Although nurse vacancy rates are currently low (due to the economic recession) and nurses are finding it more difficult to find jobs, we are still facing a severe nursing shortage. According to Peter Buerhaus’ projections, we will continue to experience a shortage of registered nurses reaching 260,000 by 2025.

As our schools of nursing strive to produce new graduates to meet the growing demand, they are stretched to capacity and unable to accommodate all qualified applicants. At last...

Bear with me as I deliver another critical commentary on the latest
series starring TV RNs.

Nurse Jackie and HawthoRNe were bad enough, but at least they aired on cable to a limited audience. Mercy, a prime-time show that premiered Sept. 22, appears on NBC, a major network, free of charge.
The main character, Veronica, played by Taylor Schilling, carries enough personal baggage to warrant a separate series about her emotional life. An Iraqi War veteran with post traumatic...

When I think of Carolyn, I remember her smile and her courage. Hobbled by breast cancer for years, it could not suppress her spirit.

I think about her especially during October-- National Breast Cancer Awareness month—when we are reminded once again by the National Breast Cancer Foundation of how important early detection is.

Carolyn was my brother-in-law’s older sister. I had long admired her when I was growing up in our small town in Iowa. In my eyes, Carolyn had...

I graduated from an ADN program in 1982 at the age of 30. I had four children from ages 12 to 3. It was a stressful time for me. Trying to make good grades, completing all the homework took up so much of time I felt guilty for the time I lost with my children. I then went to work a month after graduating in the Emergency Room. This was my not idea, but the Director of Nurses decided I "looked like I would do well in the ER and cross train in ICU" I was in shock, but too intimidated to...

Been crazy busy with adminsitering hundreds of flu shots for young and old. More facilites mandating shots for the students too. We are almost out of in-active and cannot order more because they are working on H1N1. The rest will have to wear masks for clinicals. We do have plenty of live FluMist left. I took mine about 2 weeks ago, gave to my husband, grandaughter, mother, sister, and grandfather. My sister said her arm was sore for 2 days. No one else in family had any reactions. Out of the patient...

Advocates for preventing swine flu transmission are suggesting a hand bump instead of a handshake. Fine. But in my mind, this presents many questions and the huge potential for social dilemmas and discomfort.

We all know the hand bump, seen often on the athletic field. It’s bending the arm at the elbow and raising the wrist to knock knuckles with a similarly close-fisted colleague. That works well on the football field as an expression of mutual acknowledgment for a job well-done....

Representative Joe Wilson’s outburst during President Obama’s address to Congress, Serena William’s explosion of anger on the tennis courts at the US Open, and Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards have prompted lots of discussions about civility.

Those of us in healthcare have long experienced incivility and even bullying in the workplace. I have experienced my share of (a) being shut out of the clique, (b) being excluded from...

Last night, I was a guest at the mosque I drive by every day on my way to and from work. Long shrouded in mystery, I was able to see and experience what goes on there and – yes – even become a part of it.

My Muslim friend, an RN, had invited me to the religious observance of Iftar, the communal evening meal that occurs after the sunup-to-sundown fast every day during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Gihan did not arrive right away and I was early. Swathed from the...

With a year of experience under our belts, a nurse colleague and I relocated to begin a new phase of our professional careers. The year was 1982, nurses were in demand, and we could set our own schedules. Several facilities offered us good positions but we turned them down thinking that we shouldn’t have to rotate shifts. After three months of unemployment we changed our minds.

Working as a staff nurse, I lost count of how many family dinners, holiday gatherings, and other events...

Hello Fellow Nurses,
Sometimes in life everything goes smooth. Othertimes, the road is rocky and we find ourselves in a state of transition. I recently moved my mother and grandfather in with me. Things in general are going well but, he is experiencing some new confusion that has never occured before and 2 weeks ago grandpa fell making the transition from the foyer to the living room. So, x-ray and MRI later he has hairline pelvic fracture. So, though parts of me is excited about the ability...