Blog

  I was so excited to see that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued minimum staffing standards for long-term care facilities.  This proposed rule seeks to establish comprehensive nursing staffing requirements.  I love this initiative because residents in nursing homes are not always given the best care due to short staffing.  Although there are requirements that facilities […]

  The Biden Administration announced that it is awarding more than $100,000,000.00 to train more nurses in growing the nursing workforce. However, will adding more nurses solve the problems in nursing where nurses are leaving in droves? I don’t think so.  The problem is the context of nursing is practice and how nurses don’t feel valued and appreciated by administrations.  […]

It has been said that in business, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to get to a potential buyer.  The more frogs that say no, the closer you are to “yes”. Unfortunately, we as nurses are programmed that if someone says “no” to us, we tend to take it personally.  But “no” just means “not now”.  “No” is […]

      In Augusta, Maine, that state has promulgated legislation called the Maine Quality Care Act which sets enforceable nurse to patient ratios in many hospitals.  The bill unfortunately does not include long-term care facilities where it seems many of the problems occur. However, it will cover acute care and psych hospitals as well as freestanding emergency departments and […]

Did you know that nurses’ honor guards pay tribute to nurses at the time of their deaths?  They give the nurse a Nightingale Tribute at the funeral or memorial service.  The nurses who participate in the Nurses Honor Guard dress in the traditional white uniform complete with cap and cape.  The ceremony is brief, usually taking only a few brief […]

Interestingly, Beckers Hospital Review just published its 2023 rankings on an educational resource site called Nursing Process.  The survey determined the 15 happiest and unhappiest jobs for nurses. I was surprised to see that nursing’s number 1 unhappiest job is the school nurse.  This is so interesting because as a school nurse, being surrounded by youngsters all day would seem […]

Last summer, an 81-year-old man admitted to a Lexington, Kentucky hospital and died within 48 hours later.  He had a GI bleed in which he was ordered GoLytely which is a bowel prep for colonoscopy but instead, the nurse gave Naturalyte, a dialysis liquid not intended for human consumption. According to the Kentucky Board of Nursing, no charges were filed […]

When I began legal nurse consulting, I was surprised just how easy it was.  I was simply using my existing nursing knowledge and sharing it with attorneys to help them with their cases. I used to say to myself, “I can’t believe that they actually pay me for this.”  Now I understand how important it is to get paid for […]

  As a nurse, I have dedicated my life to caring for others and advocating for their well-being. I entered this noble profession with a heart full of compassion and a burning desire to make a difference in the lives of those who need it most. However, over the years, I have witnessed firsthand the toll that inadequate staffing ratios […]

Erslia Pompilio, a friend of mine, of roguenursemedia.com and podcast host of the nurses and hypochondriacs recommended I listen to the podcast called The Retrievals.  The Retrievals is about Donna Monticone, a nurse at Yale Fertility Center who was stealing fentanyl over a period of several months.  Meanwhile, over 200 patients were taken for egg retrievals for their in vitro […]