Do I have an opinion?

There was a time when everything I needed to know was in a text book!  The answers were easy to find, and translate into my own words.  Now it's all about my opinion.  Do I have an opinion and do you really care about my opinion?  What if I have no opinion on that particular subject?  Does it mean anything?  May be my opinion will not make a change.  Maybe my opinion is not particularly witty or intelligent.  Maybe my opinion is as simple as "because it was the right thing to do". 

Mothers

No language can express the power, and beauty, and heroism, and majesty of a mother's love.  It shrinks not where man cowers, and grows stronger where man faints, and over wastes of worldly fortunes sends the radiance of its quenchless fidelity like a star.  ~Edwin Hubbell Chapin

Florence

Nursing is an art:  and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit?  It is one of the Fine Arts:  I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts.  ~Florence Nightingale

Should we have tougher penalties for patients that physically assault healthcare professionals?

 I was working for a catholic based hospital that had mandatory education for the treatment of "difficult patients" , one of the charge nurses on the medical floor was lecturing about a patient that they had on the floor for a number of months and she was telling us about how he was a diabetic who was alert and oriented and as the nurses would enter his room he would throw the insulin syringes at them like darts. She went into this elaborate plan that include behavior modification and positive rewards for good behavior. After about 15 minutes of being totally dumbfounded I had to speak up. I explained to her that if that behavior occurred outside the 4 walls of the hospital that it would be considered assault, the police would be involved and an arrest would be made, and why would we ever accept that kind of behavior from anyone whether they are in the hospital or not! I say hold them responsible for their actions. What the world do we pay security for anyway? If we are not safe to enter a patients room then that patient needs to be held accountable and placed in the appropriate facility, which may not be their first choice.

Here's a petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/the-governor-of-ca-tougher-penalties-for-nurse-assaults 

Practice States bahhh hummbug!

So it appears that if you live in a practice state and you do not meet the required number of practice hours that you are not considered active in nursing and you are required to either (1) take a reentry course or (2) write your own reentry program.  Now mind you, attending Masters level courses in nursing do not count, so the reentry course is a review of basic nursing practice, which I have been doing for over 25 years.  In order to renew your license you need to show proof that you attended 9 hours of pain management, be current in CPR and have the required practice hours which are around 160 per year or 940 over 5 years. I took the LPN boards in 1984, returned to school and took RN boards in 1988, now because I do not have my practice hours I must take it again, which I did yesterday.  75 questions and it shut off, I either did really well or really bad.  I can't find out until tomorrow.  So for now I must wait to receive my limited license so that I have complete my 160 hours of clinical time so that I can finish my MSN degree.  What a mess I have gotten myself into!

Introductions of what I view as important

 Some times we are Blindfolded by what is not so obvious.  This Magazine is for those who wish to see beyond the Blindfold.  It is a socially conscious magazine! Check it out!  I guess it doesn't hurt that the sexiest vampire is on the cover as well!