-- Nursing is an ART

Nursing is an art:
and if it is to be made an art,
It requires an exclusive devotion
as hard a preparation,
as any painter's or sculptor's work;
for what is the having to do with
dead canvas or dead marble,
compared with having to do
with the living body,
the temple of God's spirit?
It is one of the Fine Arts:
I had almost said,
the finest of Fine Arts.

- Florence Nightingale

Artwork by: Lois Cristel Flores

Feb 11 2011 a historical day for all Egyptians .. Feb 11 2011 another historical day to salute all the Nurses who always spend there time and strength to take goodcare of the most important persons in there lives: Patients ^_^      LC

" Nurses are Unique"

                            Photo taken by: Ms. Windy Caballero

Just as the petals of every flowers,blossom into their own unique formation,so do nurses have their own individual styles. There's no quite like you. You have blossomed into a very special nurse. Nurses are unique (:

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Oath taking of the Executive officers with Hon Julius Toress ( Philippine Ambassador to Jordan ).

 

CPR for Children

CPR for children is similar CPR for adults. The compression to ventilation ratio is 30:2. There are, however, 3 differences.

	1) If you are alone with the child give two minutes of CPR before calling 911
	2) Use the heel of one or two hands for chest compression 3) Press the sternum approximately one-third the depth of the chest

				c/f: LEARN CPR

STANDARD CPR IN ADULTS (CPR IN THREE SIMPLE STEPS)

1. CALL Check the victim for unresponsiveness. If there is no response, Call 911 and return to the victim. In most locations the emergency dispatcher can assist you with CPR instructions.
2. BLOW Tilt the head back and listen for breathing.  If not breathing normally, pinch nose and cover the mouth with yours and blow until you see the chest rise. Give 2 breaths.  Each breath should take 1 second.
3. PUMP If the victim is still not breathing normally, coughing or moving, begin chest compressions.  Push down on the chest 1½ to 2 inches 30 times right between the nipples.  Pump at the rate of 100/minute, faster than once per second.
CONTINUE WITH 2 BREATHS AND 30 PUMPS UNTIL HELP ARRIVES NOTE: This ratio is the same for one-person & two-person CPR.  In two-person CPR the person pumping the chest stops while the other gives mouth-to-mouth breathing.

Tiotropium Plus Glucocorticoid Effective in Asthma Patients

MONDAY, Sept. 20 (HealthDay News) -- The addition of the long-acting anticholinergic agent tiotropium bromide to an inhaled glucocorticoid is superior to a doubling of the dose of the glucocorticoid in improving lung function and symptoms in patients with uncontrolled asthma, and it is non-inferior to the addition of salmeterol, according to a study published online Sept. 19 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with a presentation at the European Respiratory Society Annual Congress, held from Sept. 18 to 22 in Barcelona, Spain.

In a three-way, double-blind, triple-dummy crossover study, Stephen P. Peters, M.D., of Wake Forest University Health Sciences in Winston-Salem, N.C., and colleagues compared the addition of tiotropium bromide to an inhaled glucocorticoid with a doubling of the dose of the inhaled glucocorticoid or the addition of salmeterol among 210 patients with asthma.

Compared with a doubling of the dose of an inhaled glucocorticoid, the investigators found that the addition of tiotropium bromide resulted in a superior primary outcome, as measured by the morning peak expiratory flow (PEF), with a mean difference of 25.8 liters per minute. The addition of tiotropium bromide was also superior in most secondary outcomes, including evening PEF, the proportion of asthma-control days, daily symptom scores, and the forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) before bronchodilation. The addition of tiotropium bromide was also found to be non-inferior to the addition of salmeterol for all outcome measures and to increase the prebronchodilator FEV1 more than salmeterol.

"Since we could not examine either the rate of asthma exacerbations or long-term safety issues, our findings cannot be considered clinically directive. Additional studies that have sufficient statistical power to evaluate exacerbations and safety events are required to further establish the clinical efficacy of tiotropium. However, our data establish clinical equipoise to study larger cohorts of adults for longer periods of time with tiotropium as a therapy for asthma control," the authors conclude.

Boehringer Ingelheim provided the tiotropium and matching placebo for the study and had the opportunity to comment on the study design. Several authors disclosed financial ties to various pharmaceutical and/or medical device companies, including Boehringer Ingelheim.

The Life of a New Nurse in the Philippines

I graduated as a nurse from a certain University in the Philippines. I was just as excited as any Nursing graduate. Earning a bachelors degree in Nursing was really something in my country. All of those sleepless nights of studying and not to mention the sky-rocketing tuition fees spent by my parents each semester for four years.

