Well, Happy New Year’s Eve, ya’ll.
It’s time for reminiscing…for viewing what’s behind us with relief…and looking forward with rose-colored glasses to 2013.
Or maybe it’s the other way around for you. Is 2013 going to be YOUR year to shine?
I would like to wrap this year up by posting a Highlight Reel that includes all 12 months of 2012. So, without further ado, let’s hit it:
January:
The big topic of 2012 was the new healthcare bill, affectionately (*cough*) christened Obamacare. Nurse Ratched’s Place starts off the year by sharing the nursing pros and cons of the bill…in a roundabout way. Do you understand the implications? Leave one pro and one con of your own in the comments below!
February:
As potential nurses prepared to graduate in a couple months, the subject of interview prep was a popular topic. Check out my New Grads: Prep for Show Time! post on Nerdy Nurse’s blog.
The nursing and medical blogospheres lit up with fury after Amanda Trujillo took her case to the online public for support. Those Emergency Blues shares why nurses were so angry about Banner Health’s handling of the situation, compounded by the AZBON’s seemingly vindictive treatment of Amanda because of the publicity. Now that the case is wrapped up, unfortunately not in Amanda’s favor, what are your thoughts?
March:
Dr. Dean lists out stupid money mistakes on his Millionaire Nurse Blog. There are 20 mistakes listed, followed by a scoring system so you can see where you rank. Where did I rank? Welllll, ummm…..there’s room for improvement. Where are you with your financial state?
April:
Ever thought about being a nurse practitioner? Nurse practitioners are taking a greater role in primary healthcare in recent days. The Nurse Practitioner’s Place blog answers some questions about becoming and being a nurse practitioner. Also, check out the list of links for nurse practitioners here at NP Clinical Notes.
May:
For International Nurses’ Week, Nurse Keith shares a cool infograph about nurses around the world on his blog, Digital Doorway. The infograph is from Partners In Health (PIH), a non-profit Massachusetts preventative care organization.
June:
Ian over at impactednurse talks about the knowledge of seasoned nurses going to waste because many are not active in mentoring or teaching. Sad indeed. Years of patient care experience not shared? I hope if you have years of experience and are reading this, you will consider sharing your expertise in some outlet. The newbies (and not so newbies) need you!
July:
Infusion Nurse celebrates the birth of the USA by reminding us how much we CAN do as nurses here, compared to other countries around the world. Onwards and upwards, is what I have to say…let’s keep expanding our practice capabilities!
August:
We all know it, and most have experienced it: the craziness of nursing shift schedules! Jparadisi RN talks about how the “flexibility” of nursing shifts can mess with the timing of hygiene….and other important life tasks, like sleep. Nobody needs that, do they?
September:
Donna over at Nurse Power shares how the “hourly employee” mentality can damage the reputation of nurses as professionals. Whether off the clock or on, we should act as professionals, especially when going for those job interviews or to conventions.
October:
In their blog Off the Charts, the American Journal of Nursing highlights one of their articles, Common Misconceptions About Professional Licensure. You can view some of the misconceptions listed in the blog, but will have to have a subscription in order to view the entire article on the AJN site. Very helpful information!
November:
This month I joined the WEGO Health Blog project. This project encouraged health bloggers to post every day for the 30 days in this month. Since this project took up a significant amount of time, I’m going to mention a couple of my own posts….too vain? (*grin*)
Well, vanity is definitely not the subject of the post Life From an Altered Angle. I talk about how my various nursing specialties have changed my perspective on life.
Another post you might find interesting is Research, Quackery, and the Placebo Effect, in which I talk about the reluctance of the medical community to accept alternative treatments that fall outside the category of “evidence-based medicine.” Are we medical folks TOO caught up in the importance of research? Because, you know, research can be skewed, squelched by opposing interest groups, or just plain not funded because the results would not be profitable enough to anyone.
December:
We all know nurses are the backbone of our medical system, and this was especially true during and following Hurricane Sandy that hit the northeast USA in late October. On the KevinMD blog, Barbara Ficarra, RN writes about how nurses met and exceeded the demands of disaster nursing within damaged and disabled hospitals.
Ending this year by emphasizing the strength, the determination, the reliability, and the courage of nurses is fitting. I am proud of my profession. It’s not perfect, as no profession is (or the people in it), but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
(Well, maybe I’d trade it for my own private island in a hurricane-free zone of oceanic real estate…but I don’t see anyone lining up to offer that. Haha!)
Hello 2013!
