Grand Round is up at Medview

Take a gander at another great Grand Rounds!

Having Some Much Needed Fun

Thanks to Mediblogopathy, I found a little fun thing to do! Click on the title and have some fun yourself!

Grad School Burn Out

I have been trying to figure out how to juggle working full time, doing clinicals, trying to spend time with my husband. He's feeling very neglected and he's right. I don't know how people do this every day. I keep counting the days (haven't gotten exact number yet because I'm too lazy to count that far) until graduation.

I need a vacation to the mountains again soon. Unfortunately, when I get a couple of weeks between semester, the kids go back to school! So the plan now is to bank up my PTO hours and take a month off after I graduate. Sweet bliss it will be, if I can work it out.

Lots of people at work keep asking me what I will do whenever I graduate. I'm not even sure myself. I'm using clinicals to test out potential employers. I have had a great experience so far with a female doctor who started out as a nurse. I firmly believe that all doctors should be nurses first so they can see what we see on a daily basis. The office that she has is also listed as a rural facility so I could possibly get some of my loans paid back by the government. I will be looking at a few more potential prospects in the next two semesters.

So, what does one do to fix grad school burnout? Well.. Some things that I'm doing are sitting here typing this post, watching "The Quiet Man" with my husband, and later on... Fireworks of the personal kind...

As always, thanks for the continued support that I've been receiving from my loyal readers toward paying for school expenses!

Nursing Union Suing HCA and other hospital companies for keeping wages too low

A nursing union is suing several hospital companies due to alleged collusion to keep nurse's wages too low. You can better believe that many nurses will be watching this from afar very closely.
Read here


Technorati Tags: nursing unions, lawsuits, nursing wages

Change of Shift off to a great start!

I almost forgot to put a link up to the new nursing blog carnival started by Kim at Emergiblog!
Sorry I'm a little slow sometimes!!

Grand Rounds are Up at Dr. Serani's Place!

Go see what a great job Dr. Serani did with Grand Rounds!

Circumcision decision

I was surfing at blogexplosion and came across this post. It really made me think about this very important decision. I have three sons. The first one I had circumcised because it was the "thing to do" back in the 80's.. I didn't do any homework on the subject beforehand..
My youngest two are not... My husband and I thought it would be more appropriate to give them the decision to have it done or not..
I worried about body image but my teenageer hasn't had any issues so far..
What are your thoughts??
Before you comment, click the link and read her post.. It's full of very compelling information..

Human Papillomavirus Infections

Some may be wondering why this particular topic for a blog post? My daughter just called me last night and told me that she has just been diagosed with HPV and has had an abnormal Pap smear. She is distraught, of course. I told her that she must continue to be viligant in her annual exams and that she will never know who she was infected by. I was lucky as a teenager not to get any STDs (only by the grace of God) I wasn't very smart about things back then... I hope the following information will help others to understand how HPV is transmitted and how it can effect cervical health in women...

HPV is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that is caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). Human papillomavirus is the name of a group of viruses that includes more than 100 different strains or types. More than 30 of these viruses are sexually transmitted, and they can infect
the genital area of men and women including the skin of the penis, vulva (area outside the vagina), or anus, and the linings of the vagina, cervix, or rectum. Most people who become infected with HPV will not have any symptoms and will clear the infection on their own.

Some of these viruses are called "high-risk" types, and may cause abnormal Pap tests. They may also lead to cancer of the cervix, vulva, vagina, anus, or penis. Others are called "low-risk" types, and they may cause mild Pap test abnormalities or genital warts. Genital warts are single or multiple growths or bumps that appear in the genital area, and sometimes are cauliflower shaped.

Most HPV infections have no signs or symptoms; therefore, most infected persons are unaware they are infected, yet they can transmit the virus to a sex partner.

Most people who have a genital HPV infection do not know they are infected. The virus lives in the skin or mucous membranes and usually causes no symptoms. Some people get visible genital warts, or have pre-cancerous changes in the cervix, vulva, anus, or penis. Very rarely, HPV infection results in anal or genital cancers.

Genital warts usually appear as soft, moist, pink, or flesh-colored swellings, usually in the genital area. They can be raised or flat, single or multiple, small or large, and sometimes cauliflower shaped. They can appear on the vulva, in or around the vagina or anus, on the cervix, and on the penis, scrotum, groin, or thigh. After sexual contact with an infected person, warts may appear within weeks or months, or not at all.

There is no "cure" for HPV infection, although in most women the infection goes away on its own. The treatments provided are directed to the changes in the skin or mucous membrane caused by HPV infection, such as warts and pre-cancerous changes in the cervix.

All types of HPV can cause mild Pap test abnormalities which do not have serious consequences. Approximately 10 of the 30 identified genital HPV types can lead, in rare cases, to development of cervical cancer. Research has shown that for most women (90 percent), cervical HPV infection becomes undetectable within two years. Although only a small proportion of women have persistent infection, persistent infection with "high-risk" types of HPV is the main risk factor for cervical cancer.

