Thursday | April 6, 2023

Healthcare starts with you. This is your beat.

Hey-O Nursing Beat Friends!

It’s Thursday, so I’m coming in hot with more questionable historical medical practices and beliefs. 

We’ve all heard about bloodletting at some point in our nursing studies, but what was it really about? Physicians in ancient times thought that illnesses were brought on by “bad blood” (no, not the kind you have with your in-laws). The practice was commonplace in Greek and Rome and was thought to bring balance back to your four humors, including yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, and blood. If you were ill, your humors were thought to be a bit “out of whack,” and you had too much blood. The solution? Cut open a vein, drain some of the blood into a receptacle, and boom, you’re on your way to recovery. Did it work? The ancients thought so. Thankfully phlebotomy and treating the sick have come a long way since then!

Big love and even better health,

Kel M.

Managing Editor of TNB

MORNING BRIEF 🍳 ☕️

Emergency Departments Need Clear Guidelines for Law Enforcement Interactions

As Sally Mahmoud-Werthmann, an emergency medicine doctor at Stanford Medicine and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, tried to stabilize a patient with gunshot wounds, she had to work around two armed police officers who continued interrogating the patient and searching his clothing in the ER. They refused to leave the room when Mahmoud-Werthmann asked them to. Unfortunately, it’s a common problem, especially since the ED is often an entry point to medical care for patients in the criminal justice system, Mahmoud-Werthmann wrote in a STAT commentary.

Though a doctor, the situation Mahmoud-Werthmann faced is undoubtedly one that families to emergency nurses too. The problem is that few institutions have clear policies governing how medical providers should interact with officers in the emergency department. That lack of guidance compromises the safety of patients and puts medical professions in a difficult place—and it needs to change, Mahmoud-Werthmann said.

Which Specialties Have the Best PA Salaries? 

Physician assistants can make anywhere from a median of $92,000 to $140,000 depending on what specialties they work in, according to the American Academy of Physician Associates 2022 Salary Report released July 29th and shared with Becker’s Hospital Review. Almost 12,000 PAs across the US participated in the survey, administered between January 27th and March 7th, to find out the median salaries for several dozen specialties.

The specialty with the highest median wages, $140,000, was cardiovascular/cardiothoracic surgery, followed by thoracic surgery with a median of $128,250 earnings. Most median amounts hovered around $120,000, but two fell below $100,000: general pediatrics and genetics. Check out the full article to see where your specialty falls in the pack.

COMMUNITY PICKS 🌼 

If you need some color and cuteness in your spring wardrobe, you’ll love this adorable t-shirt featuring the Peeps bunnies!

✏️ YOUR NEW THING STRATEGY powered by

I am Quitting my Job. Does That Make Me a Failure?

Nurses quickly attach their self-worth to their work:

• If we make a mistake, we are bad nurses.  

• If we aren’t picking up overtime, we are letting the team down.

• If we are quitting our job, we are failing at it and can’t do anything right. 

These are examples of negative self-talk. According to the Cleveland Clinic, negative self-talk can worsen mental health, harm relationships with others, and hurt your self-esteem. To break this harmful habit, nurses need to reframe their thinking and get rid of the idea that work productivity has any relation to self-worth. You are so much more than your job. You are a full-spectrum human. 

Quitting a job is just about finding the best work situation to support you in living your best life.

Quitting does not equal failing. Quitting = growth!

Ready for a new job? Use the Winning Nurse Resume & Cover Letter Templates to make 2023 your year! Join the conversation on IG or Facebook @newthingnurse and join nurses and nursing students focused on success!

DAILY DIVERSION 💊

Pat has been volunteering at Rush Hospital for more than 25 years, but after her husband passed away in 1996, he could no longer periodically surprise her with flowers at the hospital. So nurse anesthetist Mohammad Jamal Deen took up the mantle, as you see in the heartwarming video.

🤯 ONE BIG NUMBER

Thanks for reading! 🤓