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Our friend RN Deborah Burger updates us on all things “Occupy,” progress on the financial transaction tax, the invisible SUPER COMMITTEE AND MORE…Deborah was one of many nurses from around the world that gathered at the recent G-20 summit in Cannes. Read more…

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As a nurse do you ever shy away from researching new medical information? It’s a time issue and a lot of nurses “run for the hills” from diving in to the medical journals—including our Nurse Talk hosts. Well, maybe those days are over. Dan and Casey visit with entrepreneurial RN, Stefanie Modri. Stephanie has just introduced a new nursing and health research weekly text service called PrecisionRN.

Our friend RN Deborah Burger updates us on all things “Occupy,” progress on the financial transaction tax, the invisible SUPER COMMITTEE AND MORE…

And how many nurses have been patients a time or two? What do you recall from your experience in the hospital? Well RN and author Bobbi McCarthy is a contributing writer on the Nurse Talk blog and has written a great article called Through the Eyes of a Patient | What Will Your Patients Remember? It’s a great story and reminds us what it is like to be a patient. Dan and Casey talk to Bobbi from the comfort of her “blog cabin” in the beautiful state of Maine. Read more…

With up to two million British workers expected to join the biggest strike in the United Kingdom in a generation, the National Nurses United announced that it will hold support rallies for British nurses and other workers in six U.S. cities on Wednesday, Nov. 30.

National Nurses United has created an online tool that you can use to send messages of  support to the millions UK public sector workers – including tens of thousands of nurses – who are on strike Nov. 30. The strike is to protest the British government’s assault on workers’ pensions. You can learn more about it this previous post.

Visit NNU’s site, send a message. Read more…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:43 — 49.2MB) | Embed

Blog author Bobbi McCarthy joins us.

How many nurses have been patients a time or two? What do you recall from your experience in the hospital? Well RN and author Bobbi McCarthy is a contributing writer on the Nurse Talk blog and has written a great article called Through the Eyes of a Patient | What Will Your Patients Remember? It’s a great story and reminds us what it is like to be a patient.

And, check it out…as a nurse do you ever shy away from researching new medical information? It’s a time issue and a lot of nurses “run for the hills” from diving in to the medical journals—including our Nurse Talk hosts. Well, maybe those days are over. Dan and Casey visit with entrepreneurial RN, Stephanie Modri. Stephanie has just introduced a new medical research app called Precision RN.

Our friend RN Deborah Burger updates us on all things “Occupy,” progress on the financial transaction tax, the invisible SUPER COMMITTEE AND MORE…

From our friends at National Nurses United:

With up to two million British workers expected to join the biggest strike in the United Kingdom in a generation Wednesday, Nov. 30, the largest union of registered nurses in the U.S. announced today that it will hold support rallies for British nurses and other workers in six U.S. cities Wednesday.

U.S. nurses, joined by other union members in Washington and several other cities, will hold noon rallies at the British Embassy in Washington and at British consulates in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Orlando, and San Francisco.

The actions come amidst huge corporate cash reserves on both sides of the Atlantic while government officials in both nations push reductions in retirement security and other cuts. In the U.K., some 30 unions representing nurses, teachers, paramedics, civil servants, and other public workers will protest plans by the conservative government to cut public pensions. In the U.S., support rallies will also remind the public of threats to Social Security as well.

U.S. rally locations, all actions at 12 noon local time:

• Washington, DC – Embassy of the United Kingdom, 3100 Massachusetts Ave NW
• Boston – Consulate, One Broadway, Cambridge
• Chicago – Consulate, 625 N. Michigan Ave.

Read more…

Most of the time, nurses are also employees. We go to work, and we leave work. While we are at our workplace, we practice nursing. Does that mean that I am only a nurse when I am on the clock and cease being a nurse when I am not at work? When that time card gets punched as I leave my workplace, do my nursing skills remain behind or do they come with me?

My husband is a Christian pastor, and we (along with our daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters) are currently living in the Eastern European country of Romania. Our mission here is open-ended, meaning we have no idea how long we will be here. This also means, at least for the time being, that my American registered nursing license is nothing more than a piece of paper. I have no workplace in which I can use my nursing skills. Am I still a nurse?