The surest way to eliminate risk for genital HPV infection is to refrain from any genital contact with another individual. For those who choose to be sexually active, a long-term, mutually
monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner is the strategy most likely to prevent future genital HPV infections. However, it is difficult to determine whether a partner who has been sexually active in the past is currently infected.

For those choosing to be sexually active and who are not in long-term mutually monogamous relationships, reducing the number of sexual partners and choosing a partner less likely to be infected may reduce the risk of genital HPV infection. Partners less likely to be infected include those who have had no or few prior sex partners.

HPV infection can occur in both male and female genital areas that are covered or protected by a
latex condom, as well as in areas that are not covered. While the effect of condoms in preventing HPV infection is unknown, condom use has been associated with a lower rate of cervical cancer, an HPV-associated disease.

Technorati Tags: HPV infections, human papillomavirus, STD, cervical cancer risk

Use of NPs and PAs in Hospitals

"The demand for doctors is growing and the supply isn't keeping up. Hospitals
have found a solution to the problem by hiring nurse practitioners and physician
assistants -- midlevel practitioners who serve to augment physicians in
practices and hospitals", says Jerry Siebenmark. "

"While most NPs and PAs work as employees of private practice physicians, hospital executives and health care administrators say they expect their use within hospitals to continue to increase. That's because hospitals will be dealing with a growing population of older and sicker patients at the same time shortages of physicians across the country emerge."

Dr. Joe Davison, a Wichita family practitioner and president of the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians, says midlevel practitioners are an effective extension of the physician.
Hospitals will rely more and more on PAs and NAs as the country wrestles with a physician shortage that, according to the Council on Graduate Medical Education, will peak by 2020, with a deficit of 96,000 physicians. "They absolutely are and they will play a key role in all types of health
care, city and rural," Davison says. But, he says, they are no substitute for physicians who have more training and education. "This job of taking care of people with illness is so difficult, you cannot get enough training, even doctors," Davison says. "It's just such a large body of information, it's so unpredictable and there are so many variables. There has to be a team approach, an understanding of duties and responsibilities."

NPs and PAs are being used in hospital settings to cover the shortage of medical providers. In my facility the ER Fast track is run by NPs who collaborate with the MD working in the regular ER at the time. This helps keep the ER from being overrun by common everyday complaints and let's the truly emergent cases be seen by the physicians much faster. This is a win-win situation for everybody with less waiting time in the waiting rooms and less stress on the regular ER staff.
The concept of a hospitalist NP will be a new one in my facility but I hope it will be implemented soon. More and more of the physicians that I work with are recognizing the merits of a collaborating NP on board both in the office and the hospital.


Technorati Tags: nurse practitioner, physician assistant, nurse, hospital, medicine

Supporting each other in the Nursing Blogosphere

I have to give an extra special shout out to Kim at Emergiblog for contributing to my school fund. She wrote a nice post about the subject. We should all attempt to help each other out when we are surfing the nursing blogs.. Click the title and go say hi!

Looking For Ways to Pay for School Besides Working

Hello to all.. As you can see from the changes in my template, I am working on ways to make money instead of working so many hours at the hospital. I have various promotions on the page varying from Google Adsense, Amazon.com to a new Pay Pal Donation link (the one just under the view my profile).. This semester hasn't been bad because the clinical hours are 135.. But the next two will be due the hours jumping to over 200 hours each semester..
Trying to study, do homework, work full time as a floor nurse, and attempt to maintain some kind of family interaction is really difficult as a student. I'm sure that many of you are having the same issues..
I also started another blog on Blogcharm which pays for each time the blog is viewed instead of link clicks.. Because it's new, not many readers yet and some of you have already updated your links. Thanks if done already! It's over there on the sidebar under My Other Blog...
Do you click on the advertisements on other nurse's blogs to support them or not? If not, what would make you do so? What types of links would you like to see? Would you rather just make donations per Paypal than see the ads?
Let me know what you all think! (This includes my silent readers out there!)
Thanks for your input!!

Technorati Tags: nurse practitioner, nurse, medicine, google adsense, Amazon, PayPal

Another Juice for the Baseball Players

Approval of Omnitrope, made by Sandoz, was announced Tuesday in a statement on the FDA’s Web site. Omnitrope, also known as somatropin, is a hormone used to treat growth disorders in children and adults.

This will be great for the children who need a little help if they have been tested first and show a deficiency. But... I hope it can be easily tested in baseball players. Lord knows there enough juice (steroids) in the players now!

It's a shame that the players have to take drugs and human growth hormones in order to beef up their stats. It gives our youth the wrong message that it's okay to cheat and subject your body to abuse in order to be popular and get all the contracts for sponsors.. ARGH!!