Dear Boss

I know you are stressed. I'm sure you're kind of on autopilot, but I notice things.

I notice that you said, "You learn this in therapy" in way too many places recently. Yes, people learn things in therapy, but when you have a RN in the room and a therapy student with patients in a education class, you have to make sure the patients understand one thing.

They should learn EVERYWHERE at any time. Yes, everywhere. If they don't, they may not survive.

Nurses work 24/7, and frankly, we should be teaching patients that amount of time, too. It's not just during therapy, or by nurses on breaks from therapy, it's whenever they can. I view saying "hi" to someone in the hall as an education opportunity. Like the fellow who wandered into the clinic at Washington while I was talking to my nurse friend T. He learned something, because I took five minutes to teach him (thank goodness for those brochures in my bag!).

Our therapists might be good, but they are not here 24/7. Our nurses are. Please don't discount them. Empower them. Encourage them to do their best, to learn more, to get certified, to be the best they can be.

Sincerely (because I really do care),

RehabRN

Rolling into the holiday...

And you guessed it, yours truly will be at Madison working when the sun goes down. It may rain in our neck of the woods, so we'll see if there are any fireworks. Thankfully, this year, there isn't anyone with really active PTSD that we have to worry about (sometimes fireworks trigger flashbacks).

For your browsing pleasure, I've found a couple of interesting articles. They're not about fireworks or the holiday, but are interesting nevertheless.

My personal favorite, since I've always wondered about this one: Q: What is the role of probiotics in the the treatment of acute Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea? from the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. It's short, sweet and to the point.

FDA advisers vote to take Vicodin, Percocet off the market.
Will this really happen: Oh, this will be really interesting on our unit. (from www.cnn.com)

Finally, there was a character taking photos of our buildings and grounds recently, but I doubt we will make this list: 20 Most Beautiful Hospitals. I must say, however, that our location and neighborhood is very picturesque, even if our building's not so pretty.

Happy 4th of July to all wherever you are! More to come...stay tuned!