Category: Empowered Nurses

I was sickened in learning of the death of psychiatric nurse practitioner June Onkundi who had started her job at the Freedom House Recovery Center in Durham, North Carolina only 3 months ago. Ms. Onkundi, married with 4 children, was fatally stabbed while doing the work that she loved by the patient, James Gomes, a man who spent half of […]

  The Nursing Service Organization (“NSO”) frequently gathers their claim status, data for nurses and nurse practitioners. Recently they finished the fifth edition of Claims for Nurse Practitioners. Previously, there have been several studies showing that claims against Nurse Practitioners were fewer than those against physicians. They also show NPs tend to spend more time with patients and have better […]

I don’t know about you but when I was practicing (and even now), certain things would trigger me. So, I thought I would share these steps to help you work through times when you are triggered because being triggered at work can lead to mistakes in your practice, upset, frustration, resentment and makes you appear to your coworkers like you […]

In nursing, documentation is everything! Figuratively speaking, I believe that you will live or die by your documentation. And when it comes to license defense and protecting your license, the same is true. I am not talking about just documentation in a medical record but I’m talking about protecting your license. You need a paper trail! So many times, I […]

  Beverly Ann Bratcher was an LPN working in Michigan at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans in December 2020 when she became aware that 2 incorrect medication doses had been administered to one specific patient.  Ms. Bratcher failed to report this error to her supervisor and now faces a criminal charge of second degree vulnerable adult abuse.  [Story] I […]

  During the pandemic, several institutions had to resort to what is called “crisis staffing.” This is when facilities find themselves operating under extreme circumstances such as emergencies, disasters or overburdening situations such as pandemics and they are required to change circumstances. A number of hospitals have experienced examples of crisis staffing including Penn Medicine. At Penn, when there is […]

Well, it happened with RaDonda Vaught and now, there is another nurse who has been charged with murder. This past May, a Lexington, Kentucky nurse, 52-year-old Eyvette Hunter, was charged with the murder of James Morris, a 97-year-old World War II and Korean veteran and patient at Baptist Health. Nurse Hunter allegedly administered Ativan that she reportedly had taken from […]

What are your biggest concerns about being a nurse? I bet it’s the feeling that there’s not enough time, not enough resources, not enough staff, not enough support, etc. All of these are based in lack. Unfortunately, hospitals want you to be in lack. They want to keep you in fear so you will stay. They want you to be […]

Many states have statutes to protect whistleblowers in the medical field. However, there was an interesting matter where a hospital nurse, licensed and working in a Texas hospital reported a situation to CPS (Child Protective Services), she was terminated 2 weeks later. The hospital nurse was assigned to work with a pediatric neurologist. One young patient, whose divorced parents shared […]

I have written previously about the concept of “hospital at home.”  I read in a recent issue of Becker’s Hospital Review an interview with Michelle Mahon who is the Assistant Director of Nursing Practice at National Nurses United. Ms. Mahon expressed concerns, as have I, about hospitals at home. Did you ever have a patient who you knew, by the […]