All Your Scrubs

There are many fields in which nurses can specialize.  One of these specializations is emergency nursing. 

There are approximately 90,000 emergency nurses in the US.  This is a specialty of the nursing profession unlike any other. Emergency nurses must be ready to treat a wide variety of illnesses or injury situations ranging from a sore throat to a heart attack.  If you ever visit a hospital emergency room, you will see these emergency nurses in their nurses scrubs taking charge of various emergency situations.

To provide quality patient care for people of all ages, emergency nurses must possess both general and specific knowledge about health care to provide quality patient care for people of all ages.  Emergency nurses are registered nurses and many acquire additional certifications in the areas of trauma nursing, nurse practitioner, pediatric nursing, and various areas of injury prevention. 

Emergency nurses specialize in rapid assessment and treatment when every second counts, particularly during the initial phase of acute illness and trauma. Emergency nurses must tackle diverse tasks with professionalism, efficiency, and above all—caring.

As everyone knows, the United States is in the worst recession it has suffered in many years.  About 2 million jobs have been lost since the recession began and many people are looking for new jobs–many times in an entirely different field than before.  Many people are looking for work in “recession-proof” industries.

There are four industries in particular considered to be immune to the economic downturn: healthcare, education, law enforcement, and computers. 

This article will focus on the first of these industries — healthcare.  There are numerous instances of individuals from high paying careers enrolling in nursing school.  Many of these students are being recruited for job opportunities even before they graduate.  Nursing is one of only a few careers that is still hiring during these difficult economic times. 

Even during hard financial times, people will continue to be sick and hospitalized.  The healthcare industry is also thriving because of our aging population.  Our nation’s hospitals continue to be in need of good, qualified nurses.  As a result, the starting salary is often higher than for other careers. 

As the recession deepens, more people are searching for stability in these unstable times.  A career dressed in nurses scrubs can help offer this stability.

Earlier this week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made a historic announcement.  They have now released quality ratings for each of the nation’s 15,800 nursing homes that participate in Medicare or Medicaid.

Facilities are given rankings on a scale of a low of one star to a high of five stars in each of three different areas.  Each nursing home is rated based on health inspection surveys, staffing information, and quality of care measures. These rankings are available to the public on the Medicare website.   A large number of individual who wear nursing scrubs every day are employed in the nursing home industry.  This new ranking allows nurses to see how a potential employer ranks in the quality of care that they provide.

“Our goal in developing this unprecedented quality rating system is to provide families a straightforward assessment of nursing home quality, with meaningful distinctions between high and low performing homes,” said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems. “The new information will also help consumers and families identify important questions to ask nursing homes and challenge nursing homes to improve their quality of care.”

This new rating system should help families in choosing a nursing home for their loved one.  This is one of the most difficult and sometimes confusing decisions that families ever have to make.  

This new five-star quality rating system is just the latest in a series of improvements to the Nursing Home Compare Web site.  Last year, CMS began to publish a list of the nation’s nursing homes with consistently poor performance records.  These poorly performing nursing homes are being monitored by CMS much more closely than the higher ranked homes.

A group in their nurses scrubs have made this Christmas a Dream-Come-True for one young teen from Illinois. 

Young Janelle Eaton was granted a trip to Disney World through the Make-A-Wish Foundation this past summer.  However after arriving in Florida, Janelle became severely ill and spent two weeks in a hospital there.  When she was well enough, Janelle had to return home without visiting the park.

The nurses at the Hope Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois who have become Janelle’s second family knew they had to do something.  They decided to give Janelle a second chance to enjoy Disney World.  Hospital staff raised more than $2,400 to send Janelle, her sister, and her mother to Disney World.  They will leave Illinois on December 21st, Janelle’s 14th birthday.  One of the nurses will travel with them to ensure Janelle receives proper medical care during the trip.

These nurses and other hospital staff have made a special difference in this one young lady’s life. 

This is a sight that will put a smile on anyone’s face–hospital staff dressed in their medical uniforms leading a dog dressed in a party hat down the corridor of a hospital!  This was exactly what patients and friends recently witnessed at a birthday party held at Hendricks Regional Health in central Indiana.  This was a celebration honoring the one-year anniversary of the Paws to Pet program.  There were eight therapy dogs in attendance wearing their party hats and parading through the hospital.