To address this question, we need to look at what nursing really is. Is nursing a job or a way of life? For example, we have all received the after-hours phone calls…from neighbors, family members, or friends who are asking if we can give them advice based on our medical knowledge. Read more…

When I graduated nursing school wayyyyyy back in 1991, I was hired immediately by the hospital I currently work for. I began my nursing career on a med-surg floor working the day shift alongside the nurse who was chosen to be my preceptor, Laverne Pellitier. I had never met Laverne prior to this and I was very nervous, not only to meet her but to “be a real nurse.”

Laverne was a seasoned nurse, very professional and very nice. Her nursing skills were top notch and I learned sooooooooo much from her. She met me with a smile and a detailed packet of what I was to learn and how long I had to learn it. I received a full 6 months of training alongside Laverne. When the 6 months were up I truly felt ready to be on my own and to go to the night shift…Laverne had done her job and I was confident in my skills. Now this isn’t to say there weren’t moments of fear, tears and pain BUT there were more moments of joy, laughter and learning.

I wish I could say that every nurse I worked with during those first few weeks was kind…but that isn’t the case. Read more…

Republished from National Nurses United’s Blog
By Rose Ann DeMoro
November 10, 2011

Amidst the scourge of inequality sweeping the world, marked by continued profits, pay-outs and record levels of cash hoarding — the spoils of the 1% — one group has come forward with a remedy, refusing to stand down. Nurses from four continents gathered at the G-20 Summit last week to tell world leaders that time is running out: revenue is needed now and the starting point is a global finance tax.

That call for remedy is resonating. It is loud and it is getting louder, and half measure legislation is not a substitute for a movement.

Just last week, in addition to the actions at the G-20, 2,000 people, including RN members of National Nurses United joined by the AFL-CIO and other unions, environmental and community groups, and participants from the Occupy Wall Street movement, marched on the White House and Treasury Department.

Like the nurses at the G-20, they were calling on the Obama administration to support a tax on Wall Street, the U.S. version of a financial transaction tax to raise desperately needed revenue to heal our economy. Similar marches occurred in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Read more…

AND NOW—drum roll please—it’s time for a new feature on Nurse Talk! Out with the old and in with the new—-it’s time for THE GOLDEN BEDPAN AWARD! That’s right—EACH WEEK OUR GOLDEN BEDBAN AWARD GOES TO A DESERVING PERSON OR ORGANIZATION THAT HAS SOMEHOW PUT THEMSELVES IN THE NEWS OR OTHERWISE COME TO LIGHT FOR A CHARITABLE ACT OR CAUSE. THIS WEEK’S GOLDEN BEDPAN AWARD GOES TO…LISTEN THIS WEEKEND AND FIND OUT.

If you know someone who should receive an award for their generosity or contribution please let us know. 1.800.977-1863 or emailpattielockard@yahoo.com with the subject line: GOLDEN BEDPAN AWARD.

  Read more…

Comedian Lynn Ruth Miller stops by. It’s ALWAYS fun, a bit on the crazy side and hard to distinguish who’s saying what and/or why they’re saying it at all. Lynn Ruth Miller also talks about home remedies. Her views are NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THIS RADIO SHOW….please don’t try these at home (or anywhere).

We also explore  a case of retaliation against nurses by D.C.’s largest hospital, Washington Hospital Center. In October of 2010 the nurses at the hospital voted to join National Nurses United. Story ends happily ever after? Casey and Dan talk with WHC RNs Raj Rajini and Peggy Dinkel for a brief on the issues.

AND a little lighter conversation with Greg Allen. Time to travel you say? Sandy beaches, beautiful mountain resorts, tropical islands? You get paid to go? Thats right—how about the life of travel nursing…a new twist and just maybe your next gig. Greg is the CEO of Cirrus Staffing, one of the largest most successful travel nursing companies in the U.S. Aloha STAT!

This show was originally aired March 26-27, 2011.

  Read more…