For those of you who are unfamiliar with the blog Six Until Me, you should take the time to check it out.  Not only is the author, Kerri, a gifted writer, she brings something a bit unique to the world of blogging, a patient’s perspective on diabetes.

I have not one, but two friends who use insulin pumps.  One just happens to be a newly graduated pharmacist.  I thought both them and Kerri yesterday whilst discussing back pain with a patient who also uses a pump.  It constantly amazes me how other bits and pieces of my life, like watching J9 (the new pharmacist!) change her pump and patiently teach me while she did it, roll into my world as a nurse and as an NP.  Because I could talk to this patient about her pump, she felt more comfortable with me helping her with her other medical problems.  Instant credibility.

So, Kerri, thanks for your blog and great job with hosting Grand Rounds this week and including me!

J9—thanks for teaching me.  I miss you btw.

Right before packing for my 3 days of NP work, I decided to check my blog stats.

[Yeah Matt, I'm going.......]

6 people actually found my blog by doing a Google search for “ADOBSO.”

That’s awesome.

edit: Apparently this blog is no. 1 for that search phrase! *roflmao*

Gawd I need a life.

ednurses, 2008 Fall Specialty Guide

How many more times are we as a profession going to perpetrate the stereotype that nurses are old, fat, frumpy women? I was so irritated with the most recent cover of the journal “ednurses” I almost cursed my way to the house from my mailbox.

The nurse on the cover is highly educated clinical nurse specialist who works at Boston General Hospital. Why in the HELL did they use such an unflattering photograph of her FOR THE COVER? I don’t know a whole lot about photography, but could a more horrendous angle have been used? Why didn’t someone dress her in a great blue or pale green shirt that would have flattered her short, sassy blond hair?

This woman probably has decades of irreplaceable experience. Does that radiate from the pages? Nope. Instead, I see is a judgmental, physically unhealthy, poorly dressed nurse who is scowling at an emotionally distraught patient.

That is far from representing the compassion, intelligence, and professionalism of nursing. Makes me want to . . . wait, what is the point of the cover?

Oh yeah, “Managing Mental Health in the ED.”

If we want to be taken seriously as a profession a bit of wise marketing on even the smallest level would do wonders. Not only do we need to look in the mirror and see how we are physically representing our profession while in the hospital or clinic, we need to find a way to ensure that when being represented in the media we put our best face forward.

Oh, and for the record? I used the age Fifty because the alliteration worked. If this is what 50 really is, sign me up.

Hey Dale….glad you are with us.
Posted at Military Motivator. Some are hilarious, some will get you where it counts.

Okay, I love this time wasting kind of site. (do it Ben . . . I know you want to!)

I have to admit. I kind of like this one.

I’m now preparing myself for the spam onslaught it is bound to produce. That is the price a girl has to pay, I suppose.

Just changed my Twitter page and accidently did something cool. I know, step away from the computer. Love it that I am blogging long hand in the photo though. Seems a conflict of input when overlapped by Twitter.

Hmmmmm. Stepping away.

Stepping away.

Screen Shot–Military Transport Nursing Website

The Air & Surface Transport Nurses Association is searching for more military members! The organization is dedicated to progressing the science of transporting patients to a higher level of care. This is a significant area in which the military has a great history in pioneering advancement.

Unfortunately, in looking at current numbers, we represent just a small slice of the membership pie. This screams of opportunity not only in being part of an incredible organization, but the chance to formally meld the worlds of military and civilian medical transport.

Although the Military Transport Nursing website, which is part of the ASTNA is sparse, there is some great basic information about the military role in medical transport. If you have anything you would like to see on it, send me an email or Twitter me.

I am currently in my fifth year of membership, and am speaking at this year’s AMTC conference. Although I am not currently active on any boards or committees, I believe that membership and or participation is a great way to exercise your professionalism. This goes for all of you who have emailed me interested in this very specialized field as well!!! You don’t have to be a flight nurse or a ground transport nurse to immerse yourself in the organization!

Have any questions? Feel free to send me an email!

emily at crzegrl dot net

There was a call for people to send in photos/video/text about how they are overworked. This one, written by a surgical resident, caught my eye.

