EBP

“EBP is more likely to thrive in environments where nurses feel supported and are provided with the resources necessary to develop both personally and professionally.”

EBP is research-based information, clinical expertise, and patient preference of care, it is a process involving the examination and application of research findings or other reliable evidence that has been integrated with scientific theories (Schmidt & Brown, 2011). So what does this mean that it will thrive more in areas where nurses are supported and provided resources? Nurses continuously need to learn new things. There are so many new research findings that nurses and healthcare professions need to keep up on. EBP is one are where this applies. The only way to get new research information is to have access to it. If the nurses are provided with the resources to this information, it is more likely that it will be put to practice. Also if there is some incentive for learning to occur, there will be a greater reason to do so. For example, your employer might provide educational benefits as opportunities for personal and professional growth (Schmidt & Brown, 2011). If the unit where you work promotes areas of growth for you as a nurse, than it is likely that they are pushing for EBP and putting it to practice.  From the organizations prospective, it is only positive because it is taking the nurses and pushing them to learn new things and to practice things that are scientifically tested and proven to work.

Some words that describe innovative are fearless, creative, cutting-edge, and futuristic. The only way we grow is by being open to new things. Having a new way of doing something isn’t always accepted, especially if it’s something that you’ve always done. But if new research comes out saying that there is a new way to do something, than we need to be open minded that it really could be better. Don’t just turn it down because you think it won’t make a difference. On the floor where I work, we just celebrated 6 months of no new pressure ulcers. Pressure ulcers are nothing new, and I’m sure there used to be other ways of treating them. But one day someone came up with the idea of turning a patient after a certain amount of time among other things to greatly decrease their risk of developing one. I’m sure people at first thought it would do no good, or that it was silly to try and do this so often. But our floor is proof that it really does work for the good of the patient. This concept applies to all areas of health care. There will always be new and better ways of doing the things we do now. These innovative ideas are the ones that help improve our patients outcomes and quality of life every day.

 

Schmidt, N. A., Brown, J. M., & Ph.D., F. (2011). Evidence-based practice for nurses, appraisal and application of research. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

2012
04/25
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Conflicting with Christian Belief

Therapeutic Touch

              Therapeutic Touch is an intervention that is practice by many across the world. It is being promoted by some as the new “Science of healing.” It is described as laying-on of hands, r as a mode of healing. There is no actual physical contact involved between the person doing it and the patient, but touch is believed in a foundation to its practice. The touch does not stop at the skin, but it is believed that the person is touching the patients energy field. Therapeutic Touch is practiced as a four-step process including centering, assessment, unruffling, and modulation. This process involves having a clear mind, a quiet and drelaxed environment. The healer places their hands two to four inches above the patient with palms down and open, and scans the patients entire body from head to toe. Then the hands move in a circular sweeping motion to decongest the patients energy. Finally the healer transfers healing energy from themselves to the patients own energy (Fish, 2005). Advocates claim that Therapeutic Touch can work for many things, including sooth a crying baby, relieve a headache, decrease blood pressure and elevate hemoglobins.

            Therapeutic Touch can be controversial when it comes to Christian belief. This practice claims to be channeling a force of good or godly power. The Scripture forbids any practices associated with attempts to make contact with spiritual forces and manipulate them in various ways. One of the most powerful Scripture passages concerning occult and psychic involved records God speaking to the Israelites through Moses about some of the things they must separate themselves from. God tells them not to imitate the detestable ways of the nations they will be living among. Thy are not to practice divination, sorcery, or witchcraft, or cast spells or interpret omens; neither is there can be found among them anyone who is a medium or a spiritist or who consults with the dead (Fish, 2005). God calls anyone who does any of these things detestable, and judgment will fall on nations who practice them. Deuteronomy 18:9-12 says “These practices are considered an abomination to the Lord and a violation of Israel’s covenantal relationship with Him.” Other concerns about Therapeutic Touch is its association with witchcraft or Wicca. There are similarities between the two in terms of practices.

                So what does this mean for Christian nurses? As Christians, we can not compromise our own beliefs for anyone or anything. This can sometimes conflict with our patients beliefs. This in no way should compromise how we treat or care for our patients. Patients all the time are asked if they would be interested healing practices such as Therapeutic Touch, aroma therapy, or acupuncture. If our patient does want one of these practices, we need to respect their choice. So what do we do? Therapeutic Touch is not a practice Christians can engage in without seriously compromising their faith and potentially endangering their relationship with God (Fish, 2005). Christians must believe that God alone can teach the true meaning of laying-on hands to comfort, care, and cure.  A way to respond to this situation is to respect the patients wishes and set up for another clinician to come perform the therapeutic touch. We cannot make choices for our patients. We are taught to be advocates for them. We also cannot push our own beliefs on them and prevent them from getting the services they wish to have. I think by setting it up for another person who is trained in the practice to perform it. This is something that is often researched about the different effects it can have on people. This is also a practice that has been around for a long time and isn’t going anywhere. I don’t think that Christian nurses need to be protesting against it, but just not being involved in it. This world is full of many diverse people with different beliefs and traditions. A person may decide to engage in one of these practices for the relaxation aspect alone and see no spiritual factor about it. It is not our place as nurses to tell our patients what they can and can’t do. If we could, we would stop them from smoking, drinking alcohol, and eating poorly. But we cannot make these decisions for others, only ourselves. This also means that we have the right as Christians to not involve ourselves in practices we do not believe in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fish, S. (2005). Therapeutic touch: healing science or psychic midwife?. Retrieved from http://www.equip.org/articles/therapeutic-touch

