close to home

close to home

week of the nurse: one physician's tribute to all nurses

You make me look good,

.....and I forget your name

You comfort my patient and their family,

.....and go home late to YOUR family

You help my student do the right thing,

.....and I never say "thank you"

You remind me of my duty,

.....and I yell at you for overstepping your bounds

You spend much time saying "yes"

.....when you'd rather say "no"

You find a wrong order,

.....and you call to correct it before the patient is harmed

You stand at the bedside of a dying child,

In this post I will be asking more questions than answering, so I am depending upon YOU to add content for others to see, read, and comment upon.

Please,

and Thank You in advance

We are all on a quest for excellence. At least I hope we all are.

senseless violence against children-and thanks for children's hospitals

We are all reeling with vivid images of the Boston Marathon explosions. I see the poor 8-year old who was killed flash up on the screen and I cry. that family is irreparably injured, especially because the child's mom and sister were also seriously injured. At the time of this writing, I am aware of 8 other children who have been hospitalized due to the events that occurred during or following the blasts. Somewhere well over 100 others.

it was a dark and stormy....week

I have written before about being "on service" for a week on the pediatric inpatient unit.

I love it. I hate it. It's fun. It's exhausting. It's happy. It's sad. But mostly its never dull.

This week just past was no exception. Monday though Friday felt like it happened too fast. I was sooo tired by the end of the week, but I felt fulfilled. It was a difficult week. There were many unknowns, and much sadness, but it was totally worthwhile.

what is meningitis anyway?

When I read something on the internet or elsewhere about meningitis, or especially about the "meningitis vaccine" it strikes me that the ubiquitous use of the noun without an appropriate adjective could be confusing for most people. Don't misunderstand me, I am not talking about adjectives like "bad," "awful," or "life-threatening." Rather, I am talking about the adjective that indicates the microbiological etiology of the problem--such as "meningococcal meningitis" or "hemophilus meningitis," or "pneumococcal meningitis," or even "viral meningitis"

Dear readers,

I thought you might like to see this article about me that appeared on the Carilion Clinic website 2 weeks ago. It is part of a series aimed at helping folks get to know the leaders at our institution. My apologies to those of you from Carilion Clinic who have already seen it--some of you have even sent me emails to say hello--that was something completely unexpected and truly welcomed.

So, have you folllowed my advice, and joined Twitter?

Shortly after I wrote the last post I was gifted by discovering this article which had been written about me, and this blog, and helps describe some of the tweets I share. By reading it you can get a good idea of how I use Twitter to share information, some of the joys in my life (such as when I capture a particularly interesting photo of a bird, other wildlife, a sunset, or snow), or to respond to others who live on the same medium.

I hear that question a lot. At faculty meetings, at medical conferences, from my children, my husband, and a wide variety of other folks. Really?

Well, I use Twitter often, and don't consider myself an idiot, at least not for that reason. I welcome other thoughts on the degree of my potential "idiotness" but I hope you have more reasons than because I use Twitter. Feel free to list them in the comments below.

I thought I would share with you what I have learned about using Twitter over the last year-and-a-half, so you could decide for yourself about its potential value for you. I will leave you with instructions on how to get started, in case you decide you would like to try.

Medical costs are out of control. Yet, outcomes are not improving. Why?

when doctors can't hear

We have discussed child abuse on this blog before, and I promised you more in a series I began last year. This time I want to tell you a story from when I was a medical student--admittedly some of you will consider this ancient history, and perhaps you should. I do not remember the names of my preceptors or the name of the patient. So there is little chance I will tell you anything I shouldn't. In fact, I don't even remember the name of the hospital where this rotation occurred. Yet I remember the patient, her husband, her daughter as if it were yesterday.

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