Sorry, but nobody works harder than surgeons
As with most things, the comments are the best part. One astute commenter lumped all healthcare providers together for being over worked. Another talked about how unsafe that drive home for us must be. (Um, I don’t remember most of the 2 hour drive home from my NP job the other night, er morning.)

The winning comment? Made by a soldier.

Take a look.

As a healthcare provider trained to diagnose, I understand very well that there are things you say and things you do not say. There are things, if uttered, which will label you as a “threat to self or others.” We, as healthcare providers, expect ourselves to be the strong ones. We refuse to expose chinks in our armor through long hours dealing with patients, many times, close to death. Or, even worse during the times our patients die despite our best efforts.

Recently I had an out of body experience. No, I wasn’t the one facing death. My patient was the one close to it. I stood in the family waiting room, listening to myself in a surreal moment, tell a son and daughter, barely out of high school, to brace themselves for the fact that their father was never going to wake up.

When did I become that person?

After sleeping on this post, I made a decision.

If Sam and Sean have the guts to write about this so do I.

—————

Before I go on, I want it known that this is not some cry for help. It isn’t a scream hoping for someone to look in my direction and throw me some trite attention. I am in no mood for psycho-babble-bullshit.

—————

It is a Friday night. I sit here, behind my laptop at 9:42 p.m.

I should be at a bbq.

Instead, I am hiding behind my computer.

A friend once commented that he had no idea how I do my job. How I could constantly expose myself to such trauma and heartbreak.

I wonder that myself.

Today, I realized that constant exposure to the most horrible tragedies is possible when the rest of your life is solid. When you are emotionally, physically healthy.

Enter in a helicopter crash. A divorce. Friends scattered all over the globe. Uncertainty with my Army career. Rumors of deployment. Family that doesn’t understand. Someone closer to my heart than anyone, who decided to judge me. A life I have allowed to be reduced to overgrown flower beds, three inches of dust and a cracked driveway. A car that needs new tires, and a checking account that needs balanced.

I go to work to forget.

For a brief moment, all I have is that flight. That one patient. That person who, on my stretcher, reminds me that my life is okay.

That is why I jump from airplanes. Why I get tattooed. Why I go faster than I should in my car, on my motorcycle.

I need to feel. I need to be reminded that I am alive. In those moments I feel alive.

The psychiatrists of the world—piss off.

I don’t need therapy.

I don’t need medications.

I need balance.

I constantly wear a bracelet etched with my name, allergies, birth date. It contains a code linked an account which lists my emergency contacts.

The only thing I fear is dying alone.

That is why I have to fly.

Why I constantly expose myself to the heartache. Expose myself to pain. Expose myself to death.

I face my fears with passion and conviction.

I sacrifice for my patients. By doing so, I ensure they won’t face pain or in the most extreme cases, face death . . .

. . . alone . . .

—————
As healthcare providers we need to talk about our pain. The pain we feel as we grieve the lives lost, not of our loved ones, but of the ones we have given a personal commitment to protect, to care for. As nurses, EMTs, physicians, we dance the extremely fine line between burnout and professional fulfillment.

The irony? If we no longer sacrifice a piece of ourselves, no matter large or small, for each person we care for, we are no longer able to effectively do our jobs. An emotional connection keeps you sharp when you are exhausted. Keeps your mind to the task at hand when the small crises of your personal life are begging for attention. If we completely protect ourselves from the pain, we miss the most important aspect of our profession. An aspect that cannot be taught. It must be felt, endured, suffered, accepted.

Sometimes the pain becomes hard to bear.

However, I refuse to live in fear.

I refuse to let it vanquish me.

I need to fly. I HAVE to fly.

I want to send a belated thanks to Dr. John Welton (RN, PhD) from the Medical University of South Carolina, College of Nursing for sending me the link to his website offering a bunch of great AeroMedical Resources that he has authored.

If you are interested in looking at a more in depth view of what goes on behind the scenes on a functional level, these are a great resource.

I added his site as a permanent link off of my side-bar under the new link category of Flight EMS.

Thanks again Dr. Welton. My apologies for it taking so long to add it!