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7 Things You Can Do to Stay Calm Working in the ER

Richard Hemby — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:59:52 +0000

Any medical job you may uphold is going to come with some level of stress. However, working in the Emergency Room holds a particularly high headache probability because of the high paced nature of the work and the variance of tasks involved. It is quite logical for you to lose your mind working there, but before you do that and turn into a patient yourself, try some of the tips below to help yourself stay calm.

1. Stress Ball

A stress ball may seem like it wouldn’t do much for your nerves, but you’d be amazed by the power of a simple squeeze. If there is a particularly irate patient in line, a quick mental picture of squeezing their head via the stress ball could do wonders. This is the adult form of a temper tantrum. Rather than lashing out at someone in line, you can take it all out on the little sand filled ball.

2. Smile

Again, this is something that you might not see much potential in, but smiling throughout the day will in fact keep your spirits up. The truth is that people have a hard time being angry with someone who is smiling, so by putting a grin on your face, you might be eliminating the source of your stress. Take it a step further by getting a joke of the day calendar so you can start off work with a good laugh. That will keep your mind in the positive.

3. Step out when you need to

If you feel like there is just too much going on for you to stand, take a minute to step away from the situation. Sure you might have people screaming at you, but use this time to claim you have to use the restroom. Anything that you can do to remove yourself from the situation will help you clear your head and prepare for the tasks at hand. Even a one minute break might be a reboot that you need.

4. Take one task at a time

A lot of times stress comes from having too much on your plate. You look at one task and can take it on easily, but when it seems like hundreds have piled up, it’s hard to stay calm. Think about things in an organized fashion. Start by taking on either the biggest tasks or the ones of most importance. Then work your way down. Don’t think about what’s happening next. Keeping your mind on just right now will help you stay on track

5. Ask for help when you need it

If you are overwhelmed at work and don’t say anything about it, you are the only cause for your stress. Granted, there is not always something that someone can do about it, but by staying quiet, you aren’t seeking any relief at all. Even if someone just steps in for thirty minutes so you can go chug a Red Bull, it might be enough for you to keep your hair from being yanked out in frustration.

6. Get a massage before work

If you come to work already relaxed, you’ll find it a lot easier to stay calm because you have a good foundation to build from. It’s hard to stay stress free when your body is already tense. Take a hot shower or get a nice massage before you come to work. There should be a ton of spas in your area to go to. Invest some money in their services.

7. Scream!

Okay, let’s clarify this one a bit. Don’t scream at the patients, but do take sex to lash out in a pillow. A quick yell in a sound proof room will do the same basic thing as a stress ball would. By screaming, you can save yourself from going bonkers on the next person in the waiting room. Don’t take anything that someone says to heart, and just release your stress at any time that you can.

Do you work in the ER and have a trick you use to stay calm? Comment below!

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50 Nurses You Can Follow on Twitter

Richard Hemby — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:52:54 +0000

Twitter has hit the scene so hard in recent years, and a bunch of different groups have formed because of that. #RNChat is a great place to find a lot of nurses to talk to, but there are countless groups on Twitter that are beneficial for the nursing community. As people use their 140 characters to talk about their day, many nurses discuss medical issues and unique solutions that they’ve discovered in their career. Here is a list of 50 different nurses on Twitter that you can follow to potentially get some insight on their medical lives.

Want to become a nurse? Come checkout our online nursing degrees guide. If you like to learn more about regular nursing careers and degrees.

