Hope everyone had a wonderful Nurse Practitioner Week! I came across Stephen's entry about NP blogging and had to agree wholeheartedly! I also didn't see that many NP blogs so I started one myself. It has been an interesting journey from a student to a Novice and onto a more experienced NP. I won't say expert though as I am sure that I have room for improvement. Click on the link and see what he says about his start in the blogging world.
Reasons for NPs to Blog | Nurse Practitioner Blog
I agree. I would love to read more about NP's experiences. Maybe one percent of the blogs I read pertaining to health and disease comes from nurses. As a student myself (I start my MSN/Ed next week), I hope to blog more but the fact is I am a contrarian (not by choice but by experience). Here is an example:
ReplyDeleteI have lost 135 pounds over the last year and a half and did it by increasing my fat intake to 50-75% of calories with no exercise (think about the peripheral and central hormonal impact for a moment). I do exercise for health reasons and body composition, not for weight loss. My health parameters have greatly improved reversing HTN, prediabetes, asthma, allergies, GERD, GI problems, arrhythmias, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, and of other maladies. One thing I noticed this week. At 47 years, I no longer have any chronic aches or pains.
Most nurses will not agree with a great deal of what I write but if it makes them think, perhaps it is one more chip in the (iatrogenic) wall. I suspect we, the healthcare system, may be the number one killer in the U.S.
We as nurses (across the spectrum of education) need to look at our current practices with a jaundiced eye. Unfortunately, we are not much more healthy than the population we serve. This needs to change. We need to provide (and model) a genuine understanding of a preventive lifestyle. This requires rethinking our understanding of everything we know and practice as appropriate treatment. Viewing a patient's condition etiologically rather than symptomatically is the primary treatment shift that needs to occur. Will this happen? With some of us it will.
Thanks Jennifer for the shout out! :-)
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work blogging (as always!)
Stephen