2010 Nurses Convocation Sets the Tone for the Year

Seniors Steal the Spotlight

Bloomfield College is located in Bloomfield, NJ.

The Frances M. McLaughlin Division of Nursing formally opened the academic year with the convocation exercises. Attended by sophomore, junior, and senior nursing students; faculty, and alumni, the event served to set the tone for the year with words of encouragement and advice about becoming a nurse.

Vice President Marion Terenzio related a personal tale of recently needing medical care and the compassion of the nurses who were in her attendance. She said that due to her nurses becoming part of her medical team, she was able to concentrate on her own healing with trust. She encouraged the future nurses to develop caring as well as learning to care for their patients.

Dr. Neddie Serra, chair of the division, told the students that, while the program is not “a piece of cake,” the faculty members are there to support their journeys. “We are here to help you become successful,” she related. With that, Dr. Serra introduced Brunna Coutinho ’09 and said that Ms. Coutinho is proof that there is success waiting for them. Ms. Coutinho is currently a medical/surgical nurse at the Palisades Medical Center. She was twice the recipient of the Nurses Alumni Scholarship award, which is given to a junior and a senior student with the highest GPA in nursing subjects.

Edwina “Win” Zengerle N’52, president of the Frances M. McLaughlin Alumni Association read from the Jewish scriptures and the Christian scriptures. To everything there is a season was the reading from Ecclesiastes and Faith, hope, and love was the reading from I Corinthians. These two readings are traditional for the convocation ceremony.

Jigna Patel, senior,speaks with the Nursing community.

Jigna Patel, senior nursing student and president of the Bloomfield College Student Nurses Association spoke eloquently about empathy and the need for students to develop this very important trait in order to succeed in their chosen profession. She welcomed all students to the BCSNA and had words of encouragement for each class. To the sophomores she advised that they become close to their classmates and welcomed them as full nursing students. The junior year, she noted, is the toughest and she told them to work hard, study harder and develop real teamwork skills. To the senior class, she said “We’ve been through it all. We started out as strangers and become family.”

With that, Ms. Patel and her BCSNA board members introduced a Family Feud game with representatives from each class and a faculty member on Team A and Team B. They had to answer questions concerning nursing skills. Team B won by one point with the question “What do nursing students drink in class?”

Stephenia Manalo,junior, and Myko Lallgas,senior at Bloomfield Collge

The sophomore and junior class were all presented with a $10 gift card, courtesy of Scrubadoo.com, makers of nursing uniforms. Scrubadoo.com donated 130 cards to be distributed.

Mrs. Zengerle then presented the Alumni Scholarships to junior Richard Moody and senior Ashley Leandre. Both Moody and Leandre held the highest GPA in nursing subjects.

The morning was completed with a discussion and presentation by Nathan Walts from the Assessment Technologies Institute, who showed the students how to use the website that prepares them for the NCLEX exams (state tests required for nurses to practice after graduation).

Then it was back to class.

 This article can be found at www.bloomfield.edu

Nursing Quote of the Week....

Nursing would be a dream job if there were no doctors.  ~Gerhard Kocher

How to Become a Cardiac Nurse?

Ok, anyone that knows me can tell you how much I hate cardiac. I REALLY HATE IT! I find it so boring and I feel like its the same stuff over and over again. However, I realized some people might be interested in this field (blah!!) so here are some steps one can follow in order to become a Cardiac Nurse.


Cardiac Nurses work with patients suffering from heart-related ailments, such as heart disease, congestive heart failure or angina. Cardiac Nurses must complete a Nursing program and pass a national licensing exam.

Step 1: Research Cardiac Nursing Careers and Education Requirements

Cardiac Nurses aid patients suffering from heart disease and assist in the rehabilitation of patients who have undergone heart surgery. They may assist with surgeries, procedures or other interventions, and they provide education on management and prevention of heart disease or related conditions. Cardiac Nurses are registered nurses who have completed a Nursing program, the national licensing exam and additional training in cardiac care.

Step 2: Apply to a Nursing Program

Students who wish to pursue a Cardiac Nursing career can choose to earn an associate's degree, a bachelor's degree or a diploma through a hospital program. Diploma programs are becoming less common and students are increasingly advised to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Upon completion of a nursing program, students take the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses to become licensed registered nurses, RNs.

Step 3: Gain Additional Training In Cardiac Nursing

Since cardiac nursing is a specialty area, Cardiac Nurses generally require additional training. Most employers require Cardiac Nurses to have Basic Life Support and Advanced Cardiac Life Support certification. To become certified as Cardiac Nurses, RNs also need a specified amount of clinical practice and continuing education hours. Various universities and organizations may provide training opportunities, including the American College of Cardiovascular Nurses, www.accn.net.

