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SIGH!

Every day I come across non-compliant patients. I’m not talking about the ones who can’t afford their medications, but the ones who just don’t get it. The ones who say that their glucose levels are normal. Strange how that AIC got to be a 13? There’s glucose +2000 in my urine? But I don’t cheat on my diet, I swear! It’s inconvenient to check your glucose levels and take your meds? I’m sorry. How inconvenient will it be when you are hooked up to a dialysis machine three times a week for a few hours at a time?

Strange how your blood pressure shot up to 200/120 when you decided not to take your blood pressure medicine just because it made your sex life a little more difficult. Do you want to be around to even have sex? How about having that “Big One” when you are going at it like a bunny rabbit. How will your wife/girlfriend/partner feel when they have to explain to the paramedics and the coroner that you just keeled over? NICE..

Remember when you had insurance and never went to your provider’s office for a check up? You were reminded to get those preventative tests such as that pesky mammogram and colonoscopy. I know that it meant that your precious boobs would be squished for a few minutes and that you’d have to drink some stuff that made you sit on the toilet for a few hours to clean yourself out. WAAA!!!!

Too busy to take care of yourself?

Too bad. Get it done before you lose your job and join the ranks of the unemployed who lost their insurance policies and then found out that they had some horrible disease, such as cancer,  that will wipe out everything their family ever knew.

Too many good people are dying out here for the lack of money to get testing done to find out their problems. So quit complaining to me when I suggest that you get those tests done while you have insurance. Many of my patients would love to have that luxury. Patients often wonder how to pay for their prescriptions and feed their families.

Do yourself a favor and stay healthy. Rant finished.

The Swine Flu has been reported by the CDC as a potential pandemic. Symptoms include chills, fever, malaise, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and upper respiratory symptoms.

Well folks, I think that I have been the unfortunate victim of this illness. The sudden onset of low grade fever, body aches from hell, nausea, vomiting EVERY hour, chills, sweats, and now on day two the stuffy nose and slight cough. A business next door to my office has had several workers struck with the same symptoms and one came to the office to be treated.

Within 22 hours, three people in our office came down with the same symptoms with varying times of exposure. I was the lucky one with the longest contact so I ended up with the full force of the illness.
I am going to propose that this is an airborne virus as well and contact.

The good thing is that the process doesn’t last more than three or four days (I’ve heard and pray!)

I hope that you all don’t have to experience this illness for yourselves. Protect yourself and your families by washing your hands frequently and avoid obviously ill people if you can do so.

I have been surfing for some really educational CMEs and found this site. I also like the fact that they have downloadable pocket guides on different medical diagnoses. Enjoy!

While I was surfing the net looking for subjects to post on for this week’s Change of Shift, I stumbled on a horror story of tremendous magnitude if it’s proven correct.  There are allegations that Hammot Medical Center harvested their 18 year old comatose son’s organs without their permission.

The suit claims Hamot contacted the Center for Organ Recovery and Education about the donation of Jacobs’ organs even though his parents, who were at the hospital, wanted him to live. CORE directed that Jacobs’ organs be removed in the absence of a valid consent, the suit said.

The hosptial denies any wrong doing on their part but the parents say that their son still had brain waves and that his heart was still beating when the doctors removed his life support. Read the rest of the story here.

I am a firm believer of organ donation. In fact, when I go, you can have every scrap that you can use including skin, bone, and heart etc. if it’s usable in order to help someone else. But don’t EVER do the unthinkable and take organs from an unwilling donor. It makes people leery of ever wanting to donate!

A Nurse Practitioner is a Professional Registered Nurse who has advanced education and clinical training in a health care specialty. The Florida Board of Medicine designates the term for a nurse practitioner as A.R.N.P or Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner. Most Nurse Practitioners have national board certification in their area of expertise and hold Masters or Doctoral degrees. Nurse Practitioners serve as primary health care providers for children and adults during health and illness. Their goal is to help people of all ages stay as healthy as possible. They do this by teaching people and treating their acute illnesses (such as infections) and chronic disease (such as hypertension, diabetes, and many others).

Read more…

Q: How many contact hours do I need for a full biennium?
A: All Florida-licensed RN’s and LPNs, ARNPs and CNSs are now in a 24-month renewal cycle and must complete 24 hours of appropriate continuing education during each renewal period. The 24 hours must include two (2) hours on Prevention of Medical Errors. HIV/AIDS is now a one-time, 1-hour CE requirement to be completed prior to the first renewal. Domestic Violence (DV) CE is now a 2-hour requirement every third renewal. Since Domestic Violence (DV) is a 2-hour requirement, the licensee will have 25 hours of CE during the renewal period when DV is taken. For example, if you renew your license on July 31, 2008 and completed DV during the 2006-2008 licensure cycle, you are required to complete the Domestic Violence CE before the July 31, 2014 renewal.

This information was located on the Florida Board of Nursing site here

I recently transeferred www.npplace.com to another server. Forgive the dust until things settle. All ads will resume as soon as I can put them up. Thanks for your patience!