For the last two semesters I’ve been working in the nursing simulation lab at a community college. A colleague and I have been running pediatric acute care simulations because there aren’t any hospital inpatient units in the area. One of the simulations involves a child who is brought into the hospital with epiglotitis. The manikin is cyanotic and has drool (personal lubricant) running down his chin. His parent tells the nurses several times he cannot talk and he must be sitting upright in order to breath. Despite all the symptoms of epiglotitis the students often do not recognize it.
After the simulation debriefing, my colleague tells a real life nursing story. One morning, after report she entered a patient room. In the crib was a six month old baby. He was sitting straight up in bed, leaning forward with his chin and neck extended forward as far as he could get it. His hospital gown was soaked with oral secretions and he was gray. She grabbed the suction catheter and then remembered the ‘four D’s of epiglotitis’. Instead of suctioning the child she called the doctor who came and intubated him. The child was started on antibiotics and went home in two days. Over and over the students remark how that story drove home the simulation for them. They too are eager to share stories that are prompted by the simulations.
In her article ‘Narrative Pedagogy, Technology, and Curriculum Transformation in Nursing Education’ Ruth Grendall, DNS, RN reminds us of the impact story-telling has on learning. “It promotes a personal association as the listener visualizes the story’s characters and surrounding events. Listeners often have vivid recall of narrative details long after the story is told. The meaning of the story is discovered through reflection and interpretation”. Dr. Grendell suggests narrative pedagogies “promote holistic thinking” and improve learning outcomes when used in tandem with technology. This certainly seems to be the case in my simulation lab. I too, feel that personal stories provide a humanistic dimension to the technological world of simulation.
Gina Thomas, RN
Grendell, R. (2011). Narrative pedagogy, technology, and curriculum transformation in nursing education, Journal of Leadership Studies 4(4), 65-67. doi: 10.1002/jls.20197

For our colleagues, for our daughters, nurses need to speak out! Equal access to contraception should not be based on the political or religious views of an employer! Give your employer your feedback on this important issue.
Especially for those of us who are nurses working within the healthcare industry, we CAN influence this issue. Speak out now for women's contraceptive rights.

Hello Melissa,
I want to move too. Did you get a job first or are you moving then plan to look for a job? Don't mean to seem nosey, I just can't figure out how to get job before I move because I would like to move 2-5 hours from where I live now. I have been injuried and not working for 1 year 3 months. Might have to have surgery too. I am single parent, my credit was good til my injury so I'm worried about finding place with bad credit(I have talked with lawyer who recommends filing bankrupt chapter 7,they assured me that they can write letters to landlords and that it has always helped clients get into home etc..). I don't know how to get job 1st before I move with interviews,child in 4th grade,If get job 1st that would be very hard to move and start new job in time frame employer would want me to start, but if I move and cant find job that would be a sad story.lol. I just want a fresh start, find a calm relaxing community with a beautiful view. I know that I could not do shift work or prolonged standing, I worked in Home Health which is not standing all day so I feel I can do that,but if I have the surgery I couldn't work for 6-12months. Dag, after seeking your advice,reading my own pitiful life it looks like I have to stay put.I was single parent of three and put self through Nursing School ages of kids at that time newborn to 8 yrs old. Now they are grown, but want to move out since they don't look like they are moving out any time soon.lol. 2nd marriage separated with a 10 yr old, it was easy when I was younger just did it without this anxiety. Now I feel stuck in a rut! My injury was on my last day of a job I had for 12 years, so new job didn't work out. Worker's comp not wanting to pay medical expense or salary so I can have the surgery and recover. I don't go to the Industrial Commission til April. So my jobs are limited due to injury. Now I'm scared to have surgery being my injury was 1 year 5 months ago, I think of all the complications that could go wrong with my surgery. If I don't have surgery I will have to wear brace and deal with pain and this type of injury will cause me to have long term chronic problems. I only have an associate degree but have 16-17 year experience. When I was in nursing School they told us BSN and Associate degree won't make a big difference and LPN jobs would be eliminated, but jobs I can physically perform require BSN and I see more job offers for BSN, LPN and Nurse Practioner can't afford college but I am trying to get Case Manager Certification. What I really want to do is work in fraud prevention and making sure patients are recieving care they deserve. After our company got bought out by a big Corporate company, I didn't like the fraud and I felt that patients became numbers(I'm not the only one that feels this way,its nation wide) I am good at advocating for patients and even employees,but it seems a lot of places are just concerned with making stockholder's happy, so I made the decision to leave a job I loved, but the stress and ethical issues it was causing me health issues. Who would think my last day I would get hurt and put my whole life on hold? Oh well, didn't mean to give you my life history, but if you or anyone has advice I would appreciate it. It is getting me down, overwhelmed and feeling hopeless! I feel like I need someone to throw me a rope and pull me out of this hole. My life seems too complicated to think a stranger could help me figure it out,LOL. But I do feel better venting to you. FYI if you are out of college >10 years you have to take EVERYTHING OVER like English etc...So if you or others read this don't let 10 years go by without taking college classes. My daughter is smart she got her Associate's degree in business or just general college but she has been taking a class a semester,starting a year or 2 after getting Associate's degree,she said it is less complicated staying enrolled because she had planned to continue to get BSN but didn't know what she wanted, now she is in college full time for Emergency Management Disaster Planning and loves it. Just thought I would share that info with yall, because Nursing trends have changed since I became RN and the educational request for jobs has changed too. I definitely don't want to start ALL OVER! Good luck with your move and career!

I was drug tested at work and tested positive for marijuana.My DON said she has to report this to the BON.Does anyone know what kind of penalty I should expect?