Wednesday, February 27, 2008

"Can the Complaining!"

So says Windsor Regional Hospital employees who seem to have created a new trend in healthcare with their anti-complaining, anti-negativity campaign.
Their slogan is:
"Can the complaining. Nix the negativity.
Cut the criticism."


[My thoughts run to Donald Sutherland's character in the movie "Kelly's Heroes". "Oddball" I believe his name was.]

Click on the title to read the article in the Windsor Star by Monica Wolfson, published Thursday, February 14, 2008.

Stress, Emotional Intelligence and Performance in Healthcare

White Paper by Lorenzo Fariselli, Joshua Freedman, Massimiliano Ghini MBA,& Federica Valentini.
Publication Date: February 25, 2008
Abstract:
"As in many fields, healthcare is a complex and stressful environment where interpersonal interactions are of paramount importance. This study finds that in a sample of 68 professional midwives and obstetricians in a large urban hospital, emotional intelligence is strongly predictive of performance (66%), stress is slightly predictive (6% to 24%), and emotional intelligence is predictive of stress management (6.5%)." Click title to read the white paper.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Online CEU's: A Directory for Nurses

This free online Continuing Education Directory service allows you to compare online classes from different CE providers. Grouped into areas of specialization, the directory focuses on nurses and other healthcare professionals.

Also keep in mind that EBSCO's Nursing Reference Center has a built-in CE module for those of you who have access to that database.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Directory of Masters Program Nursing Schools

The "Masters in Nursing" website provides a comprehensive, easy-to-navigate directory/guide to aid potential students in locating schools and finding answers to questions about current degree differences and specifications.[Limited to the United States].

Monday, February 11, 2008

Cultural Competence and Quality of Care


University of California TV; 55 minutes; aired 10/24/2007 ~
"This program explores the concepts of cultural and linguistic competency in delivery of healthcare services and in healthcare workforce development. Dr. Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, of the UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities presents an outline for a culturally proficient healthcare system."

This is just one of an extensive list of excellent vodcasts, available through UCTV & the Med Ed Hour; aimed at physicians, nurses and other health care professionals who wish to expand their knowledge & keep current.
The Med Ed Hour airs on UCTV every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4:00 to 5:00pm (local time, GMT-4).

Monday, February 4, 2008

A New World: Told by an IUON Alumnus

I still remember the flight to St. Kitts in the turbo jet that probably just held around 12 people max. We were a mix of nursing students, medical students, veterinarian students, professors, and tourists. For some people they have been living on the island already and they were just returning from Christmas break, but for myself and a few others we were embarking on the trip of a lifetime. I remember sitting there with mixed feelings, in disbelief that I just traveled across the States and over the Atlantic to a tiny little island which I had never heard of until a month prior. At the same time my adrenaline was pumping, my eyes were wide open and I knew that this flight was either going to make me or break me.

Once I landed I was greeted by Mr. Donley Saunders and my new roommate from Florida. Since I didn't arrived at my apartment until late in the night, I just unpacked and laid in bed contemplating about the days to come. I arrived at IUON the next morning to sign up for classes and saw a few people I had met on my flight. Later I found out that a person I met on the plane would soon become one of my best friends and my future roommate in Paducah, Kentucky; the place where we would graduate from our nursing program. That night we met up with a few others and became tourists. We all had dinner together and we just about went to every hot spot in St.Kitts. We were all strangers coming from across the United States and now we were all lost in another county. We left our family and friend’s behind and entered a new world. We had a choice, to be lost by ourselves or join together and be lost together. We decided to join together.
The greatest friendships were formed, we were inseparable, but most of all we became each other’s family. We studied together, we cooked together, we explored white sand beaches together, and most of all we struggled together. For awhile we almost forgot we were living on an island. We spent every minute of the day quizzing each other on the cranial nerves, staying up all night preparing nursing care plans, performing head-to-toe assessments on each other, and even learning how to deliver a baby. The school work became vigorous and extremely demanding. We knew if we had any chance of surviving nursing school we had to work even harder. We had to make more flashcards, and utilize our time even better. We had to somehow incorporate school time and our recreational time together or we would all go insane with the rigorous amount of work. So to keep our sanity we brought our studies to the beach. Now we were 'livin' de life', sun tanning and learning about the cardiovascular system at the same time.
Life just seemed so surreal, looking outside our classroom window and watching as the waves broke on the shore.
Twenty months later and it was all finished. I still remember stepping off that first flight at St. Kitts like it was yesterday.
I currently work in the ICU at a major hospital in the Bay area. I could never have imagined making over $50 per hour or over $90,000 in my first year as a RN!
The people we met and the memories we made will never be forgotten. IUON gave us the opportunity to do what people only dream about doing. We did it, we conquered, and we passed boards.

by Roland Joon Gabriel
Feb/2/2008

Friday, February 1, 2008

HIFA 2015

Healthcare Information for All by 2015

“Applying what we know already will have a bigger impact on health and disease than any drug or technology likely to be introduced in the next decade."
Pang T, Gray M,Evans T. A 15th grand challenge for global public health. Lancet 2006; 367:2846.

"Information poverty in the ‘information age’!"
"We live in the information age, but the reality is that tens of thousands of people die every day, often for the simple reason that the parent, carer or health worker lack the information and knowledge they need to save them. And for each person who dies, many others suffer serious harm due to ineffective or unsafe care."
"People are dying from lack of knowledge"
Dr. Neil Pakenham-Walsh

The HIFA 2015 goal:
By 2015, every person worldwide will have access to an informed healthcare provider.

The Campaign framework is based on
Communication, Understanding and Advocacy.

Communication: Promoting international, regional and national cooperation HIFA 2015 brings all stakeholders together around a common purpose: healthcare providers, producers of health reference and learning materials, librarians and information professionals, health researchers, policymakers, development workers and the general public.

Understanding: Building a picture of information needs and how to meet them HIFA 2015 harnesses experience and expertise to create a web-based resource specifically about information needs and different methods to meet those needs.

Advocacy: Seeking and advocating cost-effective solutions
HIFA 2015 promotes the development of evidence-based solutions to address the information and learning needs of healthcare providers, and advocates for the political and financial commitment needed to support information and learning initiatives worldwide.

Click to listen to the Web Conference recorded January 31, 2008
entitled "Knowledge Management for Public Health ~ WHO"
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