Almost every parent hoped their son or daughter will finish up Nursing during my time and I think it continues on to the present. It is because of the promise of working abroad. The demand for nurses really perked up a few years back. I guess it was always the issue of searching for greener pastures. The promise of working abroad and earning a lot of money stirred up the ideas of most parents; believing that their son/daughter can fly to US and earn dollars after graduating and passing the Boards. I hope that was the real case...

After I earned the title BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing), it was time to review for the Nursing Board Exam. I remembered reviewing for almost a year (I really wanted to have a place on the top 10). I also remembered the efforts of the various review centers; trying to lure as many students as possible. Nursing students are really a good source of money.

So there it was, around 2-3 months of non-stop review and it’s off to the board exams. All of the examinees are really aiming to pass the boards in any way possible. I was confident back then. I knew I was going to pass and I was also hoping to pass it with flying colors. The excitement of the boards began to ease out after the exam.

While anticipating for the results, a lot of my friends entered the Call Center industry. After a few months, the results were out, passers had their oath-taking, and we were made to think that we were closer to our goals of going to the promised lands. I immediately took the chance of applying for a nursing job in every hospital (both private and public hospitals).

It was one of the requirements that new board passers must have necessary trainings such as Intravenous insertion, Basic Life Support and the like to be able to be accepted as a nurse in any hospital.

I enrolled in all the trainings required and even had my seminars so that my resume would stand out amongst all job competitors. My efforts on applying in hospitals and clinics continued on even after I got a job from a Review and Training Center for Nurses.

I really liked to live my career as a Nurse in a hospital; caring for patients, but I was financially challenged. I couldn’t afford working as a volunteer with less or no pay at all or worst having my training in hospitals and paying for the training with no guarantee of being one of its staffs.

Those were the current situations of newly nursing graduates or board passers here in the Philippines. Wherever I go, the policy is the same: you got to be a volunteer with or without pay or pay a certain amount for on-the-job trainings. If you’ll take into consideration on the prices that these hospitals are charging Nurses, you’ll also think that it is just a way to earn money out of the poor Nurse’s pockets. Regular training costs at around 1000 Philippine peso a month.

Special areas and other well-known hospitals even charge at around 8000-15000 pesos. Do you think that’s even fair for new Nurses, whom only depend unto their parents?

What would become of those unfortunate nurses who are unable to have the money necessary for training? This is what had happened to me...

After around a year of applying in various health institutions, I grew weary. I searched for other ways of preserving my knowledge of Nursing aside from trainings and seminars. Another pathway unto the Nursing career is continuing on in Nursing Education. I decided to have my Masters degree without having any clinical experience.

I did this while I am working for a private company on a medical account. Having a Master’s degree offered a chance to be employed in a more promising job in Nursing: that is to be a Nursing lecturer or a Clinical Instructor either in the community or the hospital. I am actually doing this for a year now; working in a non-Nursing office while studying for Masters.

Another pathway is having all the exams necessary for landing job abroad. I am also planning to have those exams: IELTS, NCLEX, CGFNS and the like when I already have enough money. It seems to be a promising way to escape the fate of nurses here in the Philippines: to go abroad.

The only problem with applying for a job abroad is that it also requires clinical experience as a staff nurse. I remembered some of my friends being a volunteer for almost a year without pay or having an allowance of just around 50 pesos per day! Because of what is happening, I’m beginning to realize that Nursing is a profession made for rich people who can afford to supply an endless pool of money over trainings and seminars. I’m glad that the Philippine government is implementing some ways of giving a solution on the increasing rate of unemployment in Nursing.

Just last year, the NARS program was made to give nurses a chance to have their experiences for 6 months. Such a good opportunity for nurses, but I think it is not sufficient for answering the problems of unemployment. Nurses continue on having a really tough time here in the Philippines and I’m sure it’ll continue on for a few years more as more student Nurses are planning to add on the Nursing population explosion.

Nursing unemployment is really a grave problem these days here in the Philippines. And I think hospitals are taking advantage of new nurses, making them pay for overpricing training fees or offering them a job without pay. I’m really saddened by the way nurses are treated here in the Philippines.

I really hope the newly elected officers of the country would try on considering more possible solutions for this problem. Fellow nurses are now petitioning for free on-the-job trainings for nurses which are to be considered as clinical experience.

Up to this very day, I’m still not losing my grip. I’m still hopeful that I could land a job in a hospital or any health institution, passing my resume to every health institution I can find. I am doing this for the last two years and still hoping...