2012
04/15
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Reflecting on My Nursing (so far)

          It seems like such a short amount of time when I look back at my nursing career. I have only been a nurse for a short eight months, but I do feel like I have already learned and experienced so much.  As I look back over this past year, a time does come to mind that reminds me of the nurse in Chapter 1. This nurse has a patient who is in an isolation room. This patient had needs just like any other patient, but sometimes I feel like patients who are in isolation can be a little lonely. The nurse did the same care for this patient that she would for any other one, but the nurse gave the extra care that this patient was craving. My patients who are in isolation rooms always comment about it. They say things like “Well I don’t know why you guys have to wear those yellow gowns” and I can tell it makes them feel a little strange. It can feel like you have some horrible disease that everyone can’t even get close to you. I had a patient who was on isolation and was in the hospital for a long time, almost a whole month. She didn’t have many visitors, so when someone was in her room she was very talkative. Other nurses called her needy because of the amount of times she hit the call light. When I had this patient for the first time, I had an idea of what was ahead of me. I also tried to not let affect the way I thought about her. I started out my night with her. She was a very nice lady and it was easy to see how she could get a little lonely. I made sure that while I was in her room that I got everything done that I needed to and got her anything she needed. She had some meds due at eleven that night, so I told her that I had to go see my other patients and that I would be back between eleven and eleven-thirty. Between that time she did not call out. When I returned, I had some free time so I sat in her room for a bit and talked to her about her niece who lived in Chicago, about her dog at home, and her flowers that were sent to her. I could tell that she appreciated the time I took out of my busy schedule to visit with her while I could. After that she called out to go to the bathroom once, and slept the rest of the night. I think by spending the time with her, she knew that she was well cared for and it let her mind at ease. Being in one room for almost a month can make anyone anxious and feel lost.

                I feel like these situations happen at the hospital all of the time. A lot of nurses deal with it the right way, or the way that they would like to be treated. It is unfortunate when a nurse ignores this because they don’t want to take the time to just sit and be with their patient for a little while. Many barriers can come up during a shift. Sometimes, a patient doesn’t want us anywhere near them. They are upset about being in the hospital, or about their illness, or whatever the case may be. This can make the patient be upset or difficult to deal with. On the down side, this may make the nurse want to stay away from this patient as much as they can. A way to overcome this barrier is to remember what may be putting them in that bad mood. They are away from their homes, their families, and they are trying to deal with their illness. As nurses, we need to keep this in mind and still provide the best care for our patients that we can, not ignore them or avoid them.

2012
03/30
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Christian and Secular View of Nursing

Christian and Secular Views of Nursing

A nurse is someone who cares for the sick when they cannot. A nurse is someone who requires a certain level of knowledge and expertise to care for their sick patients. When considering the concepts of person, nurse, environment, and health, how does the view of a Christian nurse differ from secular views? Can a secular nurse care for their patients the same way a Christian nurse can?

When someone identifies themselves as a nurse, either Christian or non-Christian, there are certain assumptions made about them. We would like to believe that they are level-headed and smart people, and in most cases be correct. Nursing qualifies and shapes a person’s character and values. And there is a natural overlap between some of the ways Christian commitments and nursing training shape character and values, since both are focused on the well-being of others (Doornbos, 2005). Is this to say that all nurses are Christian? No, not at all. It does mean that to be a good nurse, the right decisions must be made in those they are caring for.

There are internal goods of practice that define the central identity of nursing. It is not a nurse’s salary or benefits that make up a nurse. It is the goals of a nurse that makes who they are. If the internal goods are not there, it is not nursing, but some quite different practice organized around the internal goods of control and power (Doornbos, 2005).

The way the secular world views nursing is by looking at the external goals of nursing. These goals include salary, benefits, schedules, vacation time, and the work environment. These goals are important for a person. This is what pays the bills and helps make a life outside of work. But these are not at the center of nursing. If the only reason you are a nurse is because of the paycheck, you will get burnt out fast. There needs to be some deeper meaning for why you are a nurse. These are the internal goals of nursing. The secular views of nursing superficial and do not go into a greater meaning. Secular nursing theory conflicts with Christian nursing model but Christian model does not conflict with the secular nursing theory because the ultimate goal of Christian nursing care is to have strong faith in God and fellowship with his people. Christian nursing is a ministry of compassionate care.

