One Courageous Act “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage,” Anais Nin is quoted as saying. Courage comes to mind when thinking of the actions of a young gentlewoman in Victorian times. Facing the objections of her family and peers, Florence Nightingale wanted to become a nurse. That courage expanded her life and made...
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“Health, which is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, is a fundamental human right and that the attainment of the highest possible level of health is a most important world-wide social goal….”–World Health Organization Choosing Nursing for Primary Care “I’m of...
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Why do patients blog? Why do they reveal personal information and medical experiences on the Internet? 1) To Share Information Annette McKinnon, author of ‘Here’s Your Gold Watch, Rheutired,’ started her blog “to inform people about things I learned that seem obvious to me now, but were hard to learn.” Carolyn Thomas, author of “My Heart...
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Do nurses eat their young? Renee Thompson asks. The answer may surprise you. “Nurses know we eat our young. Some nurses think it’s good to “toughen up” the new nurses. In reality it’s not. It decreases confidence and competence. “ Renee Thompson, nurse, author, educator and advocate for workplace change, is making it her...
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Physician Parents When your parents are both physicians, you have a unique perspective on the health care system. This is especially true for me because of the time when I grew up. During those days, on call physicians didn’t leave the phone calls to an answering service at night. Our phone would ring, my father would answer it at all hours and would...
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