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Nursing Management Hates a Squeaky Wheel

hospital budget

It’s clear that being and advocate automatically makes you a target, but does it make you un-hirable? Nurse K at Crass Pollination gives an interesting and valid perspective about the Amanda Trujillo case and advocacy. In her opinion, and likely many others, what Amanda has done by advocating for her patient, herself, and all nurses is tantamount to career suicide. She also discusses what happens when nurses within an organization speak up and the measures administration often go through to oil the squeaky wheel.

Child Identity Theft: Protecting Our Kids from Threats

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Having a child adds an entirely new dimension to your existence. You now have another life that you are responsible for. Not only are you tasked with ensuring their basic needs are met, but you are also responsible for protecting them from threats both tangible and virtual. We protect our children from so much so [...]

You’ve Figured Me Out: I Blogged About Nurse Amanda Trujillo’s Cause for Personal Gain

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I’m ruined.

Yep. My blogging career is over.

Wordpress is going to corrupt my database. Studio press is going to take away my Genesis theme. ICANN is going to take away my domain name. The Nerdy Nurse will die a bitter death in the nursing blogosphere.

How to Avoid The Social Media Teenage Monster in Healthcare and Any Other Organization

social media teenage monster

Social media is sort of like a confused teenager at this point. Are you going to create a teenage angel or teenage monster?

Just like any juvenile, there are potentials from success and failures. There are potentials for attention seeking behaviors in either the positive or negative light. Depending on the feedback they get, will often determine the type of behavior they express.

Our healthcare social media teenager has the potential to go in one of many directions right now.

There is such huge potential that exist. There is such a great power and vigor that could be molded and manipulated. You see, there’s something amazing and wonderful hidden. It’s waiting to be guided and lead in the right direction to make a positive impact on the world. You can see a slight glimmer of greatness. A glint of hope and excitement.

Let’s Pin Arizona Board of Nursing and Banner Health: Support Amanda Trujillo Buttons

I support Amanda Trujillo Arizona Nurse

By now you’ve hopefully heard the buzz among the nursing blogosphere and the social media community about Amanda Trujillo, the registered nurse who was fired by Banner Health after educating her patient on hospice options. Banner Health also took action again Ms. Trujillo’s nursing license and she has been unable to practice nursing for the past 10 minutes.

Nurses everywhere are standing with Amanda Trujillo and coming together and putting their money where their blog is…. or something. The point is, the community is supporting Amanda with more than just their words.

This is about more that one nurse. This is about more than one patient. This is about a culture of healthcare that has to change.

Nurse Tapes a Patients Mouth Shut

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Two Utah nurses allegedly taped a patients mouth shut while under their care. Penny Artalejo was in the ICU after taking 20 pain pills due to extreme anxiety related to pain and nausea from a aggravated neck injury. As if living with chronic pain and anxiety weren’t enough, she was basically tortured when she was in the hospital.

This happened about a month ago, but I just noticed in on another bloggers site. Nurse Me | Silence is a Felony

How to Support Amanda Tujillo (Arizona Nurse Fired for Patient Advocacy)

nurse up for Amanda Trujillo Arizona RN

  The nurse bloggers have heard Amanda Trujillo’s story and are responding loud and clear. We have taken her cause to our various social media fortes and are telling the world of her unfortunate story. Patient advocates everywhere have to get a sick feeling in their stomach when they read about a patient’s whose rights [...]

Arizona Nurse Amanda Trujillo’s State Board of Nursing Hearing Delayed for a Psychiatric Evaluation

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  Unfortunately, Amanda Trujillo cannot get back to doing what she loves yet. She just wants to take care of patients. The Arizona State Board of Nursing has delayed her case for 2 months in order to get a  full psychiatric evaluation. When I heard this, I totally thought: “For the Doctor, right?” But alas, [...]

We are Not Robots: How Doing the Right Thing Means Meeting Brick Walls in Humanity and Healthcare

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I’ve been talking with my friend Kate (of Girl Meets Geek) about Brick Walls, a blog post, written on wolfhirschhorn.org: THE REAL STORY ABOUT WOLF-HIRSCHHORN SYNDROME.

You should read the post. It’s powerful.

In summation, their is a little girl who needs a kidney transplant. The doctor refuses to do it for “quality of life” reasons, while also stating that the little girl is “mentally retarded.” But it’s not just a transplant that she will need, it’s life long care, another transplant in 10 years, and likely a future filled with pain, suffering and a full on medical circus. The doctor and the social worker are attempting to explain the reasoning to the devoted parents of this child, but both sides are hitting a brick wall.

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.