Archive for July 17th, 2009

Internet Education and a changing belief among traditional nurse educators, comment

July 17, 2009

l solidly report the view that nursing has evolved into the twentieth centuries. While it is now possible to do most of our education on line, one should give credence to students who are family women and men who still hold jobs and go to school. Then most educators had negative or substandard opinion about on line degrees but now, nurses are virtually coerced into going to obtain BSN degrees as soon as possible. Many have the same responsibilities and we are thankful that the due recognition that online classes deserve have finally emerged. My workplace for instance encourages as many nurses as possible to initiate their education online. We are grateful to our predecessors who worked hard to recognize that nurses can have options to still go to school while raising families and going to work. Online is the way to go. Motivation is the key to success. One has to stay on task because the luxury of converging in a classroom is eliminated. The course outline is listed and the responsibility is on the student to turn in works as at when due. Same degree of commitment is expected through online classes and as at traditional schools. Nurses have embraced this method of knowledge acquisition and it is well documented.

Original Post:
July 13, 2009
Title: Internet Education and a changing belief among traditional nurse educators, comment
Finally! nursing has almost entered the 21st century but still lags behind in becoming united in recognition of what the gold standard should be for entry-level nurses. For years, nurses were told they had to have a BSN in order to advance their careers. For as long as I can remember working full time, raising a family, and attending classes at night was just too much pressure for a majority of nurses to endure. Therefore, many nurses accepted that they would never be able to advance their education level above the ADN or Diploma Degrees. Thankfully, the Internet has allowed a large number of nurses and other professionals to advance their educational level while still working full time and managing a household. I must admit that at first I did not think degrees obtained online was as good as or equal to the ones earned at traditional brick and mortar institutions. Since having to personally balance work, education, and family my attitude has taken a 360-degree turn. The online degree is just as or more challenging than the traditional route because individuals must manage their time more efficiently, stay focused, and self motivated. The class work is just as challenging if not more and demands sacrifices to be made in order to succeed. For all those who still think online degrees are less important and easier to obtain than traditional ones should try taking an online class to evaluate for themselves whether or not this degree should be weighed the same as the traditional degree.

Original Post:
June 29, 2009
Title: Internet Education and a changing belief among traditional nurse educators
I can’t help but be amazed how far nursing has come in accepting Internet based BSN programs. I spent the past week at a top university meeting with the director for their nurse anesthesia program. In the past I recall nurse educators that held a belief that if one didn’t get their BSN in a traditional university it was something less that a "real" degree. But these same educators hurt themselves when they view that a BSN is the gold standard as opposed to ADN/Diploma nurses. The problem became when those of us with life responsibilities could not drop everything and attend traditional classes so we didn’t try to obtain our BSN. To maintain the BSN as the gold standard for registered nurses the traditional nurse educators had to accept non-traditional programs. The director I met with not only embraces a BSN earned via the Internet but voiced belief that a BSN learned through independent learning is more challenging due to the discipline it takes to complete such programs. Finally, nursing is entering the twenty-first century. I’m grateful it did during my career; it makes my ability to achieve my goals more realistic.

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The 6 rights of medication administration, comment

July 17, 2009

Coming across this post, l recognised the device (scanner) which the writer says her facility uses. On the face value, JAHCO will applaud this device because it acted as if the cases of med errors have been eliminated. Yet as the writer said, it still goes back to knowing your patients and knowing your medications. Nurses are the final check point in the health team providers list. We are in between the ordering physicians and the releasing pharmacists. Nurses have to see that the parameters for which the drug is being administered is not in violation. For instance, nurses know by common sense that once the med is due, the scanner will scan and does not tell if the parameter for using a betablocker is checked for not. It is up to the nurse to make sure that the blood pressure is stable and the heart rate is within normal range. Despite these technologies, we are still required to do our checks before trusting the device.

Original Post:
June 30, 2009
Title: The 6 rights of drug administration
The 6 rights of drug administration did not prevent the cause of death in one particular case. The problem lies with the incorrect labeling of medication. The key is to trace what happened, review for any outlying causes or "what happened" and correct that as soon as possible. While the nurse I am sure will have to live with that the rest of her life, and that’s not easy, I feel that she has comfort in knowing she did not cause this. Many hospitals are using the computerized medical dispenser where you scan the patients ID bracelets then you scan the drug that is being administered which is on a time schedule also. The thinking is this will correct and help make sure the 6 rights of drug administration are followed, while this looks good for JACHO, the bottom line is a human is still keying in the information and we all make mistakes. I am not so sure the technology we have today in practice is as good as the old fashion, "know your patient and the medications being administered".

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Documentation of bedsores, comment

July 17, 2009

As a wound care champion at my place of work, l got excited reading the original post on bedsore docs. Most hospitals are anal about Hospital Acquired Pressure Ulcer, (HAPU). In dealing with hapu, nurses have to do a thorough investigation on assessment once we get new admits. In the past, patients who are triaged in the emerg room are often not properly assessed leaving room for errors while the floor nurses have to pick up the slack. Once at a meeting, most nurses were amazed at a case where a patient had about 10mm open sore which was never documented. The hospital lost their reimbursement because it was treated as HAPU rather than CAPU (community acquired pressure ulcer.) In quality management, our hospital decided to collect nursing volunteers who will meet monthly to act as buddies to other nurses while doing initial assessment. This has paid off because for the past year, we did not record any HAPUs .

Original Post:
June 17, 2009
Title: Documentation of Bedsores
Joint Commission and CMS (Medicare) has set a Patient Safety Goal of not allowing bedsores to occur during hospitalizations. My institution uses technology to document existing wounds at the time of admission assessment. We are a totally computerized charting hospital. When we identify an existing wound, we bring up a screen of the body and insert a photo of the wound into the patient’s medical record. This feature allows us to prevent lawsuits and receive the correct reimbursement of that patient’s hospitalization. Health assessment no longer has to rely on a verbal or hand written dictation to describe history and physical assessments!

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Posted in Computer Charting, Health Assessment | Leave a Comment »

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