Nurses with a specialty in demand

Drug companies are hiring RNs to educate patients and boost marketing efforts. A recent article in Business Week raised the question whether this practice is good or bad. Click here to read more.

Question of the Week:

Do you have experience working with patients who have a chronic illness/disease, such as Multiple Sclerosis, who have worked with a support nurse as described in the article? Was the service helpful for the patient/family and for you as the case manager? Take a few minutes and describe your experience. You can reach me by email: allewellyn@dorlandhealth.com.

Lion takes on beast that is cancer

Did you catch the documentary, A Lion in the House, which aired on PBS June 21 & 22, 2006? The film was made in conjunction with Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center and chronicles the lives of 5 young patients with cancer and the challenges they faced in dealing with their cancers. The hospital gave the filmmaker unprecedented access to patients, doctors, nurses and their families. The national broadcast seeks to galvanize public attention around childhood cancer. The hope of the writers is to provide information for families to help them deal with the fear of learning of the diagnosis and empower them to tackle the disease. The film’s production team is working with a variety of groups to reach out to cancer survivors and young people around the country. The team in collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other groups on a campaign called Survivor Alert. The coalition will hold events around the country to educate young survivors about their unique health needs. The team launched Suvivor Alert, which urges young people to collect their medical records and develop a follow-up care program. The web site www.MyLion.org encourages young people to watch the film, record their responses on a blog and pledge to do community service related to childhood cancer.

If you missed this dynamic film, you can purchase the film and companion book (by the same name) to start a campaign in your organization by going to: http://www.lioninthehouse.com/.

Source: USA Today, June 21, 2006

Eleven Steps to Freedom for Patients with Chronic Pain

In the latest American Chronic Pain Association newsletter, The Chronicle, there’s an article about a support group in California that developed a guide to living with chronic pain.

Understanding Pain: Eleven Steps to Freedom: WRITTEN BY PEOPLE WITH CHRONIC PAIN:

1. Avoid Isolation: Go to the mall, visit someone, go shopping, enjoy some music, help someone else, join a support group, get out of the house, take a walk, ask for help.
2. Overcome Confusion: Be more assertive, don’t minimize the pain, articulate your pain, talk to others, and ask for help.
3. Confront Uncertainty: Live with pain in a productive way, accept your new lifestyle, track your physical well being, ask for help.
4. Don’t Dwell on Your Suffering: Enjoy a move, read a book, take care of a child or grandchild or animals, garden, eat a favorite food, exercise, get a massage, try aquatic therapy, ask for help.
5. Get Past the Guilt: Seek a new outlook, make a reality check, find other ways to contribute, set up boundaries, ask for help.
6. Improve Your Attitude: Get laughter into your life, seek positive distractions, set realistic goals, learn something new, ask for help.
7. Live within Your Limitations: Set boundaries, pace yourself, write lists, develop timelines that work for you, ask for help.
8. Set Realistic Goals: Don’t compare yourself to others, set step-by-step goals, strive for and celebrate small goals, live in the moment, ask for help.
9. Recognize your Feelings: Be in touch with your physical self, open up to others, ask for help.
10. Take One Day at a Time: Keep a journal, live in the moment, pace yourself, ask for help.
11. Let Go of Anger, Pursue Happiness: When you are tired of discussing chronic pain over and over again; give yourself permission to feel frustrated that no one listens; realize that family and friends may not be capable of really understanding your feelings; accept that other people think you can do more tha you really can; know that revenge is negative thinking and that treatment may remain unsuccessful.

Reprinted with permission from the ACPA Chronicle.

Many often accept advice better when it comes from someone who has been in their shoes. Take some time and explore the website and consider referring patients/employees with chronic pain to ACPA. The Web site can be viewed at www.theacpa.org.

Thinking of moving?

Read the results of a Bizjournals article that uncovered which communities boasts the highest concentration of brainpower — and therefore can claim to be America’s smartest big cities.

Push for an integrated IT systems in Healthcare receives a boost from IBM

Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., said it will use an IBM technology to speed physician access to patients’ electronic medical records. The system will enable Duke’s 1,500-plus faculty physicians and 800-plus staff to access records from any laptop, workstation or computer kiosk in any Duke clinic or hospital in the area with a single password.

Currently, physicians and nurses use several different log-in names and passwords depending on what type of information they are seeking. Many tasks require them to call a central help desk for assistance.

Read more from the Triangle Business Journal

You may not want to get that tattoo

An article by the CDC reports that unlicensed tattoo operations have emerged as a worrisome transmission point for drug-resistant staph infections. Click here to read the article.

Heading for the Beach?

Before you go, you may want to check out the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) $10 million plan for improving our beaches’ quality monitoring.

State and local health officials use beach water quality monitoring data to identify unsafe water conditions and issue warnings or beach closures to protect public health. Click here to read more.