Far too many students have received rejection letters recently from their choice of nursing school. Nursing programs are overcrowded and most have long waiting lists. Each year they turn away hundreds of qualified students due to lack of funding, and a lack of nurse educators. Sadly, the shortage of nurses also affects the number of nurse educators. Low salaries and poor benefits add to the problem. The Title VIII Nurse workforce Development fund is always a victim of budget cuts and nurses have to fight just to get the same funding as the previous year let alone an increase that would help resolve a nursing shortage! There are however, a…
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Students Learn About Political Activism First Hand
Student nurses at Mt. Wachusett Community College recently took the issue of a National Nurse to the Massachusetts state legislature. They contacted their state representative, Christine Caravan, BSN to assist in this matter. Rep. Caravan took the matter to the MA state legislature and on March 27, unanimously both the House and Senate branches passed a resolution encouraging the U.S. Congress to enact legislation to create an Office of the National Nurse. The students were acting on their belief that elevating the current Chief Nurse Officer position in the USPHS will help to make nurses more visible and prominent in producing a cultural shift to prevention in health care. At…
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Understanding the Nursing Process
Are you struggling with the Nursing Process? Most student nurses do, and for some, the process takes quite a while to become comfortable with. For RNs, nursing is not all about the task at hand such as a dressing change, or passing medications. The nursing process is about seeing the whole patient and the factors that lead him to your door so to speak. Why is this middle-aged gentleman with CHF back again so soon? Why hasn’t this young woman learned about her diabetes and how to prevent such high blood sugars? The process is about being a detective and finding ways to educate your patients and help them to…
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Head to Toe Assessment
A head to toe assessment involves assessment of the 11 body systems including Neuro, Respiratory, Circulatory, Integumentary, GI, GU, Reproductive, Muscular, Skeletal, Endocrine, Lymphatic/Immune systems. One of my most popular articles has always been the Head to Toe Assessment. Student nurses and nurse educators have used this page quite often, and I have posted it on [UPDATED LINK] ANewNurse.com today. I have added a few recommended books at the bottom of the page for further reading on assessment skills for nurses. Photo: Dilated pupils by Kathy Quan