How to Save a Life – Push Hard and Fast

By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA What would you do? What would you do if you witnessed the sudden collapse of an adult? Would you just stand-by and watch? Would you call 911?  Would you initiate CPR? Research reveals that bystanders have been reluctant to perform CPR on a person who drops to the ground because they are hesitant about putting their mouth on a stranger’s mouth. Good news…mouth-to-mouth isn’t required Even without CPR training…

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Smoke-Free Hospitals and Patients

By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Nurses and doctors and other members of the health care team strive every day to provide quality patient care.   We focus on patients by understanding their needs. We listen, assess and evaluate.  We work together as a team focusing not only on the patient, but family members as well. We formulate individual care plans addressing each and every need. Providing quality patient care is the single most important goal…

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Healthy Eating: Smart Foods to Follow on the Mediterranean Diet

Guest Post by Vandana Bhide, MD Greeks who live on the Island of Crete have significantly less heart disease and cancer than Americans.  Research studies suggest it is the Mediterranean diet that may give Cretans their health advantage. The Mediterranean diet is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish and nuts such as almonds and walnuts.  It has been found to be associated with less risk of recurrent heart attacks than people who followed the…

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The Patient, Square in the Middle of Doctors’ Blind Spot

Guest Post By Alan Greene, MD Participatory Medicine and the e-Patient Right before our eyes there’s a dark hole in what we see. Not only don’t we see some of what’s right in front of our face, but we don’t even notice the gap. Our illusion of a seamless visual world is so strong that scientists used to think that the spot where our optic nerve enters the back of each eye gave us our…

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How the Nursing Shortage Affects YOU

Tips on how to help yourself, and our hardworking nurses Guest Post by Deborah O’Leary As the health care reform debate ebbs and flows, and then ebbs some more, you may not be thinking very much about the nursing shortage, and how it could possibly affect you. In fact, in the current economic climate, when unemployment seems high and many hospitals seem to actually to be cutting back, you may not have realized that there…

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