The Importance of Professional Meeting for Nurses

I attended the School Nurse Symposium 2011 today held at the Knapp Medical Conference Center. The Texas School Nurse Organization (TSNO) sponsored this event, which was primarily attended by the Rio Grande Valley school nurses. This year’s theme is, ‘Opening Doors to Better Health’. This symposium is organized to provide relevant nursing topics that impact school nursing and to utilize specific strategies and applications in the clinic practice. The presentations are geared towards improving patient outcome through the use of improved assessment, effective communication, and appropriate application. The eight-hour course agenda include discussions on Assessment of Childhood Illnesses, Anger Management, Obesity/ Diabetes, and Essential Fatty Acid and Health. Door prizes and exhibits were included that made the activity more fun and entertaining. This nursing professional meeting is indeed successful.

The symposium is a great learning opportunity for the participants. I personally learned the value of school nurses in our community. Nursing profession is aiming towards improving health. I realized that school nurses, like any other areas in nursing, are constantly facing an ever rising demands in dealing with health care needs of not just school children but organizational staffs as well. I was able to learn the nature of school nursing and its current trends, issues, and challenges. I learned about relevant nursing topics that influence school nursing. I learned the importance of thorough assessment and screening to detect childhood illnesses, the proper techniques in dealing with an angry child, the effective ways in managing childhood obesity and diabetes, and the benefits of essential fatty acids in our health. And because the presenters are Rio Grande Valley physicians, I was able to absorb some specific strategies and applications in the local clinic practice. Most importantly, I learned the importance of professional organizations in our nursing profession. I realized that professional organizations such as TSNO are promoting goals to assist nurses toward professional growth and development. I learned that professional advancement is necessary in our community. Attending to professional meetings and taking part in professional organizations in nursing are vital in improving the delivery of our health care system and the global health in general. The learning experience from this seminar is meaningful to me. I am looking forward to attend more professional meetings in the future because I learned from this symposium that participation in professional organizations is one key to achieve advanced practice nursing. I am very grateful for the success of the symposium.

Clot Prevention After Surgery

Earlier today, I received a new post laparoscopic appendectomy patient from recovery room and immediately assessed the patient and monitored for stability of the patient's condition. I always make sure to apply anti-embolism stockings and sequential compression devices (SCD's) to all my post operative patients as preventive measures for clot formation. It is of great importance in my nursing profession to prevent possible complications of surgery and one thing to avoid is clot formation. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and embolus are common complications of patient after surgery and may even lead to death if not prevented. Blood clot and embolus are absolutely preventable. The use of anti-embolic stockings and sequential compression devices is important in preventing such post operative complications. Certain nursing considerations need to be observed when applying these clot prevention measures such as the right stocking size to be applied and frequent observation of the neurovascular status of patient's extremities. Ensuring patient safety is important in applying any mechanical devices for the patients and so making sure SCD machines are functioning properly is great concern. Administering prescribed anti-coagulation at appropriate time such as heparin and lovenox as DVT prophylaxis is another effective way of preventing clot formation in patients after surgery. Adhering to hospital policies and procedures are vital to ensure patient safety and this includes the proper way of applying anti-embolism stockings and sequential compression devices for clot prevention.

Regulating Intravenous Fluid Rate in My Workplace

Today, I am giving intravenous fluid to my patient using dial flow regulator  because I cannot find any infusion pump anywhere in the whole surgical tower. I just realized the importance of having infusion pumps or dial flow regulators in my nursing profession. I remember in my early days in nursing as a student, we manually regulate the clamp of the tubing to infuse the rate of intravenous fluid per minute. It took several time of experience to be able to estimate the drops per minute to be administered. It was a challenging experience to manually adjust infusion rates to be able to get the exact rate of administration. With technological innovations, delivery of intravenous fluids and medications is made easier and safer. Dial flow regulators and intravenous infusion pumps are widely used nowadays in administering intravenous fluids and medications. Dial flow regulator is handy and affordable.  Advanced infusion system like intravenous pump delivers the exact rate on infusion but may sound expensive to most people. Specific tubings and machines or any devices for intravenous administration that meet quality standard must be utilized to safely give the best possible care for the patients. It is prime important for nurses to administer intravenous fluids and medications safely and conveniently. More advancements in technology are needed in nursing profession. Delivering compassionate patient care with safety and effectivity in mind is a great focus in nursing as our profession.

