In doing some "catch up" with some things on my desk the other day I was reminded that it's that time of year in many of our professional nursing organizations to ask members to renew memberships and send in dues...and so I've been taking care of the necessary paperwork to do just that. And as I've done so, I've thought about what a privilege it is to have these nursing organizational memberships, and to be asked to renew and stay on, or to be encouraged to bring a new member, or maybe ...

The NY Daily News reported recently (Jan. 26) that anti-smoking laws are being given some of the credit for the fact that New York City life expectancy numbers have hit an historic high. Its residents are living longer (a baby born in 2007, the report said, can expect to live 79.4 years) and the experts say that the city's tough smoking laws may in part have contributed to this. Although we all know there are numerous factors that bring about increased life expectancy rates, to the degree that those ...

As nurses, we all know a lot about diabetes, and as a result of the press it's been getting as its incidence rises, increased numbers of lay people are becoming familiar with it as well. But there's more and more to learn about the disease all the time, and in the January 25th Nursing Spectrum, we'll have a cover story and upFRONT on diabetes that can help you with some of that learning. Regardless of your nursing specialty or area of practice, based on the number of patients the disease affects, ...