Ok - so I am trying really hard to get this blog thing going. I have spent hours on the intranet just looking for ways to improve my blog look and add some decent features. I still don't understand RSS feeds - but maybe some of my new friends can enlighten me. I think I have done ok so far in terms of getting my blog up and running.
I spent a lot of time today looking at blogs from other nurses. Wow - these are freakin awesome! I have enjoyed reading so many of them and lost track of time. I had a huge paper due today for my nursing leadership class on empowerment. Anyway - I stopped reading blogs for 2 hours and finished my paper. I love to write - so finishing the paper was pretty easy - it was dealing with the APA and references that drove me crazy!
On to my original train of thought - I am hoping that I will start to see some small increases in traffic to my blog. I visited several blogs that I LOVED! Please check out my list of BLOG Favs! Anyway - I posted a couple of comments and left the url to this blog. If you are stopping by - please leave a comment and say hi. And - for those bloggers stopping by because of a message I left - hey your blog was great!
Ok - much to do today and I want to post some more later. Have to work tomorrow - so need to get my posting on here as I have much to say today.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Graduate School
I realize today that my life has been and continues to be consumed with education. I knew that being a nurse would require that I keep pace with advancing technology and health care changes, but I guess I never realized that it would also take a life-time of education. Not that I am complaining - but it seems to me that the nursing education system really needs to do some work in order to retain my interest. After almost 11 years in school, it seems to me that I am caught in this maze of redundancy. What does this mean? It means that classes I have taken at lower educational levels seem to reappear over and over again as you progress through the educational system and earn advancing levels of education. How many times is it necessary to take Nursing and Families or health care populations? How many times does one have to take nursing research? Are these different courses than we have taken in our undergraduate degree? No - they are the same! Give me a nursing science course that has some meat and some NEW information to learn. Please don't give me the same old nursing jargon I have heard for years. Something new and exciting please. Perhaps that I why I am getting ready to earn my PhD - so I can develop some new theories and provide some meat and potatoe courses for nurses.
Has anyone else experienced this? Dose anyone really ever read these blogs? Perhaps I am writing this on an ever present cyber book that no one will ever see, read or care about. On the chance that someone really does read this or any other blog for that matter, I will continue my train of thought.
As I am investigating graduate schools for my doctorate in nursing research, I am challenged to find a system of higher learning that offers a unique and differing perspective for nurses. It seems like it is the same ole research question(s). Has anyone looked at the nursing educational system as a whole and developed a meta-analysis of how poorly organized nursing education is today? Do nurses themselves really care about how we are educating our future generation? Does it concern anyone that while nursing is a degreed profession - we are graduating nurses that are able to pass entrance licensing requirements, but fail to have the skills to function in the real world environment? Is anyone concerned that as these nurses enter the work force they are leaving as fast as they came in? Does it bother anyone that these men and women have invested time and money to earn their RN designation, only to discover that nursing is not unified and there is no real clear leadership or direction in our profession today? Does anyone really care about those that are caring for our citizens?
I care! I care a lot! I probably care more than I should. I care because I think that nurses are wonderful, intelligent and giving people. I have never run across a nurse who told me that he or she went into nursing because they could make good money. Nurses that I have worked, been in school with and have been in association with are those that have the heart and passion to care for those less fortunate. These are some real people!
Where am I going with this blog today? I guess I am trying to ask some hard questions. Do we properly prepare our nurses for practice? Do we give our new graduates the tools they need to be successful? Perhaps these are the questions I can use to develop my dissertation. Who knows - we will see!
Has anyone else experienced this? Dose anyone really ever read these blogs? Perhaps I am writing this on an ever present cyber book that no one will ever see, read or care about. On the chance that someone really does read this or any other blog for that matter, I will continue my train of thought.
As I am investigating graduate schools for my doctorate in nursing research, I am challenged to find a system of higher learning that offers a unique and differing perspective for nurses. It seems like it is the same ole research question(s). Has anyone looked at the nursing educational system as a whole and developed a meta-analysis of how poorly organized nursing education is today? Do nurses themselves really care about how we are educating our future generation? Does it concern anyone that while nursing is a degreed profession - we are graduating nurses that are able to pass entrance licensing requirements, but fail to have the skills to function in the real world environment? Is anyone concerned that as these nurses enter the work force they are leaving as fast as they came in? Does it bother anyone that these men and women have invested time and money to earn their RN designation, only to discover that nursing is not unified and there is no real clear leadership or direction in our profession today? Does anyone really care about those that are caring for our citizens?
I care! I care a lot! I probably care more than I should. I care because I think that nurses are wonderful, intelligent and giving people. I have never run across a nurse who told me that he or she went into nursing because they could make good money. Nurses that I have worked, been in school with and have been in association with are those that have the heart and passion to care for those less fortunate. These are some real people!
Where am I going with this blog today? I guess I am trying to ask some hard questions. Do we properly prepare our nurses for practice? Do we give our new graduates the tools they need to be successful? Perhaps these are the questions I can use to develop my dissertation. Who knows - we will see!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Nurses - it is your time to speak! Share Your Story, Frustration or ray of hope!
Nurses - this blog is for you. For you! You can write and share things that are on your mind, ask questions, present empirical inquiry or simply tell a story. Had a particularly bad day at work - write and talk about it. Trust me - it can be very therapeutic! I know first hand and it really works for me.
This blog is not about judgement, rather - it is a safe place for nurses to come, kick off their tired nurse shoes and sit back and enjoy some good conversation with old friends, new friends and future friends. This indeed is your site to use as you wish.
Some basic rules - remember HIPPA and please do not post real names. We certainly want to protect the innocent.
Have at it - I am waiting for some really good activity on this blog.
Oh - and please don't forget to share this blog with your friends. Before you know it - we will have a nurse blogging community that is awesome!
This blog is not about judgement, rather - it is a safe place for nurses to come, kick off their tired nurse shoes and sit back and enjoy some good conversation with old friends, new friends and future friends. This indeed is your site to use as you wish.
Some basic rules - remember HIPPA and please do not post real names. We certainly want to protect the innocent.
Have at it - I am waiting for some really good activity on this blog.
Oh - and please don't forget to share this blog with your friends. Before you know it - we will have a nurse blogging community that is awesome!
Blog Growth
RNSpeak! continues to grow. Notice that several new links have been added to the site. The link to MedScape provides nurses with wonderful and exciting news on new research data for evidenced-based practice. In addition, I have had the wonderful opportunity to be introduced to Echelon Education. This site provides nurses with exceptional continuing education programs. For nurses in Florida - they have a specific program of study that provides for all of your requirement education for licensure renewal and it even transfers this information to CE Broker automatically. For nurses outside of Florida, the educational programs are wonderful for continued competency requirements. Take a moment to click on the links and spent some time exploring these new sites.
Please let me know what you think of the site as we grow. The only way I can make improvements and help RNSpeak! become the premiere nursing community is to hear from you.
Please let me know what you think of the site as we grow. The only way I can make improvements and help RNSpeak! become the premiere nursing community is to hear from you.
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