Nursing is surrounded by acts of God, miracles, hope for the very ill, and heartache. The religious person seeks God in and finds God through every creature, and especially in the relationships between creatures (Doornbos, 2005). What this means is that we should not only expect to see God in moments of intense caring, but in every aspect of nursing. From giving medications, to taking vital signs, the religious nurse can expect to see God in all these actions. In fact, Jesus specifically names caring for basic bodily needs as the service that is proper to those who would be his followers (Doornbos, 2005).

There are certain values that are the main focus of nursing and define it as a practice…health is the most central of these, since nursing is a health care practice that aims at the alleviation of pain’ at restoring physical, psychological, and emotional functioning; at attending to the well-being of the whole person; and so on (Doornbos, 2005).

Imogene King explains health as involving life experiences of the patient, which includes adjusting to stressors in the internal and external environment by using resources available. The environment is the background for human interaction. It involves the internal environment, which transforms energy to enable people to adjust to external environmental changes, and it involves the external environment, which is formal and informal organizations. A nurse is considered part of the patient’s environment (Nursing Theory, 2011).

There are some secular views that say that spirituality should stay out of nursing. There are cases where nurses are being punished for “forcing their spirituality on their patient’s,” after a nurse asked her patient if they wanted her to pray with them. I do not believe that asking a question is forcing spiritual values on a person. A nurse should not force their own beliefs on their patient’s but to be there for their needs. Dudhwala (2009) states “I believe all nurses should be passionate about their patients’ spiritual/religious needs. It is integral to holistic and compassionate care. But that passion should not be dictated by personal spirituality. It should be driven by the patient’s spirituality.”

I believe that nurses are not to be of only one religion or background. A nurse is someone who cares for others through their good actions. Nursing does require a person who is willing to put others first and serve them. A nurse needs to be able to understand and practice the core values of what nursing is. If a nurse is in it for nothing more than the paycheck, the care for their patients will suffer.

References

Doornbos, M. M., Groenhout, R. E., & Hotz, K. G. (2005). Transforming care a christian vision of nursing practice. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Dudhwala, I. Y. (2009, March 20). Spiritual care in a secular health service. Retrieved from http://www.nursingtimes.net/spiritual-care-in-a-secular-health-service/5000078.article

Nursing Theory. (2011). Imogene king. Retrieved from http://nursing-theory.org/nursing-theorists/Imogene-King.php

2012
02/12
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The Future of Informatics in Nursing

         The Electronic Health Record (EHR) is an electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting. Included in this information are patient demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data and radiology reports. The EHR ultimately belongs to the patient. It is their information, we just do the documenting. And we have to be carful with this. Because it is electronic, it is very easily accessible. But this shouldn’t be any different from paper charting. We wouldn’t go make copies of a patients health record and go passing it around to everyone. The same way we have to be aware and protect our patients information.

Nursing School and Informatics

            I think that for the most part nursing schools do a good job of integrating informatics. But with technology always progressing and getting, that nursing schools need to do the same. This is my first class on technology in the nursing environment. And the only other thing that I have had is EPIC training. I think that is one thing that could be improved on. Although the EPIC class was helpful first semester, we really weren’t in the hospital a lot to use what we learned. Once we got there, there was a lot I had forgotten and had to relearn. I think that the schools should come up with some kind of mock EPIC (or whatever the school uses) website that could be accessed in the library that the students could use to better learn the system. This way students could be more familiar with it and not have any fears of clicking on something they shouldn’t have and messing up a patients record.

Nurses can embrace technology

           The world is continuing to grow produce more and more technology to better, and entertain, mankind. Every week there is a new gadget out that tops the previous competition. Hospitals need to be aware of what is out there so it can use it to our benefit. Where would we be if we didn’t have accu checks, vital signs machines, and COW’s? These are just a couple of things that technology has done to help improve in how fast something can be done, and ultimately the care for our patients. I think that the hospitals need to continue to grow in the way it utilizes technology to provide better care for our patients and help out with time management. I think one day it wouldn’t be too far off to say that there would be cameras in some patients room to monitor them like you would with heart monitors. Or even alarms on the floor that would notify the nurse if the patient fell. Now I know you are saying that these could be invasion of privacy, but I’m just coming up with the ideas, we can work out the kinks later.

2011
04/06
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Meniere’s Disease

Meniere’s disease is an inner ear disorder that affects hearing and balance. The vestibular nerve, cranial nerve VIII, carries sound and information about the persons position and movement. Meniere’s disease puts pressure on this nerve causing these problems. The exact reason of why this happens is unknown, but can be related to head injury, middle ear infection, allergies, and maybe genetics. An attack can happen without warning and can cause sever vertigo and tinnitus. Hearing loss, dizziness, nausea and vomiting may also occur. In most cases it only affects one ear.