Step 4: Obtain Certification as a Cardiac Nurse

The American Nurse Credentialing Center (ANCC), www.nursecredentialing.org, provides certification in cardiac rehabilitation nursing and cardiac vascular nursing. Certification requirements include holding an active RN license, two years of experience as an RN and a minimum number of clinical and continuing education hours. According to the ANCC, certification could lead to career advancement and higher pay. The American Board of Cardiovascular Medicine, www.cvncertify.org, is another certifying agency for Cardiac Nurses.

Step 5: Consider Career Advancement

Many Cardiac Nurses continue their education and become clinical nurse specialists in the area of cardiac nursing. Clinical nurse specialists are an advanced practice specialty, which usually requires a Master of Science in Nursing degree. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, predicts that advance practice nurses will be in increasing demand over the next decade.

How to Become an ER Nurse....

I have always found the Emergeny Room one of my favorite places to be as a kid (yes, weird I know). But for some reason that I cannot explain I just love the hustle and bustle of the ER. ER nurses have to be quick on their feet, have sharp minds and be able to stand their ground. I listed below some steps someone who is interested in becoming an ER nurse should follow as a guide.


Locate a hospital with a preceptor program. Working in the ER is a different environment than other areas of the hospital and takes additional skills. Even with nursing experience being assigned to a preceptor will help you make the transition to ER work. Call hospitals and speak to the nursing director to inquire about a preceptor program.

Get certified in advanced cardiac life support and pediatric advanced life support. These two certifications give an emergency room nurse special skills and knowledge to treat adults and children who are in respiratory or cardiac arrest. Both certifications require attending a class and passing a written and practical exam. Most hospitals offer classes.

Take the exam to become a Certified Emergency Room Nurse. Although it may not be a requirement to get hired in an ER, it may set you apart from other potential employees. Obtain an application for the exam from the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing.
Join the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. This organization can provide information on jobs and continuing education classes.

Learn to work effectively as part of a team. ER nurses work very closely with other members of the health care team such as doctors, respiratory therapists, lab tech and social workers. Because situations are stressful and fast paced emotions can run high, ER nurses need to be calm, efficient and work as part of a team.

Find ways to reduce stress. ER nurses deal with life and death situations daily. Burnout is high. Find ways to cope with the stress such as exercise, hobbies and spending time with friends.

Funny Nursing Jokes

This is just a couple of Nursing jokes and pics that I came across that I thought were pretty funny. Enjoy!

Top ten reasons to become a nurse:
Pays better then fast food, though the hours aren't as good.
Fashionable shoes and sexy white uniforms.
Needles: "Tis better to give then receive"
Reassure your patients that all bleeding stops...eventually.
Expose yourself to rare, exciting and new diseases.
Interesting aromas.
Courteous and infallible doctors who always leave clear orders in perfectly legible handwriting.
Do enough charting to navigate around the world.
Celebrate all the holidays with your friends- at work.
Take comfort that most of your patients survive no matter what you do to them.




You know you're a nurse if...


You believe every patient needs TLC: Thorazine, Lorazepam and Compazine.
You would like to meet the inventor of the call light in a dark alley one night.
You believe not all patients are annoying ... some are unconscious.
Your sense of humor seems to get more "warped" each year.
You know the phone numbers of every late night food delivery place in town by heart.
You can only tell time with a 24 hour clock.
Almost everything can seem humorous ... eventually.
When asked, "What color is the patient's diarrhea?", you show them your shoes.
Every time you walk, you make a rattling noise because of all the scissors and clamps in your pockets.
You can tell the pharmacist more about the medicines he is dispensing than he can.
You carry "spare" meds in your pocket rather than wait for pharmacy to deliver.
You refuse to watch ER because it's too much like the real thing and triggers "flash backs."
You check the caller ID when the phone rings on your day off to see if someone from the hospital is trying to call to ask you to work.
You've been telling stories in a restaurant and had someone at another table throw up.
You notice that you use more four letter words now than before you became a nurse.
Every time someone asks you for a pen, you can find at least three of them on you.
You can intubate your friends at parties.
You don't get excited about blood loss ... unless it's your own.
You live by the motto, "To be right is only half the battle, to convince the physician is more difficult."
You've basted your Thanksgiving turkey with a Toomey syringe.
You've told a confused patient your name was that of your coworker and to HOLLER if they need help.
Eating microwave popcorn out a clean bedpan is perfectly natural.
Your bladder can expand to the same size as a Winnebago's water tank.
When checking the level of orientation of a patient, you aren't sure of the answer.
You find yourself checking out other customer's arm veins in grocery waiting lines.
You can sleep soundly at the hospital cafeteria table during dinner break, sitting up and not be embarrassed when you wake up.
You avoid unhealthy looking shoppers in the mall for fear that they'll drop near you and you'll have to do CPR on your day off.
You've sworn you're going to have "NO CODE" tattooed on your chest.







