Thursday | March 23, 2023

Healthcare starts with you. This is your beat.

Hey-O Nursing Beat Friends!

It’s time for some more Throwback Thursday facts!

🩺”Martha Jane Cannary (aka “Calamity Jane”) was a legendary gunslinger who also helped to nurse quarantined victims of the smallpox epidemic in 1878, dressed as a man.”

🩺”The standard education for professional nurses is continuing to evolve. While registered nurses (RNs) still comprise the highest proportion of active nurses, the number of graduates with their Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) grew by more than 32 percent from 2013 to 2017.”

Big love and even better health,

Kel M.

Managing Editor of TNB

TODAY ON TNB'S BLOG:
ACCOUNTANTS BUST FIVE TAX MYTHS HELD BY NURSES

MORNING BRIEF 🍳 ☕️

Four Deaths at VA Linked to EMR System

Six incidents of “catastrophic harm” to veterans, including four deaths, occurred because of the Oracle Cerner electronic health records system implemented at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The revelation has led legislators to threaten consequences such as withholding funding for the project. The $16 billion contract with Cerner to update its EHR system has been plagued with problems from the start.

The VA paused rollouts of the system last June as 148 cases of patient harm came to light from a hospital in Spokane, Washington. Last month, the VA similarly delayed implementation at the Ann Arbor health system until “late 2023 or early 2024” due to ”concerns over how the platform would interact with medical research systems at Ann Arbor Healthcare System.” In addition, a group of House Republicans introduced a bill in January that would halt the system’s rollout until VA medical center leaders agree it’s safe.

Candida Auris Fungal Infections an Urgent Threat

Though antibiotic resistance has long been a concern, antifungal resistance is a problem too, especially for Candida auris, an emerging fungal infection growing rapidly in the US, according to a new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regard C. auris as “a serious global health threat” for three reasons:

1. It’s often multidrug-resistant. The US saw its first cases of multidrug-resistant C. auris in 2021, according to a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report last year.

2. It’s hard to identify C. auris with standard lab methods, and it’s easy to misidentify it if facilities don’t have specific technology, thereby increasing the risk of inappropriate infection management.  

3. It’s caused outbreaks in healthcare settings, making it even more critical to quickly identify C. auris in a hospitalized patient so healthcare workers can take steps to prevent its spread. 

Pulse Oximeters Often Wrong in Black Children Too 

Plenty of research has already established that pulse oximeters don’t work as effectively in adults with darker skin. In addition, they overestimate actual blood oxygen levels in adult Black patients with hypoxemia more often than in white patients, leading the Food and Drug Administration to review the evidence on these medical devices last November. 

But not much research has looked at pulse oximetry in Black children. Now a new study in JAMA Pediatrics suggests the devices are problematic for kids with darker skin as well. An analysis of almost 800 patients at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found that hypoxemia not detected by pulse oximeters occurred in 12% of Black children compared to 4% of white children. Moreover, after accounting for age, sex, blood pressure, temperature, hemoglobin, and medication use, pulse oximeters were still more than twice as likely to underdiagnose Black children than white children. 

COMMUNITY PICKS 🌼 

It’s common knowledge that nurses drink a lot of coffee every day. But all that brew can stain your teeth. Check out these teeth-whitening pens to get your smile back to a dazzling white!

✏️ YOUR NEW THING STRATEGY powered by

Can I Burn Out Looking for a New Job?

Spending too much time searching for a job and not enough time caring for yourself can lead to stress and burnout. Follow these tips to avoid being overwhelmed while looking for a new nurse job: 

• Make a Schedule: Set a loose schedule around the time you dedicate to looking for a job. Limit this time to just a couple of hours per day. 

• Set Goals: Set attainable goals in your schedule, like applying to a certain number of jobs per day or sending X number of emails in a one-hour sitting. This gives you objective metrics to remind you of your productivity. 

• Track Your Progress: Record your application work in a spreadsheet or notebook. This helps you stay organized about who you contacted and when, what jobs you have already applied to, etc. 

• Remember to Relax: The job search can be a stressful time. Remember to take time for yourself and decompress when you can. 

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 💊

Foreign Accent Syndrome is a rare but real condition that can occur because of neurological damage. For example, a man in his 50s with prostate cancer developed an Irish accent as his cancer progressed. 

🤯 ONE BIG NUMBER

Thanks for reading! 🤓