I chose Meniere’s disease because not many people know about what it is, and it is something my Dad suffers from. He was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease when I was a baby and has had some pretty sever attacks. He says that the attacks are like being underwater and not knowing which way is up. And the pain is so excruciating that he couldn’t even hold a thought for very long. He had his vestibular nerve behind his left ear surgically cut years ago to help control and limit his attacks. He hasn’t had a case of vertigo in years, but still has constant tinnitus in his left ear. He says he has learned to ignore it because there is nothing he can do about it. He also stays on a strict low sodium diet to prevent the reoccurrence of another attack.

 I have put together a Webliography of all the important information about Meniere’s disease. The following websites all pertain to the causes, symptoms, treatments and complications of the disease. All websites chosen are creditable and trustworthy of the information that they hold. They are recent in publication and up-to-date with current research. This is for anyone who wants to gain more knowledge about Meniere’s disease.

EBSCO Host

http://eagle.sbuniv.edu:2055/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=122&sid=9b2a9bda-798f-4063-ab40-25f3db361cfc%40sessionmgr110&vid=6

EBSCOhost is a premium online research database service. It is a great resource when wanting to know medical information. This article shows the importance of the cranial nerve VIII and the effects of the vestibular nerve on the body.

Medline Plus

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001721/

This website has health information from the National Library of Medicine.  It is easy for anyone to access and browse. It gives detailed information about every part of the disease from symptoms to treatments. 

Mayo clinic: Meniere’s disease

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/menieres-disease/DS00535

This is website has a comprehensive overview of symptoms and treatment of Meniere’s disease. It really covers all the details that you would need and want to know.  This clears up any questions that you would have regarding the disease.

Dizziness and Balance: Meniere’s disease

http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/menieres/menieres.html

This website thoroughly goes through all aspects of Meniere’s disease. It includes pictures of the anatomy of the ear and answers frequently asked questions. It talks about the medications that can be given to help control the episodes of the disease, and what to do when those don’t work.

Ear Surgery: Home of the ear surgery information center.

http://www.earsurgery.org/site/pages/conditions/menieres-syndrome.php

This website talks specifically about the different types of surgical treatment for Meniere’s disease. Also about the diagnostic tests and what they reveal to rule out any other cause of the symptoms before the surgery is done. There are four types of surgery covered along with other lifestyle modifications needed to treat and control the disease.

The Meniere’s Page: The Department of Otolaryngology, Washington, University School of Medicine
St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

http://oto2.wustl.edu/men/

This website was developed to present the  trends in Meniere’s disease research and treatment from Washington University School of Medicine. It put recent ideas that are in the scientific press into a format that is easier to follow for Meniere’s patients. This information should help keep patients aware of what advances are occurring in the field.

2011
04/06
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Health Care Informatics

My first week of Health Care Informatics was a pretty busy one. I have already leaned a lot of stuff I didn’t know before, and it’s only the second week. Part of what I learned was adding on to some of what I already knew. I know that information is only as important as the details that go with it. Data by itself can be misleading if you don’t have the correct information to go with it. It is important in the hospital setting that if you are calling out numbers, that those numbers don’t have any meaning if you do not say what they are for. This can happen with vital signs, weights, I&O’s, or even meds given. If you are in a code situation and shout out “Giving 1mg” then you need to say 1mg of what? Epinephrine? Lidocaine? That is one situation that everyone needs to be clear on all of the patients information.

Also let me just say a few words about twitter. Before this class I thought that twitter was a silly website that people got on to complain or share thier feelings or to see what their favorite celebrity was up to next. But in just this first week of class I have learned more about twitter than I thouht there was to know. Twitter is actually a pretty cool website. I didn’t even know that it could be used in a professional mannor. I am still getting used to navigating and haven’t done too much, but it has already proved me wrong. I see all of the information that is being shared out there about healthcare things we can do to better our practices. And when a question pops into my head about stuff I see at the hospital or in class that I might not have time to ask about then, I can ‘tweet’ it and someone one out in the world can maybe help me out.

Healthcare informatics, or nursing informatics, is the combination of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom (McGongile, 2009). It is important because it is how we handle and share information such as medication orders, documentation of the care given to patients, sensitive information about patients, and the data on the outcome of treatment options. We have the computer to do our documenting on in the hospital and this helps reduce a wide number of human errrors, like handwritting errors. And by using the computer instead of paper charting, we can retrieve data and information that may have been recorded somewhere else or even on the other side of the country.

McGongile, D. & Mastrain, K. (2009).  Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge.  Jones and Bartlett; Sudbury, MA.

2011
03/08
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Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

2011
03/01
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