@SafetyNurse: Barbara Olson is an active tweeter from the Southeastern US who has accumulated over 1200 followers because of her thoughtful posts.
@teriRN: A tweeter from Utah, Teri is an active member of the Twitter nursing community with more than 680 followers.
@OSUMarkRN: Mark Amber works at the Ohio State University Medical Center and is becoming an active participant in nursing chats on Twitter.
@aurn79: Paige Butler is somewhat new to Twitter, but she is beginning to converse with a lot of the more followed nurses on the site.
@NurseDan: Dan Weberg from Pennsylvania is an ER nurse with a master’s degree in healthcare innovation
@ERNurseJoy: Joy from Utah has over 3,800 followers that tune in to read her funny, random, and informative tweets.
@quesarasara: Sara from Ontario Canada works online and in nursing on a frequent basis, providing fun tweets all the time.
@DonnaCardilloRN: Donna Cardillo from New Jerseyis an up and coming tweeter who works for nursing magazines and journals alike.
@Andrea_M: Andrea Morrill from Utah gives reports about a variety of issues in the nursing community.
@KidCancerNurse: Tiffany Zook from Arizona is a child cancer advocate with a career in oncology nursing.
@NurseEducator: Teresa Heithaus is a staff development instructor who coordinates and develops web-based nursing education in a hospital in New York.
@SusanNiemeierRN: Susan Niemeier is a chief nursing officer from Massachusetts.
@AprilAlcaide: April Alcaide from Florida vocalizes her spiritual beliefs and kind words in the hopes of uplifting nurses and other people on Twitter.
@DianaRN: Diana Fuller is a Unit Nurse in New York with more than 100 followers.
@PinkyPhee: This tweeter is a Director of Clinical Services in Michigan with more than 2000 followers under her belt.
@brown2020: Steve Brown from Silicon Valley was the founder of what is now known as Robert Bosch Healthcare.
@straussrn: Jennifer Myers from New Mexico is a Prison Nurse who likes to write on the side.
@Richard_RN: Richard from Texas is a Registered Nurse who has more than 20,000 followers (no that’s not a typo).
@nursejennifer: Jennifer Smith from Texas is a little on the wild side, but she still has a passion for nursing.
@IsntSheLovlei: Lovlei McKinney is actually a student of nursing, but she usually asks helpful questions to other members of the community.
@PaulaRobinson: Paula Robinson from Florida has more than 5,800 followers who like to hear her views on senior health.
@RoRod101: Rosita Rodriguez is relatively new to Twitter, but she links a lot of information from other tweeters within her posts.
@Geek2Nurse: This tweeter from Washington used to be an electrical engineer, but she turned into a Psychology Nurse recently and likes to tweet about it.
@BrendaBlair128: Brenda Blair from Ohio has a lot of great links for nursing resources.
@bamagirlRN: Danielle Almaroad is a school nurse and a proud mother who loves to tweet.
@mkopp1: This mother of twins from Minnesota is an active ER Nurse with a passion for food and helping people.
@StephHlthRcruit: Stephanie Perea from Pennsylvania actively recruits new nurses to work with her on various projects.
@PhilBaumann: Phil Baumann is a RN from Pennsylvania with more than 8,000 tweets to date.
@suzishepherd: Suzanne Tietjen is from the Midwest US, and she loves working as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.
@LuvenRN: Carolyn Newstrom has been involved in nursing for 26 years, and she looks to learn from other tweeters in California and the world so that she can better her performance.
@lorryschoenly: Lorry Schoenly from Pennsylvania is a freelance writer and Correctional Nurse Educator with more than 1300 tweets on her page.
@jrobinsonRN: Jennifer Robinson works with medical leagal classes and is an avid animal lover.
@pixelrn: Beth Anderson is a nurse from Maryland with a passion for technology.
@bgaustin: This tweeter from Texas is a Biomedical Regional Manager with over 500 followers.
@BonnieRN: Bonnie Kavanagh lives in Colorado and has more than 5000 tweets on her page about common activities in the nursing world.
@bhawkesRN: Beth Hawkes from California is an RN who frequently chats with others on Twitter.
@NurseJanIam: Jan Rodolfo is an Oncology RN from California with a following of more than 1800 tweeters online.
@JenRN: Jen from Wisconsin is a Cardiac Nurse who teaches student nurses as well.
@PMRN: This tweeter likes to discuss some of the frustrations associated with working overnight nursing shifts.
@Jeff_RN: Jeff Young from Massachusetts works with other people in the RN community to discuss problems and occasionally just laugh about the day.
@NutritionNurse1: Suzanne is an RN and licensed Nutritionist from Washington DC who uses Twitter to discuss weight management.
@pcRN: This Legal Nurse from Pennsylvania has more than 1800 followers and 1000 tweets to date.
@JennyBizRN: Jennifer Grisso is a business minded nurse from Illinois who works part time as an RN.
@therman: Ted Herman from New York is somewhat new to Twitter, but he still works well in the tweeting world.
@bluntmom: Sara Foshee is a proud nurse and mom from Georgia who likes to tell it like it is.
@ josephweaver : Joe Weaver is an RN and author with an astounding 36,000 followers under his belt.
@JetWithAnya: Anya Clowers is an RN in California who works to help people with health issues travel more easily.
@Laura_RN: Laura Collyer is from Canada who is always available to answer RN-related questions.
@CindyCohen: Cindy Cohen is from Indiana, and there she works as a Wellness Coach.
@TraumaaaNurse: Susi has a fun personality and a passion for nursing that make her quite interesting to follow.

