Torontoemerg
MY BLOGS
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Those Emergency Blues
http://torontoemerg.wordpress.com/
Shorter: Emergency Department Charge Nurse. Blogger. A bit jaded. Recovering cynic.
Longer: This blog favours a vision of nursing that values nurses and allows nurses to provide safe, competent and evidence-based care to their patients, and to practice at their full potential.
I view the health care system with a great deal of scepticism; I’m especially suspicious of consultant-driven “reform”, managerial incompetence and boobery masquerading as being “change leadership”, all forms of human-resource-speak that devalues and demeans nurses, and general wastefulness.
But I am not willing to drink the Kool-Aid of nursing leaders (and managers) who think if we wish hard enough and have positive, nice thoughts, we’ll live in a happier world. That’s called magical thinking, and it’s commonly practised by children and psychiatric patients. Simple enough, eh?
LATEST ARTICLES ( 214 )
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Nurse Julie of Ward Three
“Julie Doran had been very happy in the busy, peaceful, atmosphere of the geriatric ward, caring for her aged patients and on the friendliest terms with the... Read more
Posted on 26 April 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Union Works to Make Teddy Bears Safe Everywhere
Teddy bears win one in Ottawa (click the link and scroll to page 9), a fail for the nursing profession:Thanks to the lobbying efforts of one Local... Read more
Posted on 24 April 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Sex, Vampires and Dentistry
Not a combination you would normally put together yourself, but I have to admit, it made me laugh. Read more
Posted on 23 April 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Thrilled to Death
The ride of your life in the form of euthanasia roller coaster. A thought-experiment where art, pop culture and end-of-life issues meet. I know some people who... Read more
Posted on 21 April 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Clinical Days: A Short History
Some random reflections on my clinical progress as a nursing student. 1990s.First rotation: Medicine. A “heavy” floor. Mostly strokes, CHFers, Unstable Anginas. Read more
Posted on 20 April 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Empathy
Empathy is the hallmark of every nurse’s practice. It’s the concious act of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes in order to validate the patient’s... Read more
Posted on 19 April 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Persistent Infiltrate R Lung
This is what the diagnosis said on the emergency facesheet, after I got my post-pneumonia chest film taken at work.The atelectasis in the left lower lobe has... Read more
Posted on 18 April 2011 DIARIES, SELF EXPRESSION -
Observations and Assessments
Notions too small for a blog post all in one place.April Foolishness. I guess I got — or more likely annoyed — a few of you with my little April Fool’s prank. Read more
Posted on 07 April 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
The Nurse’s Social Media Advantage
Congratulations and multiple woots to Rob Fraser, who’s published his book, The Nurse’s Social Media Advantage. The publisher’s blurb:Social media has reached... Read more
Posted on 06 April 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Pee-new-moe-knee-a
That’s right. Bilateral even.I was having this funky back pain radiating around to my chest for a couple of weeks and a really strange shortness of breath that... Read more
Posted on 05 April 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Embrace Life. Wear Your Seatbelt.
I’ve linked to this ad before, and I’m doing it again because it was awarded Osocio’s award for the best advertising campaign of 2010. As an ED nurse, it’s... Read more
Posted on 02 April 2011 MARKETING & ADVERTISING, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Favourite Poems XXXIII
Three short poems with divers themes on Eliot’s cruellest month.Always Marry an April GirlPraise the spells and bless the charms, I found April in my arms. Read more
Posted on 02 April 2011 DIARIES -
Uterus and Other Bad Words
More April Foolishess, but real this time, from the Florida legislature. Here a blow was struck for the advancement of science by making “uterus” is a dirty... Read more
Posted on 01 April 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Hospital Replaces Nurses with “Super Housekeepers”
Hospital officials in Trout Creek, Montana fired all their front line nurses yesterday. Yep, all of ‘em. According to Avrile Fisher, the chief nursing officer... Read more
Posted on 01 April 2011 MEDICINE -
I Love All My Children Equally
In the Resus Room the other day, the patient an elderly female patient presenting with a vague chest pain and a pair of (overly) doting children, a son and... Read more
Posted on 22 March 2011 DIARIES, SELF EXPRESSION -
The Best Moment in Nursing
We drank wine, too much wine, after dinner, laughed too loud, made music with the rims of the glasses and watched the candles splash light on the wall with... Read more
Posted on 21 March 2011 DIARIES, SELF EXPRESSION -
What I Did Yesterday
Where I grew up, it was traditional to start seeds on St. Patrick’s Day. Which is what I did: tomatoes, peppers both hot and sweet, eggplant, basil — no such... Read more
Posted on 18 March 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
The Cure for the Post Below
Shamelessly stolen from Head Nurse who shamelessly stole it from Jezebel. My question: where can I get some, and how soon can they be delivered? Read more
Posted on 17 March 2011 HUMOR, RANDOM -
How to Break a Nurse’s Heart
A few nights ago I was working in Fast Track, where the walking wounded go. It was insanely busy. Volumes were high, many of the patients were unexpectedly... Read more
Posted on 17 March 2011 DIARIES, SELF EXPRESSION -
Artifact
Was cleaning house the other day, and in the bottom of a jar full of old coins and religious medallions sent me by a Carmelite nun of my acquaintance (she’s... Read more
Posted on 14 March 2011 DIARIES, SELF EXPRESSION