The dogs that participate in the Paws to Pet program are a variety of breeds and sizes but all have been through extensive behavior training.  They are all certified by Therapy Dogs International. The dogs and their owner/handlers bring joy to patients who have a physician’s order for a therapy dog visit.

Research has shown that therapy dog visits improve the physiological and psychological well-being of patients by softening the impact of a hospital stay, reducing feelings of isolation and improving feelings of support and unconditional love

Traditionally people think that nursing is an occupation for females.  Many men may pass up a really satisfying career found in nursing because they think that others believe that nursing is a job for women.  

The idea that “nursing is for women” is finally being put to rest and more men are now pursuing careers in the nursing field.  Currently between 6 and 9 percent of all nurses are men but there has been a huge increase in recent years.  There are some reports showing that nearly 20 percent of all nursing students are now male. 

Even though Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale are two of history’s most famous nurses, historically nursing included a number of males.  Most military nurses during the Civil War were men.  One of the most famous of these was Walt Whitman, the poet.   Entire orders of monks have been devoted to nursing.  There were even the Knights of Malta during the Middle Ages who started out as a group of nurses. 

Nursing is a very respected career that offers an opportunity to help others and actually get paid to do it.  Nursing is attracting more men as well as women because it has more job openings available than there are nurses to fill them.  The pay and benefits are great and the flexibility and ability to specialize in different areas are far more abundant in nursing than in most other occupations.

So if you’re thinking of becoming a nurse, don’t be held back because you don’t think it’s a job for men. You will have plenty of male coworkers in the nursing field. There are even professional associations, magazines and websites just for male nurses.   So put on your mens scrubs and be a trendsetter.  Become a nurse!

Clinical laboratory personnel are important healthcare professionals.  They work in laboratories with infectious specimens.  These healthcare professionals gather and analyze specimens of body fluids and other cells.  Protective masks, gloves, and goggles often are necessary to ensure the safety of laboratory personnel.  

Working conditions vary with the size and type of employment setting.  The majority of clinical laboratory personnel work in a hospital setting.   Laboratories are generally well lighted and clean.  There are few hazards if proper methods of infection control and sterilization are followed. 

Hours of clinical laboratory technologists and technicians can vary with the size and type of employment setting.  The major employer of this type of professional is the hospital setting.  Personnel generally work shift work which could include working days, evenings or nights.  The laboratory in a hospital may be staffed around the clock.  A clinical laboratory technologist may be required to work on the weekends or holidays.   

While this is an excellent career path, you should be aware of the conditions of employment.  The job could require working long shifts and often laboratory workers may spend a great deal of time on their feet.  If this is the case, you should be sure that you have nursing shoes that provide your feet with the support and comfort they need.

In addition to the presence of doctors and nurses in the hospital, clinical medical technologists comprise another very important group seen in their white medical lab coats in the halls of every hospital.  Clinical laboratory testing is a very important part of the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease.  Medical technologists and medical laboratory technicians perform most of these tests in a laboratory setting.

Clinical laboratory personnel use automated equipment along with computerized instruments to analyze cells and body fluids.  They analyze the chemical content of these fluids looking for bacteria, parasites, and other microorganisms.  Medical technologists match blood for transfusions and test for drug levels in the blood that show how a patient is responding to treatment.

Technologists use microscopes, cell counters, and other sophisticated laboratory equipment.  After testing and examining a specimen, they analyze the results and relay them to physicians.  With increasing automation and the use of computer technology, the work of technologists and technicians has become less hands-on and more analytical.

Move quickly when medical cases arrive. Scrubbing up for an emergency operation should be quick and systematic. The unisex scrub is made to fit either a man or a woman. It has underpants with draw strings that will surely conform to any size of waist.

The Medici collection of scrub suits features v-neck tops and longer set in sleeves. It has side slits for easy movement and roomy fit. It is made of soft ring spun fabric for added comfort. This easy to care for fabric is wrinkle free and long lasting. You have wide choices in 14 fade resistant colors which will look great on anyone. Sizes range from XS to 5XL.

Always look professional and competent as you walk the hospital corridors. Don fashionable lab coats that are made with high quality materials that help protect your clothes as you perform your duties. Lab coats are ideal for use by doctors, pharmacists, and lab technicians.

The men’s three-pocket medical lab coat from Active Scrubs features a plain back for a more professional look. It has a left breast pocket with a tacked pencil divider for quick access to writing tools. It also has large lower pockets with plenty of room for medical accessories. These lab coats are made from high quality fabric.