florence Nightingale born?
2. By what nickname is Florence Nightingale often known?
3. During which war did Florence Nightingale learn about the importance of hygiene in controlling infections?
4. What is the name of the book Florence Nightingale wrote about nursing? (Hint: It was published in 1859 and is still in print today.)
5. In what city did Florence Nightingale establish her training school for nurses?
Send entries to kmucci@hcpro.com by May 11. And don’t forget to pass it on to your staff. The 10 winners will be notified by email.
Nurses Week countdown: Save 25% on nursing products
Are you searching for the ideal gift to show your gratitude to a fellow nurse? Is it time to reward yourself for all the hard work you’ve been doing? Whether it’s a resource to help save time or to expand knowledge—and whether it’s for you or a colleague—we’re going to make it easier on your wallet. [more]
Improving the professional image of nursing
As HCPro continues its countdown to Nurses’ Week, our focus moves to improving the image of nursing. Bedside caregivers are at the forefront of healthcare every day as they care for patients and families and interact with physicians and peers. So isn’t it time to set high standards and improve the image of nursing?
During your Nurses’ Week preparation, put celebrating the profession on your list of activities and empower your nurses to take control of their image. [more]
