Nurses Week, May 6-12, 2015 -The American Nurse Project: Interviews

According to the American Nurses Association, the US needs 1.1 million registered nurses over the next eight years. If you are, or know anyone who is, interested in nursing, but don't feel you know enough about it to make a career choice or switch, the interviews of nurses conducted by The American Nurse Project are …

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U.S. Health Care: Are you happy with your plan?

Before you answer yes or no, did you know that the foundational moral principle of all developed countries (around 40 out of world’s 200 countries) is to provide health care coverage to all of their citizens, irrespective of age and financial status? All developed countries, that is, except us. In the past few years, I’ve …

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Caring Lessons / Prairie Lights / Iowa City / 2014

Thanks to Jan Weissmiller, poet and co-owner of Prairie Lights, Caring Lessons: A Nursing Professor's Journey of Faith and Self will soon be shelved in this much-loved independent bookstore in Iowa City. When I attend the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, as I did last week, I hang out at Prairie Lights between classes and evenings. You'd …

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A Nurses Week Tribute to My Sister Kathleen (Kay) Elizabeth Korthuis, PhD, RN,1934-2012

I remember: You blaming me for your hips being uneven, ha ha, because you had to carry me around when we lived in New Jersey when Dad was a Chaplain in the Army from 1943-1946. You telling me that, after the war, we shared a bed in West Sayville and, thanks to me, another ha …

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Christmas Present for a Nurse or Nursing Student – 2013

For that nurse or nursing student in your life, consider giving them Caring Lessons: A Nursing Professor's Journey of Faith and Self. My career memoir tells my story from nurse's aide to professor emerita and from diploma to PhD. Caring Lessons will inspire the reader that achieving career dreams are possible!  I used to tell my …

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Living in a High Rise – Audible Enunciators

People living in houses often ask, “What’s it like living in high rise?” This question came to mind last week when we received a notice from our building manager. The notice addressed our “audible enunciators.”  An inspection is coming up to make sure they are working. In case you’ve never heard of these, I hadn’t …

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Caring Lessons Celebrates Third Anniversary

Fun things first. In honor of this third anniversary, I'm giving away one copy of Caring Lessons: A Nursing Professor's Journey of Faith and Self. All you have to do to qualify for a drawing is make a comment on this post. On Wednesday, September 25, I will randomly select one winner, contact that winner …

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How is your doctor’s nonverbal communication?

Last week I praised my internist’s therapeutic communication skills and promised I’d write about some bad experiences soon that I’ve had during my nearly 15-year history of fibromyalgia. So today is the time to give you one example that still floors me years later.Some back story. When I taught nursing, therapeutic communication was my favorite …

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Living with Bipolar Illness or Breast Cancer

If you have a loved one living with either one of these illnesses and would like to understand them better, then Ka Hancock’s Dancing on Broken Glass is a compelling, informative read. Hancock, as a nurse in the clinical specialty of psychiatry, dives into the minds of Mickey and Lucy as they forge a life …

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