 

3 Nurses and a Wish
A nursing assistant, floor nurse, and charge nurse from a small nursing home were taking a lunch break in the break room. In walks a lady dressed in silk scarfs and wearing large polished stoned jewlery.


"I am 'Gina the Great'," stated the lady. "I am so pleased with the way you have taken care of my aunt that I will now grant the next three wishes!" With a wave of her hand and a puff of smoke, the room was filled with flowers, fruit and bottles of drink, proving that she did have the power to grant wishes before any of the nurses could think otherwise.


The nurses quickly aurgued among themselves as to which one would ask for the first wish. Speaking up, the nursing assistant wished first. "I wish I were on a tropical island beach, with single, well-built men feeding me fruit and tending to my every need." With a puff of smoke, the nursing assistant was gone.
The floor nurse went next."I wish I were rich and retired and spending my days in my own warm cabin at a ski resort with well groomed men feeding me coccoa and doughnuts." With a puff of smoke, she too was gone.


"Now, what is the last wish?" asked the lady.


The charge nurse said," I want those two back on the floor at the end of the lunch break."





 Two doctors were in a hospital hallway one day complaining about Nurse Nancy.
" She's incredibly mixed up," said one doctor. "She does everything absolutely backwards.
Just last week, I told her to give a patient 2 milligrams of morphine every 10 hours.
She gave him 10 milligrams every 2 hours. He damn near died on us!"
The second doctor said, "That's nothing.
Earlier this week, I told her to give a patient an enema every 24 hours.
She tries to give him 24 enemas in one hour! The guy damn near exploded!"
Suddenly, they hear this blood-curdling scream from down the hall.
" Oh my God!" said the first doctor, "I just realized I told Nurse Nancy to prick Mr. Smith's boil!"


A man goes to visit his 85-year-old grandpa in hospital.
" How are you grandpa? he asks.
"Feeling fine," says the old man.


"What's the food like?"


"Terrific, wonderful menus."


"And the nursing?"


"Just couldn't be better. These young nurses really take care of you."


"What about sleeping? Do you sleep OK?"


"No problem, nine hours solid every night. At 10 o'clock they bring me a cup of hot chocolate and a Viagra tablet ... and that's it. I go out like a light."


The grandson is puzzled and a little alarmed by this, so rushes off to question the Sister in charge. "What are you people doing," he says,
" I'm told you're giving an 85-year-old Viagra on a daily basis. Surely that can't be true?"


"Oh, yes," replies the Sister. "Every night at 10 o'clock we give him a cup of hot chocolate and a Viagra tablet. It works
wonderfully well. The chocolate makes him sleep, and the Viagra stops him from rolling out of bed

 

A new nurse listened while the doctor was yelling, "Typhoid! Tetanus! Measles!"
The new nurse asked another nurse, "Why is he doing that?"
The other nurse replied, "Oh, he just likes to call the shots around here."




Three nurses died & went to heaven where they were met at the Pearly Gates by St. Peter. To the first, he asked, "What did you do on Earth and why should you go to heaven?" "I was a nurse in an inner city hospital," she replied. "I worked to bring healing and peace to the poor suffering city children." "Very noble," said St. Peter. "You may enter." And in through the gates she went.
To the next, he asked the same question, "So what did you do on Earth?" "I was a nurse at a missionary hospital in Africa," she replied. "For many years, I worked with a skeleton crew of doctors and nurses who tried to reach out to as many peoples and tribes with a hand of healing and with a message of God's love." "How touching," said St. Peter. "You too may enter." And in she went.He then came to the last nurse, to whom he asked, "So, what did you do back on Earth?" After some hesitation, she explained, "I was just a nurse at an H.M.O." St. Peter pondered this for a moment, and then said, "Okay, you may enter also." "Whew!" said the nurse. "For a moment there, I thought you weren't going to let me in." " Oh, you can come in," said St. Peter, "but you can only stay for three days..."


What did the nurse say when she found a rectal thermometer in her pocket? " Some asshole has my pen!"
What's the difference between an oral thermometer and a rectal thermometer?
The taste.
Why did the nurse always insist on using the rectal thermometer to obtain temperatures? She was taught in nursing school to always look for her patient's best side.
How can you tell who is the head nurse of a facility?
She's the one with dirty knees.
They found a naked dead body of a nurse washed up on the shore today.
How did they know it was a nurse?
She had an empty stomach, a full bladder, and her butt was chewed out.

