Torontoemerg

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MY BLOGS

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 )

Labour Day and the Toronto Sun: An Annotation

Public sector workers are lazy and overpaid parasites sucking at the taxpayer teat. Or something. Please remember to tell us this when we’re doing ACLS on your... Read more
Posted on 05 September 2011 DIARIES, SELF EXPRESSION
The Hockey Season Cometh

Overheard in Fast Track:Grandmother: (pointing to hat on child with a Canadiens emblem) Who are they? Who’s your favourite hockey team?3-year-old child:... Read more
Posted on 03 September 2011 SELF EXPRESSION
Favourite Poems XLI

She Walks in BeautyShe walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her... Read more
Posted on 03 September 2011 DIARIES, SELF EXPRESSION
Hacked And/or Phished

My Twitter account was hacked yesterday evening. Apparently a very good imitation of me sent out a mass direct message. It read “lmao…omg i am laughing so hard... Read more
Posted on 03 September 2011 DIARIES, SELF EXPRESSION
O Why O Why Did I Pick Up The Phone?

Phone rings. I look around. There is no ward clerk in sight. Damn. I answer. “Emergency, Charge Nurse.” “Can I ask you a question?” The voice on the other end... Read more
Posted on 29 August 2011 DIARIES, RANTS N' RAVES, SELF EXPRESSION
Buskerfest

Where I was Thursday. I’m not very good at writing art review-style critiques using high-flown language, but I can say that I enjoyed Buskerfest a lot. There’s ... Read more
Posted on 26 August 2011 DIARIES, SELF EXPRESSION
What I Found in My Garden

A turtle.I remember as a child reading about turtles (or tortoises) in England, where all proper gardens seemed to have one — and being rather charmed by the... Read more
Posted on 24 August 2011 DIARIES, SELF EXPRESSION
Snapshots of Nursing History

Courtesy of the National Archives of Canada.Two nursing students from the John H. Stratford Hospital Training School for Nurses (later re-named the Brantford... Read more
Posted on 24 August 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION
About Jack

Hearing about Jack Layton’s death from cancer driving home yesterday was like a hard punch in the head, and I nearly went off the road. Read more
Posted on 23 August 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION
Choking on Your Own Vomit

Aspirating while more-or-less obtunded because of alcohol poisoning is not pretty, and I’ve seen a few VSAs related to chocking on your own puke that had very... Read more
Posted on 21 August 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION
In Which TorontoEmerg Discourses on Some Aspects of Human Nature

It’s probably more than little trite to say the Emergency Department is a microcosm or laboratory of humanity, but like most clichés it has an element of truth. Read more
Posted on 20 August 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION
Observations and Assessments

Notions to small for a blog post, all in one place.You need to take your pain medication. Once upon a time, TorontoEmerg had some fairly significant surgery on ... Read more
Posted on 17 August 2011 MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION
A Matter of Hours

I was talking the other day to young, surprisingly old-school physician who bemoaned nurses “doing things” she thought properly done by duly authorized medical... Read more
Posted on 14 August 2011 MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION
You Want a Side of Plavix with That?

Now that's good eatin'. Image via Wikipedia Now arriving at the Canadian National Exhibition — wait for it — the doughnut cheeseburger*:The Doughnut Burger... Read more
Posted on 09 August 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION
A Letter to a Younger Colleague

Dear ColleagueYou are fairly new to our Emergency Department, you have done your Emergency Nursing courses and you now have collected a slew of certification... Read more
Posted on 08 August 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION
Shi(f)t Work

Wanderer over at Lost on the Floor makes a point:My manager remarked to me that night-shifters tend to, “have a bit of chip on our shoulders, almost like the... Read more
Posted on 02 August 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION
“I Take One Everywhere I Take My Penis”

25 years of AIDS prevention posters, which is to say, where health education and great graphic design meet. From an exhibit at the Art Directors Club, New York... Read more
Posted on 01 August 2011 LOVE & SEX, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION, SEXUALITY
So When Does This Become a Crisis?

I walked into the Emergency Department one hot morning a couple of weeks ago and found every last stretcher — twenty-five beds, including the two we try to... Read more
Posted on 31 July 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION
Flattery Will Get You Everywhere

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Team TorontoEmerg. First, I’ve been working like a rented mule, and secondly, a colleague whom I trusted and respected... Read more
Posted on 30 July 2011 DIARIES, MEDICINE, SELF EXPRESSION
Hotocalypse

Hot enough for ya?For you non-metric types, that 38C is an even 100F. I think I speak for most of my fellow Canadians when I say, “WTF? Read more
Posted on 20 July 2011 SELF EXPRESSION, WEATHER

Torontoemerg

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LATEST ARTICLES ( 214 )

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