Active Healthy Kids and Outdoor Play- Preparing for Life’s Little Mishaps

By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Preparing for Life’s Little Mishaps While Engaging Your Kids in Outdoor Play “Play, Incorporating Animistic and Magical Thinking Is Important Because It: Fosters the healthy, creative and emotional growth of a child; Forms the best foundation for later intellectual growth. Provides a way in which children get to know the world and creates possibilities for different ways of responding to it. Fosters empathy and wonder.”  – Rachel Carson, “A…

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How to be an Empowered Health Consumer

By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Empowered health consumers know how to take charge of their health and are proactive in their care. Whether they’re surfing the web for health information, visiting their doctor or health care professional, or a patient in the hospital; empowered health consumers know how to question and communicate. This blog is a continuation of the “He Said, She Said” post where I promised to give you tips about how to…

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Medical Errors: Nurse’s Tips Can Help Prevent Medical Errors

By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA This post isn’t being written to frighten you or to cause you to mistrust hospitals. It’s to make you aware that medical errors do occur, but there are steps that you can take to help prevent medical errors from happening. First, some vital information According to a recent investigation by the Hearst Corporation, a staggering 200,000 Americans will die each year from preventable medical errors and hospital infections.  This…

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Real Simple Magazine Taps Experts for Emergency Care Advice

Preparing for Life’s Mishaps by Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Having this card in your wallet could save your life in an ER When Real Simple Magazine reporter contacted me for a story on emergency rooms, I was delighted to help out.  I think it’s important for readers to have the perspective from a nurse on the front line of the ER as well as ER doctors. The March edition of Real Simple is on…

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