International Nurses Association

We already had our time to treat the immense demanding curricula a nursing school provides. Nursing students are often familiarized with it at the very beginning of their journey. Information usually being provided is strictly covering what the school curricula involve. It does not provide hints on possible courses or extracurricular activities a nurse-to-be has to follow in order to get the most of his/her studying years. A nursing student might consider going for a nurse related extracurricular activity that will be efficient in terms of time management. What might count as a productive extracurricular activity for a nursing student? o      Initiating one or more community service projects o      Job shadowing o      Volunteer   Why should one consider these extracurricular activities once he or she is studying to become a nurse? Well, first of all, nursing requires a lot of good will and dedicatio...

5:50-8:45 4:45 a.m. The alarm is vibrating my phone off the night stand.   Tired from the previous day, since I worked a 16 hour shift, I do what many other nurses do, I get up and go to work anyway.   Arriving at work, it's 5:50 a.m., and I am told that my patient in room 202 is not being cooperative. Then, the screaming started from my less than happy patient.   I faced the music or the patient in this case.   He informed me he was not being treated well, and he needed pain medications.   I agreed to check his chart regarding medication times, and he referred to me in no so nice terms and told me not to come back without pain medication.   I left his room and was immediately called to room 216.   An elderly woman, that was very kind and followed her doctor's instructions exactly, had a bowel movement after 5 days of no activity.   The problem was, she did not make it to the restroom.   Because of the patient’s lack of mobility, I s...

More than 10,000 baby boomers will turn 65 every day until the year 2030. By 2030, more than 60% of them will suffer from multiple chronic conditions.

You may be familiar with the old expression, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink”.   Well, it is the same concept with patients that refuse to follow their physician’s instructions. You can provide directions, explain the importance, but you can’t “make” them follow the instructions.   However, these are people we are talking about, and in some cases, failure to follow medical advice could have very serious consequences, so what can you do?   As you explain directions to the patient, in many cases, you can tell by their lack of interest that there is a chance they will not follow medical advice.   It is frustrating and potentially dangerous for the patient, so is there a simple way to stress the importance of physician’s orders? Understanding why the Patient Disregards Doctors Orders   Many patients, often male patients, think of themselves an invincible.   They just don’t think there will be serious consequences to th...