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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Friday Night Flicks: Undercity
A very cool, slightly edgy exporation of New York City’s underbelly, guided by guerilla historian Steve Duncan. Duncan’s website can be found here. Worth... Read more
Posted on 21 April 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Nurse Love, The Real Kind
Some real nurse love — and incidentally reminding us why we have the most tremendous profession in the world and how we each day make a powerful difference in... Read more
Posted on 20 April 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Breastfeeding Makes Sane People Crazy
Why does any discussion of breastfeeding makes people a little insane? I don’t exclude myself: even I get a little agitated. Here are some examples of what I... Read more
Posted on 17 April 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
The Insanity of It All
Warning: my semi-annual politicalish post. When I read this, I admit I gawped:$26,659: Our 2011 Medical Expenses Yes, you read that right. Read more
Posted on 16 April 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Favourite Poems LII
The execution of Sir Walter Raleigh. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Raleigh wrote this poem as he awaited execution, the victim of the wrath of a monarch and of some... Read more
Posted on 14 April 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Observations and Assessments
NOTIONS TO SMALL FOR A BLOG POST, ALL IN ONE PLACE, A.K.A. THE PERIODIC LINK DUMP.Nursing Related:New (to me) Blog Shoutouts —“This blog hopes to present a... Read more
Posted on 13 April 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
More on When Labelling Patients Causes Patients to Die
In the comments WhiteCoat (of WhiteCoat’s Call Room fame) strenuously objects to my take on the Anna Brown case:Wow.Someone on my blog suggested that I check ou... Read more
Posted on 12 April 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
On Your Feet, Nurse, the Doctor’s Here!
Should nurses give up their chairs for physicians? A nursing professor named Susan Kieffer writing at NurseTogether.com thinks so:If you have been a nurse for... Read more
Posted on 10 April 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Just Because I Don’t Remember You Doesn’t Mean I Didn’t Care
In the Emergency Department where I work, the number of patients we see pushes 200 some days. We assess and treat a lot of people, mostly for lumps and bumps,... Read more
Posted on 09 April 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
A Poem for Easter
My own, with at least Easterish themes of death and rebirth. Originally published on 7/10/10.VSAYou came to us, no vital signs, no breath Found dead, or nearly... Read more
Posted on 08 April 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Easter 2012
Happy Easter.One thing you may or may not know about me, dear readers, is that I’m a retired Catholic. Like many other people, I left because what some Catholic... Read more
Posted on 08 April 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Favourite Poems LI
Easter in PittsburghEven on Easter Sunday jungle of lilies andferns fat Uncle Paul who loved his liquorso would pound away with both fists on thewhen the... Read more
Posted on 07 April 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
When Labelling Patients Causes Patients to Die
I found this story how a homeless woman died very disturbing:Anna Brown wasn’t leaving the emergency room quietly.She yelled from a wheelchair at St. Read more
Posted on 02 April 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Best Laid Plans of Mice and Bloggers
Here I was planning to post on multitude of topics, including some stuff on breastfeeding, restraints, the duty to care, more twists and turns in the Amanda... Read more
Posted on 30 March 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Fat Nurses Need Not Apply
A Texas hospital has declared war on the scourge of obese nurses:A Victoria [Texas] hospital already embroiled in a discrimination lawsuit filed by doctors of... Read more
Posted on 27 March 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Arizona is Where Educating Patients is Bad, Bad, Bad: An Amanda Trujillo Update
Just a few words about Amanda Trujillo. Jennifer Olin at RNCentral.com has detailed at the latest twists and turns of her case. Read more
Posted on 26 March 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Scripting Nurses is Bad for Patient Care
This might be a new low in nursing management. Instead of actually providing caring, empathy and compassion, some hospitals would like nurses to provide a... Read more
Posted on 25 March 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Favourite Poems L
Yes, the fiftieth edition of Favourite Poems. You might wonder why a blog about nurses and nursing (and some other stuff, but mostly nursing) does poetry. Read more
Posted on 24 March 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Friday Night Flicks: Eye of the Storm
I know this short/music video by Lovett was criticized by some for being essentially plotless and shallow, but for me anyway, creating a backstory to the nth... Read more
Posted on 24 March 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION -
Out of Sorts
Don’t know if it’s the crazy weather, but just feeling a little whacked today. Got up this morning, all burstin’ to write an epic post about the RNAO’s new... Read more
Posted on 23 March 2012 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION