We Are All At Risk

When I decided to pursue nursing, I had a general idea of the my areas of interest. I'm open to try almost anything in this field including, but not limited to, labor and delivery, operating room, intensive care units and even home health nursing.

However, I did know, under any uncertain terms, that I did not want to be in an area that would pose a high risk for dangerous chemical or environmental exposure. I was not interested in oncology, radiology, or infectious diseases.

Then I realized that it does not matter where I am because there is a danger of exposure anywhere within this field. Currently I'm on a Medical/Surgical unit and I handle all types of drugs that have the potential to be hazardous to my health. Drugs including antiviral and antibiotics. I also am on a unit that requires lifting and moving patients which can be very dangerous to my health. It was also found out that long-term, low-level exposure to occupational hazards can lead to detrimental health effects.

I've found an article below that is very comprehensive and informative about hazardous drugs in all areas of nursing. It also list precautions that should be used by all nurses to ensure safe handling of certain drugs and materials.

After reading the article see if you can list some of the unexpected drugs that nurses come in contact with that can be hazardous to our health.

Also, according to the January 2007 issue of Epidemiology, what is the major effect of antineoplastic drugs?

Finally, what are the commonly performed activities of nurses that result in hazardous exposures?

http://news.nurse.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070604/ILLINOIS09/706040320/0/CA09

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/hazdrug/

How Can We Help Prevent Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer is one of the leading killers of women. According to breastcancer.org, every 3 minutes a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer. And 40, 970 women were expected to die in 2006 from the disease.

I'm on a medical/surgical unit and as part of our admission assessment we ask if the patient performs breast self examination (BSE). Although I've never performed an official statistical analysis of the number of women who answer "no" during the admission, I would guess that it's roughly 60%.

In some ways, I'm discouraged by the lack of knowledge when it comes to BSE. However, my excitement returns when I realize the teaching opportunity available and potentially changing someones perspective and behavior. There are many factors that may contribute to women not performing BSE such as culture, age, and discomfort among other things. However, in most cases, it's a lack of education.

Below I've listed several websites that provide a wealth of information on breast cancer.

Check them out!! Once you've looked them over, post a comment and respond to this statement:

Summarize the 5 steps of Breast Self Examination.

http://www.breastcancer.org/

http://www.breastcancer.org/dia_detec_exam_5step.html

http://cms.komen.org/komen/AboutBreastCancer/index.htm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/breast-self-exam/WO00026

New Age Nursing Education

There are so many ways to provide education to anyone, anywhere. We have teleconferences, mobil phones, email, and powerpoint presentations among other things. Right now we have a fairly new phenomenon call YouTube. Yes, I know it gets a bad rap. But it can offer many useful things such as providing a vast amount of information to millions of people. There is a very interesting article that sumarizes what YouTube is, how it can be used for healthcare, and higher education and it can be incorporated in a curriculum. Please check it out and feel free to comment.

http://casesblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/nursing-education-20-via-youtube.html

Well...Here it goes!!

Blogging is totally new to me, but I'm intrigued with it's premise and power. I'm excited about this medium of communication. This blog was created to enhance the learning experience of potenetial, novice and experienced nurses. There are many things that I'm interested in sharing with anyone ready to hear it. As a new nurse, I have many, many things to learn. However, my experiences as a student is still vivid which allows me to relate to the student experience. And as we all know...whether you are a nurse of 2 years or a nurse of 25 years, the process of becoming a nurse can make or break your spirit and your career.