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Is Medication Timing More Important Than Good Patient Care?

Amazon.com Electric Wall Clock used for School, Business and Hospitals: Home & Kitchen

In my years of bedside care I often had to go outside of the 30 minute window for timed medications for the benefit of the patient. Most of the times these times are arbitrary anyhow. If a medication is ordered once per day it doesn’t really matter what time of day the patient gets it. It should fit within their normal routine not within what the pharmacy schedules it. I never once received any sort of reprimand for my medication timing. I often had to request the scheduled times for medications be changed by the pharmacy, but many times I had to give the medication at a different time and documented the reason why.

Post Hospital Musings from The Nerdy Nurse

alton brown youll never get me lucky charms

So now that I have had the surgery and I am sitting at home, tumor free I have a wealth of emotion of commentary I need to filter through. I’ll be honest with the fact that I’m really quite annoyed to have had a brain tumor and had to deal with it. I think most people would be. But I’m also annoyed with other things and I am not sure if I have yet had the time to take into consideration all relevant information to make a decision about how I feel about many of the scenarios brought about by my pituitary macroadenoma and the surgery to remove it.

Why Nerds Makes the Best Nurses

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All kinds of people become nurses, but those with a technical mind and an eye for technology can really make the best kind of nurse. In addition, being a science geek certainly pays off, particularly if you enjoy chemistry, since you’ll have to take about two years of chemistry to get a bachelor’s of science in nursing. The best nurses have a bit of nerd and a lot of good communication skills. Since you have to work in a team, it’s good if you can talk to other people, including patients and doctors. So what other things do nerds have those typical nursing students don’t? Read on.

Bomgar: Compliant Remote Support for Health Information Technology [HIT]

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In terms of remote support for healthcare, Bomgar is an exceptional tool for those in HIT. Having a HIPAA complaint remote desktop support solution for your healthcare organization is key to future success. The audit trail will surely make any HIMS director happy. Your end users will appreciate having their issues solve more quickly and efficiently and reducing the need for onsite visits by as much as 90%! Your COO will be thrilled with the time and cost savings associated with improve productivity of your IT staff. And you will love having the tools to solve the problems and meet the needs of your customers.

18 Patient Identifiers HIPAA Defines as Off Limits

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Hospitals and healthcare providers every start shaking in their boots when they think of social media and healthcare. They freak out about the possibly of a HIPAA violation. But the fear that is struck in many of their hearts is really unneeded. There are 18 patient identifiers that are off limits when it comes to [...]

Looking for a Valentines Day Gift for the Nerd in Your Life? Look No Further

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If you haven’t already lost yourself in the the retail therapy that is Think Geek, you’ve really been missing out. I myself have spent hours browsing the oddities that exist and pining for some of the cooler items of geekery.

To those that are non-nerds, us nerds may be a little difficult to buy for. But I can assure you that if you were to get that special nerd or geek in your life any of the gadgets, gizmos, or trinkets found on Think Geek, they would not be disappointed. What you may think is weird or odd, we think is downright awesome.

Advances in Technology Improve Nursing: SIMCARE Training

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Technology improves the practices of medicine, and nursing. It will continue to advance year after year. In order to prepare students to handle such changes, nursing education needs to evolve accordingly. Embracing these new technologies enables us to become nursing professionals who are prepared to provide the best possible patient care.

Electronic Medical Records: Huge Profits to Be Made in the Push for Meaningful Use

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The New York Times has has an article about Epic’s EMR system titled Digitizing Health Records, Before It Was Cool. Epic is only one of many large EMR vendors who produce software to manage patient medical records and other data related to the overall business and function of healthcare organizations. A few others worth mentioning are Allscripts, Meditech, Cerner, I.B.M., McKesson, Siemens and GE Healthcare. They all have their benefits and drawbacks. Most of them have similar challenges when it comes to overall function and impact on patient care. But most of them are also diligently working to correct their shortcomings.

Why HIPAA Laws Exist: Careless Disposal of PHI, RX pads, and Medications

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While browsing the Goodwill tweeter @Potato_Chip found a box of Journal of American Medical Associations. A sweet find for an MD/PhD student right? Unfortunately, it turned out to be bittersweet though for the healthcare industry and patient advocates everywhere. In that very same box were discarded drugs, prescription pads, and ultra sound records. Many of these records, including ultrasounds, had patient identifiers or protected health information (PHI) intact.

High Fives in Healthcare: Taking Time to Celebrate Your Victories

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I sincerely hope you still feel the rush of endorphins when you get a successful IV stick. I encourage you to smile, be proud, and ask your co-worker for a high five (after a good hand washing of course) the next time you change a particularly challenging dressing. Turn to the side and tell the nurse beside you how excited you are that your patient made the transfer from the bed to the chair successfully. Heck, share with your patient how excited you are that their kidneys produced an adequate amount of volume of the shift. I can’t tell you how happy I’ve had patients get when I complement their kidneys and acknowledge their bodies success and our collective success of a productive and healing shift.