Stress Free is the Way to Be

So I know that being a student (no matter what major) can be stressful. So, I found these relaxation tips online. I tried a few myself and actually found that they REALLY DO WORK!!

1. Give up caring about what others think. Do what's right for you and feel good about it.
2. Exercise! Stretch your body and release those endorphins! Living more in your body will deepen your day to day experience and exponentially increase the quality of your life and your sense of well being.

3. Have fun! Don't forget how wonderful it feels to laugh. Have fun with what ever you're doing.

4. Community. Let others join you in what you're doing. When we live from the concept that "we're all in this together" we live from a shared humanity. This creates a sense of
camaraderie and community which buffers us from the stresses of day to day life.

5. Don't take everything so personally. Listen to others objectively; it's not always about you!

6. Listen to different perspectives. This enlarges your perspective which leads to greater understanding and an enhanced sense of compassion.

7. Delight yourself. Surround yourself with whatever it is that delights you. Surround yourself with beauty, with music, with motion, colors or sounds. Pamper your senses to create a stress-free environment.

8. Create Space. Don't take on projects or responsibilities that don't directly connect to your values or goals. Create space for the things you want more of in your life by keeping the less important things out.

9. Connections. Connections are the ties that bind us to each other. Appreciate the connections in your life and do what ever it takes to create and deepen them. (This includes the connection with yourself.)

10. Business before play. Take care of business so you can relax and play with your friends and family. If you don't take care of business, it'll be hard to give yourself to life's joy.

10 Tips for Surviving Nursing School

Ok, so you finally got accepted into Nursing school. You might feel overwhelmed or discouraged by the workload that nursing school might entail. I searched online and compiled a list of tips that I found helpful for nursing school. Depending on what kind of person you are you might find some more helpful than others. Let me know what you think!

You thought you were ready when you applied to nursing school and were thrilled when you were accepted--but now you may be wondering what you've gotten yourself into enrolling in nursing school. No need to worry. There are plenty of nursing student resources and advice available to help guide you through the challenging, but fun experience. Here are 10 nursing school tips to get you started.

1. Work on Time Management

Important things to work toward include:

• Being prepared for exams
• Ensuring papers and projects are completed on time
• You aren't late for clinicals (ever!) or class
• You have time for things that aren't nursing school related

2. Be Realistic

Consistent good grade are great for the ego, but not always possible, particularly among nursing students. The vast amount of information you learn covers everything from basic biology to in-depth social and ethical issues. Be realistic about what you'll be able to achieve.

3. Invest in a Good Calendar or PDA

Some people prefer paper agendas while others work best with technical toys. Choose what works for you, and use it consistently. Note all important dates including:

• Exams
• Papers (when to start, timeline, due date)
• Clinicals
• Appointments
• Study times
• Relaxation and fun time

4. Consider Buying an NCLEX Study Text

When asked for nursing school tips, some graduates suggest first-year students buy the latest NCLEX study text. The study materials can help you learn the question style and presentation. This prep can give you a head start so that when it comes time to study for the actual exam, you'll know what to expect.

5. Ask for Help

Stress is a big factor that affects Nursing students

No matter what you've heard, nursing instructors don't spend hours plotting to make your nursing school experience horrible. While every teacher is different and you may not "click" with all of them, know that they are there to help you become a good nurse. Your nursing instructors can be some of your best resources.

6. Work with Other Students

Nursing isn't a solitary profession. Teamwork is vital to being a successful nurse and providing the best care to patients. Begin this team-centric ethic early by working with your fellow nursing students to organize study groups, practice procedures, or just support each other.

7. Be Ready for Clinicals

You have to let yourself shine in clinicals. It's normal to be nervous, but don't hide and hope the teacher doesn't see you. This is your time to practice what you've learned.

• Be on time (early is better)
• Be prepared: review nursing care plans ahead of time, learn about what you're going to be doing
• Listen and watch the more experienced nurses
• Don't overstep your boundaries

8. Be Confident

Nursing school can make a strong person wonder why she went into nursing. Doubts planted in your brain can sprout and spread like weeds if you don't keep them in check. While being cautious is prudent, you need to believe in yourself and be strong in your commitment to the profession you've chosen.

9. Take Care of Yourself

You've heard it many times: you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else. You need to be in the best shape of your life to be able to take on the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of nursing school.

• Eat right
• Exercise
• Get enough sleep
• Make time to relax

10. Learn From Your Mistakes

Making a mistake is every nurse's worst nightmare. But nursing school is place where you can make mistakes. Take advantage of your time in nursing school to ask questions, try new procedures, and learn from more experienced nurses. If you mess up, admit it, fix it, learn from it, and move on. You'll be a better nurse because of those mistakes you made.