Timing your time wasters

I need some nurses to stopwatch themselves and see how many minutes during a 12 hour shift is spent on time wasters. Take a stopwatch and click it when you have to stop nursing to do the things that waste your time for one shift. Thanks everyone for your responses to the time waster question and keep them coming!!!

Time Wasters in Nursing Practice

I'm doing a research project regarding time wasters in nursing care. I need for as many nurses to respond as possible with their list of top 10 time wasters at work. Thanks so much for your help!!

Radiologists readings on mammograms vary by experience

How many millions were spent on this study about the varying reading accuracy based on experience? Like we didn't already know about this???? They should have put the money into real research for a cure!!

Based on a study of doctor's performance in interpreting more than 1 million mammograms from three states and the city of San Francisco, the team found that doctors with at least 25 years of experience who read more than 2,500 mammograms annually and who do general screening are about 30 percent better at detecting cancerous tumors than are doctors who read less than 780 mammograms a year.The more experienced doctors have similarly lower rates of false-positive findings, which save women from unnecessary and invasive biopsies."This study highlighted the extreme variability between physicians in reading mammograms, and any woman ought to know that the accuracy she can expect varies widely," said lead researcher Philip Chu, an epidemiologist and specialist in the radiology department at the University of California, San Francisco.

Click the link for the rest of the story...

Lost the battle to insulin today

It's not been a good day around the house. Today, my husband finally lost his battle with finally having to take insulin for his diabetes. I showed him how to draw up and administer the insulin but he was shaking so hard that I had to inject him. The dosing range doesn't appear to be working yet, so we may have to call the doctor to go to the level two sliding scale. (heavy sigh)
My mother in law keeps calling to ask me if I've checked on him and after the third time, I got a little short. I told her that I understand that she's worried about him but I DO THIS FOR A LIVING!!! I'm a nurse for God's sake!!! She understood (the lovely woman that she is) that I wasn't trying to be mean.
My husband has been my work in progress for the last 8 years. When I met him, his cholesterol was 600, triglycerides was over 3000, and he was hypertensive with early diabetes.. A lovable trainwreck to be sure! Needless to say, he is my driving force to become a practitioner. He has a good doctor who is very sympathetic to noncompliant patients like my husband. That has been his downfall for too long. Time for militant nurse to step up and strong arm him. I have to say that since I've been with him, his health has improved except for the diabetes.
It's a hard road to travel with an Italian who loves to cook.... and I carry on!!!

Nurses fighting for rights

Another battle for prescriptive rights! It will be nice when we can all practice to the best of our abilities. We don't want to be doctors. We just want the right to use our educations to benefit our patients. I think that we should work as partners, not adversaries in this respect.

You know you're a NP if...

I found this post at Nurse Practitioner World.. Thought it was cute.. See if you can add any of your own to the list!!

Washington NPs gain Full Practice Autonomy

With her signature on HB 1479 and SB 5516, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire eliminated the last legal barrier to fully independent practice for the state's nurse practitioners. Beginning next month, NPs who prescribe controlled substances will no longer be required to maintain a joint practice agreement with a physician.

Marty Couret, NP, legislative committee cochairman of ARNPs United of Washington State (ARNPs United), told ADVANCE that the joint practice agreement requirement was a compromise reached by nursing and medical interests in 2000 to pass a bill giving NPs prescribing authority for schedules II through V (Wash. NPs close to nixing joint practice agreement. ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners. 2005;13[4]:10,12). The requirement was effectively a formality, Couret explained, but one that could be difficult — and expensive — for NPs to perform.

Legislators were convinced that the joint practice agreement could be safely eliminated after ARNPs United and other nursing organizations collected data showing that about half the state's NPs currently prescribe controlled substances with no resulting deaths or morbidity and with no disciplinary actions. The Washington State Medical Association objected to the bill as a change in NP scope of practice.

After fierce debate in the House of Representatives and in the press, the legislation passed the House by a 74-23 vote. The Senate voted unanimously in favor of NP autonomy."

I sure hope that Florida will catch up to the other progressive states when it comes to NP autonomy.. It will be interesting to watch and see how well it works..

Free Medical Information for Health Care Providers

Here's a link for free medical information for Doctors. Why not Nurse Practitioners??
Hmmm?? Anyway.. Here's to free information!!!

Patient Comments on Disease Process education

I have noticed over the last few years that patients are starved for disease process education. Time and time again, I have heard "You have told me more in the last 15 minutes about my disease process than I have ever heard from my doctor!".
I think that the key to compliance is knowledge of the processes. Patients really want to get better for the most part. They need to understand how it all works in order to justify their compliance with treatments. Keeping the information simple helps them to see how their bodies work. I understand the need for speed when it comes to patient care due to the time contraints placed by the powers that be (insurance, DRG's and so forth) but if we take the time to educate, I feel that we will have a better relationship with our patients. Any thoughts on the matter?