Heart ache, heart break

It's not a song, but heart ache and heart break has been the story of the unit recently.

One of our nurses breaks up via phone with her latest boyfriend. He tells her just had to get back to the babe who threw him to the curb at Christmas when she didn't like the gift he bought. She decided she wants him now, so he calls our nurse to say adios.

Another nurse comes up to me and says, "I have a pain." Which leads to more questions, then a call to the supervisor, and an ambulance shows up and away she goes. Who thinks of a young woman having a heart attack at work? She did.

Finally, one of our friends lost her brother, due to a medical error, on top of another medical error. We are just stunned. They don't want to sue, she says, they just want to make sure it doesn't happen again to someone else.

We just wait to see if we get a new name, like Heartbreak Hotel, anytime soon.  Stay tuned...

Nuggets for August 26

So many goodies, so little time. Here are a few interesting things I've run across in my travels on the internet. Hope you enjoy!

The Bellingham Herald has an interesting piece called Why Medicaid should get out of the long term care business.

The Wall Street Journal online had an interesting article recently called Hospitals Own Up to Medical Errors.

The NY Times has had a few good stories recently you should read if you haven't already:

For Parents on NICU, the Trauma May Last
PTSD is not uncommon among the parents of preemies.

Saving the world's women
This article, from the NY Times magazine, details the plight of women in the developing world.

Guilt and Atonement on the Path to Adulthood
An interesting view on children, self-control and guilt