Posted by: NurseKeith in nursing, case management on
Jul 28, 2008
Please
click here to read my newest post on the challenges of case management, posted today on my blog, Digital Doorway.
Posted by: NurseKeith in Untagged on
Jul 25, 2008
A new blogging network for doctors concerned about the politics of healthcare has been launched. Medpolitics.com is "a blogging platform and a social network maintained for and by US physicians. Our primary focus is on the politics of healthcare. If you are an American doctor who feels strongly about the challenges our profession is facing, consider joining our community."
I will be interested in following the course of Medpolitics' politics as we near November 4th. The medical profession has a great deal at stake in the upcoming presidential election, and I know for a fact that doctors populate every possible stripe of political conviction and affiliation.
It should be an interesting few months, and whether we as a country truly benefit in the end is entirely a subjective determination.
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NurseKeith is a writer, blogger, consultant and nurse. Feel free to visit his blog, Digital Doorway .
Posted by: NurseKeith in blogs on
Jul 23, 2008
Many thanks for Kim over at
Emergiblog for the following post:
"
Congratulations are in order for nurse blogger colleague Keith of Digital Doorway! Keith has won the ValueCare, ValueNurses Nurse Blogger Scholarship! I’ll let Keith describe what he’ll be doing with his new award: Basically, I was chosen as the one nurse blogger in the United States who will receive a generous stipend to blog several times each month on issues salient to healthcare reform and the current crisis in healthcare as we prepare for the presidential election. It is a very big task and I’m still preparing mentally for the challenge. I would appreciate any guidance or advice, as well as links to articles or websites that might be fodder for my writing process.
"I’ve been a fan of Keith and his writing for a long time, and if anyone can make sense of our health care issues as we go into this election, he’s da man! And trust me, there is lots of fodder out here , so be sure to send Keith any information you think he can use!
"As if this weren’t enough, Keith is working with a new nursing community entitled “NurseLinkUp”. I just checked it out, head on over and say hi!"
Posted by: NurseKeith in scrubs on
Jul 18, 2008
After being a nurse for twelve years and never working in a hospital (yes, it is possible!), I have never had a job where I was required to wear scrubs or a uniform. For all of my twelve years, I've worn street clothes---"business casual", as they call it---and while I often complained about having to iron my cotton pants and shirts every week, I never considered the fact that scrubs were a possible fashion choice. Still, in a community health center setting a few years ago, I was indeed on occasion known to wear a (grey) lab coat when the manager was around (only to slip it off as soon as she was gone).
Interestingly, even as a visiting nurse about nine years ago, I refused to wear scrubs of any kind, and often stained my clothes with Betadyne and other fluids as I dressed wounds and tended to patients. For some reason, I felt that wearing street clothes would make me seem more accessible, less clinical. I considered whether patients would feel more comfortable if I did indeed look more clinical, but I had high approval ratings and how I dressed seemed of little consequence at the time.
Now that I'm working for a visiting nurse/hospice agency, I note that all of my new colleagues wear some sort of scrubs to work. In hospice, we're often dealing with leaky catheters, PCA pumps, enemas, disimpactions, and wounds, thus the idea of wearing scrubs that never need ironing is truly a revelation to me. Having just completed eight years as a Nurse Care Manager where I wore relatively nice clothes to work (lots of ironing, as usual), I am now somewhat thrilled to simply throw on some scrubs and head out the door in the morning. Be that as it may, I'm a firm believer in not wearing scrubs in public once one has been in contact with patients and their body fluids, thus I have a practice of changing clothes before I leave for home at the end of the day. I also notice that I don't necessarily want my profession to be so easily identifiable as I walk down the street or go to the store. My anonymity is still important to me.
If I worked forty hours a week as a hospice nurse, the scrub thing might sometimes get a little stale, but as a per diem worker, the novetly of wearing those wash-and-wear utilitarian garments is truly that---a novelty whose time has come.
Posted by: NurseKeith in nurse blogs, blogs on
Jul 16, 2008
Does anyone out there want to start a blog? I've been blogging since 2005, and while it is mostly a personal journey of discovery, blogging about nursing and healthcare has led to many new friendships and professional opportunities that I could never have imagined.
My personal blog, Digital Doorway , runs on a simple, easy-to-use platform called Blogger, which is owned and operated by Google. However, the easiest place to begin and get your blogging feet wet is here on Nurse LinkUp.
We here at Nurse LinkUp want this venue to be the place where nurses can share their stories, get support, ask and answer questions, and create a community where we know we're understood. Compassion is born of compassion, and this is a place where our stories are welcome and we can rest assured that other nurses will understand what we go through day in and day out.
If you'd like to start a blog on Nurse LinkUp and want some advice, please email me internally right here on NLU. Otherwise, simply click on "My LinkUp", then select "My Blog", and then "Write New Entry", and voila!
Blogging can be a rewarding experience, and blogging here on Nurse LinkUp---where a ready-made and understanding audience is waiting for your stories---makes it even easier to begin. So, please consider the invitation!
