Posted by Kari Wujcik on October 28, 2009
So far I am enjoying my decision to focus on Cardiac. I think I picked the best time to make this switch because all of my colleagues are having to garb up in isolation gear to care for the multiple cases of H1N1 in our unit. Since I have switched to Cardiac, I have had the opportunity to care for some very sick kids. I am challenged every time I come to work and I actually feel excited when I come in for my shift. I think this was the best decision for myself. It is nice because I feel like the charge nurses have really supported my decision to focus on cardiac because they have been giving me challenging assignments that I would expect a more experienced nurse to get, not me! They obviously have confidence in my abilities and that is what I am trying to remind myself when things get tough.
Posted by Jeanine Gordon on October 23, 2009
Howdy yall!!!!! I'm here in Texas at ONS Leadership Development Institute (LDI). The conference began on Thursday evening and it's been a great learning experience thus far. There are 54 LDI lellows this year and yesterday we had a wonderful "Meet & Greet" activity that involved sharing a totem that described who you are as a person and/or where you've come from. This is one of the best "Ice Breaker" activities I've ever participated in. It was interesting to see how creative and unique each fellows' totem was. Common themes emerged throughtout the exercise some of which included compassion, caring, teamwork and our committment to providing safe and quality care to our patients.
My personal totem was a laminated sheet that included pictures of my favorite things, places and symbols that are important to me as a nurse. My LDI fellows promised that they would blog with me so I'll allow them to comment and share what their personal totems are. I also invite all non-LDI fellows to tell me what their personal totem would be. I look forward to hearing form you all.
PS- The ONS LDI project team ROCKS!!!! Myself and the fellows are learning so much and having a ball.
Posted by Joni Watson on October 21, 2009
I admit it. I love my iPhone. From my personal life to my professional life, I use it for just about everything you can imagine. I happen to love the various applications (aka "apps") that make my already convenienced life that much more-so. There are already numerous apps for healthcare professionals, but now there's an app to help cancer survivors keep track of their chemo.
Merck & Co., Inc., just launched iChemoDiary, a free first-of-its-kind application designed to be used by caregivers and survivors undergoing chemotherapy. The application is available on the Apple Store (iTunes.com, application program - search for "iChemoDiary").
It has some really useful features including recording chemo schedules, meds, treatment plans, and selected treatment side effects. It also has a tool to create reports that can be discussed with healthcare providers. Anyone with an iPhone or iPod Touch can download iChemoDiary. Give it a whirl. What do you think?
Posted by Kari Wujcik on October 15, 2009
Can you believe that we are already into October? I sure can not! It feels like just yesterday that I graduated nursing school and began the PNR program. Now I am considered an "experienced nurse." How crazy is that! 2009 has brought about many life changes for me. From graduation, to getting my first "big girl job," to living on my own. I can honestly say it has been amazing and I can not wait for what is yet to come! Right now at work I am continuing to adjust to night shift. I go through phases of really enjoying it to completely hating it. But, I just keep reminding myself that I am making more money and am having the opportunity to care for sicker patients than I would have on day shift. I just had my 6 month evaluation with my supervisor and I am just still in shock about how much time flies! I think my weeks go by faster having only 3 day work weeks.
In the PICU, we have to pick an area of focus, either cardiac or medical. You can still float into the different areas but the nurses generally work in which ever focus area they choose. I am now having to make that decision of what to focus on. I enjoy working in both areas for many different reasons. You never know what kind of patients you will get while working in the medical area and it is great experience. From trauma patients, to oncology patients, the medical focus area offers a variety of patient diagnoses to become familiar with. I have a lot to learn and understand about cardiac patients and all the different congenital anomalies, but I love caring for them because they are always busy. Cardiac is very specialized but it challenges me in many different ways.
There are pros and cons to each area of focus. Does anyone have any suggestions? I know that no matter what I decide to focus on, I will continue to learn something new everyday. I just want to be challenged and enjoy caring for my patients. There always seems to be some sort of decision that has to be made. Maybe that is just adulthood!
Posted by Joni Watson on October 5, 2009
Coping With Cancer: A Patient Pocket Book of Thoughts, Advice, and Inspiration for the Ill by Veronica Blaha Decker, RN, CNP, MBA, and Linda Weller-Ferris, BA, MA, PhD is delightfully deceptive. The thin, 15 chapter, soft cover book is an easy 45 minute read full of practical advice for anyone coping with a serious or chronic illness (not solely cancer). While written for adult cancer survivors, nurses can definitely glean from the wisdom of "thousands of ill patients [Mrs. Decker and Mrs. Weller-Ferris] have counseled over the decades," as well. The bulleted lists of coping strategies and advice on a myriad of topics from crisis management to creating hope may not fit everyone in their unique situations, but they are generally useful and can be easily incorporated into daily patient education. I love that the book teems with empowerment - to say no, to ask questions, to add value to life and to also delete the negative influences from life, and to advocate for your own health among many, many other things.
Easy read. Practical information and education for patients and nurses. Win-win.
Posted by Jeanine Gordon on October 4, 2009
I applied to the ONS Leadership Development Institute (LDI) conference which will be held in Woodlands, Texas on October 22-25, 2009. I am very honored and excited to be accepted. ONS LDI is a program that educates oncology nurses to effectively manage projects and take an active role as a leader, mentor, coach, and role model, both personally and professionally. I know the information I learn and the opportunity to network with other oncology nurses will be invaluable to my career in the future.
Considering the current financial environment I also applied for an ONS Foundation/ONS LDI Conference Scholarship to attend. As I mentioned in my previous blog entry the ONS Foundation supports nurses financially to assist with professional development endeavors. I was recently informed that I was selected for the $1,000 Shelly Schuster-Abrahams Memorial LDI Conference Scholarship. Needless to say I feel ecstatic and privileged to have been selected by the ONS Foundation.
Whether you are an oncology nurse leader or not I encourage you to research the program and apply in the future. When I return from the conference I will blog about my experience but from the feedback I’ve heard and read from past participants I’m sure that the program will be both beneficial and useful to me.
If you’ve attended ONS LDI in the past let us know what you thought the most valuable lesson learned was?
Posted by ONS on October 1, 2009
In the October 2009 ONS Connect Working for You column, ONS CEO Paula Rieger talks about the changes ONS has made in response to the economy. These changes are to ensure that the great work being done by ONS is maintained and that the Society continues to have the ability to do new things.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this and on how your own workplaces are responding to the economy. Please share your ideas, concerns, and opinions in the comments section on this blog post.
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