Social Media in Nursing

It is very amazing to see technological advancements in Nursing nowadays. The innovation of wireless technology and the internet are widely used today in the health care setting. It changes the landscape in medical as well as nursing practice. Social networking sites such as Facebook, blogs and Twitter are increasingly utilized to connect more people electronically anywhere around the world and used such technological advancements to disseminate health promoting initiatives. Online health care socialization is initiated to improve people's health. There are websites that help form active groups that promote social discussions and further enhance health knowledge. Like for instance web MD that provides important health information to promote health and prevent disease occurrence. Social media serve as powerful tools  for online communication. One surgeon in my workplace uses text messages to give medical recommendations or follow up patient progress. Facebook and blogs are used to communicate patients concerns to their friends and relatives just as one patient of mine told me that he uses these as tool to exchange input in their health conditions. The patient claimed that it is a way of getting social and emotional support that patients need most.

It is good to hear positive contributions in social media in relation to our Nursing profession. But as patient advocate, stressing the importance of protecting health information and keeping patient privacy is vital. I want to emphasize that social networking also presents privacy and liability issues especially, for health care providers who are using social media in medical and nursing professions, to be extra careful not to violate any Privacy Rule. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is regulating Protected Health Information. Always make sure no Privacy Rule is violated.

Social media has great potential in improving the level of our health care today and in the future. It help brings our nursing profession to a next dimension. Let us all use it effectively and safely.

Glucometer Measures Your Sugar!

Glucometer is widely used in the medical-surgical department where I currently work. I can say that glucometer saves lives based on hospital experiences. My certified nurse assistant (CNA) informed me this morning that the patient's blood sugar was 48 mg/dl. I immediately went to assess the patient and found to be unresponsive. Dextrose 50% was administered intravenously and after a few minutes, my patient started to regain responsiveness.

I am amazed by this technological innovation. This piece of equipment is capable of measuring accurately blood glucose level. The result is automatically relayed to the laboratory through interface. Fast results can be viewed in the monitor. Previous blood sugar levels can be accessed to show specific trends which can be used to adjust insulin dosage required. This is very important in managing and controlling diabetes which is considered as common preventable disease prevalent here in the Rio Grande Valley. Proper self-management of diabetes is

recommended nowadays and glucometer is very vital in empowering patients for self-monitoring blood glucose level. Glucometer is very beneficial in hospital setting as well as home usage.

Trends of Laboratory Values and Your Health!

Regular checking of laboratory result trends is a priority in my workplace. Lab values tell the health condition of every patient. Today, I encountered a patient who's hemoglobin level suddenly dropped to 7.2 gm/dl today following a recent pilonidal cyst removal. I immediately reviewed previous laboratory results and found a significant decline that made me suspect for blood loss. I directly called the surgeon and a blood transfusion was administered soon after. The patient was hemodynamically stablilized after the blood administaration.

Trends in laboratory values determine individual's health. This leads in identifying nursing needs and initiate plan of actions to implement evidenced-based nursing interventions to improve patient's level of health. Trends of laboratory results, radiological studies, vital signs, intakes and outputs are easily accessible nowadays. Constant monitoring of this data are important in nursing practice to detect sudden changes in individual's health condition. I am very thankful for today's positive learning experience.

Pulse Oximeter Saves My Patient!

I have admitted a post appendectomy patient today with continous morphine Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) infusing. As endorsed by recovery room nurse that an additional dose of morphine 10 mg was given intravenously per advise by the surgeon. Vital signs monitoring was continued in patient's room. I always use continous pulse oximeter machine in patients with PCA's. After few hours, the patient was observed to have increasing lethargy and steadily decreasing oxygen saturation down to lower 90's and so, I decided to stop the infusion and immediately notified the surgeon. A significant dose of Narcan reversed the sedation status. Oxygen supplementation was maintained and the patient's oxygen saturation was stabilized. Utilizing pulse oximetry in nursing practice makes a big difference in caring for patients especially post surgeries who are under anesthesia and narcotic medications. This is one such important machine that saves lives.