Change of Shift: Volume 1, No. 25

Welcome to Change of Shift, a compilation of the best of the blogosphere by and about nurses!

The June 14th edition will mark the first anniversary of Change of Shift! This is a shout out to all nurse bloggers and all the doctor bloggers who work with them to send in your best posts by or about nursing for inclusion in this special edition.

Patient bloggers and even non-medical bloggers, that goes for you too! Have a special nurse that you want to tell us about? Send in your story!

Details follow this week’s submissions.

******************************

Let’s start off with submissions from Mother Jones over at Nurse Ratched’s Place. Ever feel like you’re on a treadmill? Check out Lucy, Chocolates and Our Failing Healthcare System. (At least Lucy could hide the extra chocolates in her mouth – what are we supposed to do with our patients?).

Mother Jones dons her real life persona as Terri Polick on her Nursing Jobs.org column, Following the Leaders. This week she profiles nursing leader Teri Mills in The Office of National Nurse. Did you even know there was a Congressional Nursing Caucus? It was news to me, too!

Awesome Mom remembers a special nurse in celebration of a special day. Find out whom at Nurses Day, posted at Adventures of a (Sometimes) Awesome Mom.

*****

As the daughter of a police officer, I have a soft spot for folks that wear the security uniform. As a nurse I have been the recipient of their protection many times. Our resident security officer Forgotten Blue Line describes a horrendous patient chase in A Bad Day. It could have been worse. Much worse.

Nursing scholarships get a boost from a nursing professor in a very unique way. Beth from Pixel RN passes along the details in Climbing for Nurses. This is totally cool! I’m making a donation – let’s help Dr. Hickey reach his goal!

Family nurse practitioner Teresa tackles a subject near and dear to my heart in Pajamas At Work, posted at “The Beast…”. What is going on with that strawberry photo? Somebody get the Center for Nursing Advocacy on the phone. I’m serious! (And thanks, Teresa, for a blog post idea!)

*****

Oh man, I wish I had written this! Girlvet from Madness: Tales of an Emergency Room Nurse gives a wonderful description of…well, just go read it. I can’t add anything to it. The title? ERland Where Everyone Is Happy All the Time. Priceless.

Curious about what it is like to be an RN in the UK? I was! Newly minted UK nurse Ruth N. comes to the rescue in Getting Here – An Approximate Guide to How I Became a UK Registered Nurse posted at where’s my towel?. She is hoping nurses from other countries will describe what nursing is like in their hospitals! (And, of course, submit these descriptions to “Change of Shift”!)

Fellow Bay Area blogger Dr. Enoch Choi sends in a Music Video on the Role of Nurses in the Hospital. These were produced by Johnson and Johnson, a well-established corporate friend of nursing profession, and the post is found at Enoch’s blog, Doctor Geek, MD.

*****

Former RN and current IT specialist Beastarzmom recounts a special pediatric patient in an unfathomable situation. Get your Kleenex ready as you read Horrifying, found at Easy Come, Easy Go. You’ll need it.

Nurse and life coach consultant Hueina Su contributes a beautiful ode penned for this year’s Mother’s Day in Journey Into Love at Intensive Care for the Nurturer’s Soul. Every day is mother’s day!

Given recent events, this post hit me harder than most. Sometimes we find our patients when we least expect it and our most dramatic encounters occur outside of the workplace. Monkeygirl recounts a chilling story of potential disaster in Car Wrecks, found on her blog Musings of a Highly Trained Monkey. I’d call her a Highly Trained Hero, myself…

*****

Between RSV and siblings, what’s a NICU nurse to do? Laura at Adventures in Juggling gives a vivid description in Good Bye and Hello Again. Oh, and find out , how to make an adolescent female never ask you again about your job!

It Shouldn’t Happen in Health Care. But it does, so commiserate with Max E. Nurse on the frustrations of a clinic day in Monday Moaning!

ER Nursey takes care of a patient requiring maximum police presence. Why? Well…try and figure it out with her at What the Heck Did This Guy Do?

*****

The daily nursing columns over at Nursing Jobs. org have taken off in a big way! In addition to Terri, mentioned above, Labor Nurse is looking for posts discussing issues and difficulties faced by medical bloggers. Send your posts to her for inclusion in a special post dedicated to this online discussion. Details in her column Story Telling.

A survey that allows a patient to actually evaluate their nursing care based on what they consider important? I’m not delusional! Really! There is a tool in development to do exactly that! Read what the patients want in this week’s column on nursing research entitled Tell Me What You Want, What You Really, Really Want. (Hmmm…the Spice Girls. I guess I’d be “Blogger Spice”.)

Susan McNicholas remembers her early mentors in her “Penlight” column entitled My Titas and Ates. And yes, I had to do a double take at that title, too…

Checking in with the Medscape Nurses finds Beka rediscovering the advantages of “team nursing” in Two Good Shifts and Julie sharing an impromptu moment of humor with her patient in A Good Laugh.

*****

Change of Shift may be celebrating it’s first birthday with a guest host, but plans have not yet been finalized.

UPDATE:  Nurse Ratched’s Place will host the next Change of Shift!

So…get those posts in the email to Mother Jones at nurseratchedsplace at yahoo dot com, or by using the “Contact” button or Blog Carnival.

Thanks to all those who submitted and to all who support Change of Shift by linking and reading!

Nurses rock!