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Alice Magaw working with doctors to take care of a patient. They are all wearing white gowns and head covers with masks onProfiles In NursingAlice Magaw Kessel (1860-1928), Pioneering Nurse AnesthetistShe performed 14,380 procedures with no fatalitiesAround the turn of the last century, nurse anesthetist Alice Magaw and her longtime friend Edith Graham Mayo forever changed both anesthesia practice and physicians’ attitudes toward nurses...
Female patient lying in a hospital bed and wearing a hospital gown, is talking to a voice assistant on the table next to herNursing & Healthcare NewsVoice Assistants for Patient RoomsAre privacy concerns being addressed?Patients at Cedars-Sinai may soon find a new high-tech feature in their rooms: an Amazon Alexa-based voice assistant called Aiva. Hands-Free Help Recently added to more than 100 rooms as...
A nurse in scrubs and mask is talking to a group of doctors in white coatsFeatureHow to Speak PhysicianApproaching them, communicating with them and just plain making it workPrior to becoming a nurse, my impression of the nurse-physician relationship was that physicians wrote the orders and nurses carried them out. Those orders were clear and concise, and...
Nursing Book ClubAdvice for Future Corpses: A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying by Sallie TisdaleTaking direct aim at a taboo topicIn many ways, Advice for Future Corpses is the most important book I’ve read in a very long time. Almost poetic, this book is too valuable to ignore. Author Sallie Tisdale is an...
Illustration of a nurse in scrubs sitting on a swivel chair while another nurse stands looking at her with arms on her hipsHealthy WorkforceThe Case of the Territorial TyrantWhen a nurse lays claim to a particular chair or piece of equipmentEvery nurse who’d been on the mother/baby unit for more than a few weeks knew that their colleague Gretchen was extremely territorial: She had HER chair, HER computer and HER med...

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Registered Nurse Anita Karra is wearing a white coat and smiling towards the camera with a patient room behind her.My SpecialtyClinical Research Nursing, Anita Karra, City of HopeGathering data and managing patients enrolled in clinical trialsAnita Karra, RN, B.S. Clinical Research Nurse, Immunotherapy Disease Team City of Hope, Duarte How did your nursing career begin and what types of nursing work have you done? I began my...
Picture of Grace Neill smiling on the left, and a group of women in white gowns posing together on the rightProfiles In NursingElizabeth Grace Neill (1846-1926), a Crusader for Nursing RegistrationThis social reformer also founded midwife-run maternity hospitalsAs the 20th century dawned, there were almost no laws anywhere in the world governing the training, registration or licensure of nurses or midwives. Grace Neill, nurse and social reformer,...
Nursing Book ClubSick: A Memoir by Porochista KhakpourPortrait of a difficult patientThere is an entire genre of literature about the experience of illness in which the author seeks to understand and explain the disease to themselves and to others. As a nurse who has a belief...
Illustration of a nurse being grabbed by the wrist by another nurse, and throwing her clipboard in the airHealthy WorkforceThe Case of the Bad Day BullyAn isolated harsh incident should be judged in contextStaff nurses Camilla and Bridget usually get along. However, today, they got into a heated argument about assignments. Bridget, who was in charge, decided to assign Camilla a complicated new...
Registered Nurse Karla Marshall stands smiling in a blouse and sweater with her badge on, and a coworker on the computer behind her.My SpecialtySame Day Surgery, Karla Marshall, Huntington HospitalBridging the gap between ambulatory and extended stay surgical careKarla Marshall, RN Same Day Surgery Staff Nurse Huntington Hospital, Pasadena Please share the story of your nursing career. My healthcare career began in June 1980, as a nurse’s aide...