Google Android Applications for the Medical Field

Richard Hemby — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:05:04 +0000

In a world that has been tremendously influenced by changes in various sectors of our environment, people world-wide are living in the midst of a technological revolution. These changes are intended to contribute to the betterment of our lives, as well as the ease of access to information. Information still remains as one of the most exchanged commodities that we use one a daily basis, and it will continue to be so for years to come. Gadgets such as mobile phones and the recent upgrades of them known as Smartphones have emerged lately, providing the end-user with friendly interfaces to keep the communication flowing.

Google Android, a mobile operating system handset introduced in 2007 by Google, provides a ton of handy applications for people of this century. Among the applications are some made available for Smartphone users in the medical field. Thus medical doctors, nurses or pharmacists, students and other healthcare experts could be kept up to date with the most reliable clinical applications on the market today. Tabers Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary and Drug Guide by Daviss are some of the more popular resources available, but there are plenty of others. Most of these are available for download on the internet with newer versions popping out here and there.

Listed below are some of the medical applications accessible via Smartphones running the Google Android platform.

5 Minute Clinical Consult (5MCC): Provides a real time access to more than seven hundred medical conditions. The application includes dermatology images, drug database and more.

Davis’s Drug Guide Mobile & Web Edition: Offers answers to critical medical questions evolving from patient safety to preventable medical errors issues. They are now made available to the modern phone user. It also has up to date information on drug use accessible regardless of your time and location.

Harrison’s Manual of Medicine for Mobile + Web: This application covers the most frequently seen medical conditions with a succinct approach on diagnosis and management through your PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).

Red Book: Provides the most in-use recommendations in analysis, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases observed from younger patients to adolescents.

Pocket Guide to Diagnostic Tests: This app is helpful in the medical profession field at any level as it provides quick answers to questions encountered by real life people in the above cited field.

Davis’s Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests: As the name indicates, the application works as a guide that basically covers the procedures of conducts before, during and after a test is performed on a patient.

Merck Manuals for Mobile and Web: Used for illness management information with its authors numbering various qualified expert clinicians. Regular updates are delivered through the Internet as well as during the synchronization of Google Android.

Handbook of Nursing Diagnosis: With richly compiled information, the application tends to be of help to practitioners in the nursing field. Tackling the issues of accurate diagnosis, it is today a convincing tool for most nurses.

Calorie Counter: Another useful application in a sense that it has a calorie counter enabled. Its user-friendly interface allows you to track what you might have consumed. It uses the camera on the Android as a scanner tool for barcodes. It also searches for information on food and nutrition database.

Drug Facts – Gold: Comprising of a well packed database on drugs from numerous brands, it widens knowledge with practical information about side effects, dosing, indications of products and more.

Blood Pressure Tracker: In an effort to reduce risks of hypertension, the Blood Pressure Tracker monitors ones blood pressure level. It is a great tool for people in the medical profession and those just looking to watch their health.

Skin Rashes: A handy application with a lot of information on how to identify and take care of most common skin conditions. Chickenpox, shingles, measels and more are all discussed in this application.

Health Guide: This guide is used to spot out various health conditions (the common cold and flu are two of the most popular). This is another affordable application to the end user, with future versions that are full of promises.

eHypertension Pro Free: Absolutely free, this is an application with a built in blood pressure and heart rate tracker.

PediDoser: Provides help in finding the right way of administering medicine to pediatric patients. It has a very wide database of all common outpatient pediatric drugs.

Abdominal Pain: Recurrent abdominal pain is a medical issue that should be examined and treated by a professional. This application intends to identify various causes of such pains.

Merriam-Webster’s Medical Cictionary for Android: A concise guide with general coverage of medical jargon. The installation can be made on memory cards if available in a quest to save space on your mobile device.

On Track Diabetes: Developed to be helpful to diabetic patients, this application has been also designed with a great, user friendly interface to ease the stress encountered by end user in monitoring his or her health.

Period and Ovulation Tracker: With this useful tool, calculations made in order for one to find out about ovulation and period will become much easier. This reduces the unexpected quality of the menstrual cycle.

The fact that all these applications have authors coming mainly from the medical field renders their source a trusted one. The applications are also kept up to date for the benefit of the user – mainly, personnel in the healthcare.

Interested in becoming a health care professional after reading this article? Come check out our guide to Online Healthcare Degrees or Online Nursing Degree Programs.