Nursing Gifts

Browse other personalized gifts from Zazzle.

Nursing Shoes

One thing all nurses have in common is being on their feet all day. That makes for tired feet if you don't have the right shoes. You can wear the best support hose and still have tired feet if your shoes don't offer the proper cushioning and support.

I recently purchased a pair of NurseMates Ellis shoes and I have to say, I love them. My feet are not tired and do not hurt anymore. I can't say enough good things about these shoes. They come in black, white, and silver. I got the silver. They slip on and off easily, but are so comfortable. I hardly know I'm wearing them. I'm 59 years old and to come home after a 10 hour day in the OR and not have my feet hurt is a blessing.

Where did I get them? I bought them online from this page: Nursing Shoes with Style. Check it out. There are many other comfortable styles offered here, too.

I hope you find a great pair of nursing shoes to make your feet feel better!

A Big Thank You

Thanks go out to Diane from Califon, NJ for purchasing this button! I hope her OR manager appreciates the gesture!

OR Manager 1 by bethd821

A New CNOR

Somewhere in Upland, CA is a new CNOR. I know this because Rebecca bought this pin from my Zazzle store. Congratulations, Rebecca! Wear it proudly! That's no easy exam! Welcome to the family of CNORs!

CNOR by bethd821

You can find more CNOR and Operating Room Nurse products at my Zazzle store, Design by Day.

Thanks, Rebecca!

Looking for Nurses

Do you know someone interested in a Nursing career? I have found two articles that will help them in their decision-making regarding what kind of nurse they want to be and where they can find assistance financially and in picking out a nursing school. Not everyone has the financial resources and time to pursue a 4-year degree. There are plenty of options for them. LPN schools and 2-year RN programs are available. I think there are even a few diploma RN programs.

These links will help them get started on their way to fulfilling their dream of being a nurse! E-mail this to anyone and everyone you know who wants to be a nurse!

Guide To Becoming A Nurse

How To Start A Nursing Career

Good luck in your quest to join a great profession!

A Big Thank You

New purchases were made from my Zazzle store yesterday! Sounds like some nurses passed the CNOR certification exam! Congratulations to them!

Rener from Salem, MA purchased three of these:

CNOR by bethd821

and two of these:

CNOR by bethd821

I appreciate your business. Thank you, again!

October Is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Here are some great gifts that support Breast Cancer Awareness:

Nursing Shoes

I have written a page that offers some really great nursing shoes. We spend so much time on our feet, we go through shoes quickly. At least, I do. I hope you will take the time to look at these great shoes. Your feet will thank you for it!

Nursing Shoes With Style

There's even a section of clog style shoes with University logos on the side. Not all the schools are there, but there is a good selection.

Happy Shoe Shopping!

A Big Thank You

A big thank you goes out to Barrie from Rock Hill, SC for making this purchase.

Surgical Tech by bethd821

Wear it proudly, Barrie!

This is, by far, my best selling t-shirt.

A Big Thank You

I must send out a big THANK YOU to Jeanne from Palmetto Bay, FL for purchasing these two t-shirts. I truly appreciate your business.

If you would like one of these just click on the photo to order yours:

Scrub-u-lator by bethd821

Nursing by bethd821

Have You Ever Felt Like This?

I created a new shirt for those times when you just feel like you are doing it all and your co-worker has left you high and dry. It doesn't seem to matter if they are another nurse or a scrub tech. Some people just "run" you to death.

Scrub-u-lator by bethd821

Super Gifts For Nurses

Thank You

I want to say a big Thank You to Greg in Taipei City, Taiwan for purchasing this shirt. Of course, he bought a men's t-shirt, not the one in the photo.

Wear it in good health, Greg!

OR Nurses by bethd821
See other Or nurse T-Shirts

Trauma Team - New From Wii

Do you love Wii? There is a new game for the medical field called Trauma Team.

Click here for product review. Check it out!

The End of an Era

It is a sad and happy time in the OR at UNC Hospitals. The latest class of Chief Residents are finishing up their residencies here and will be leaving for fellowships or private practice. They are happy to be starting a new chapter in their lives and we are sad to see them go.

Every year the Department of General Surgery hosts a "Roast" of the Chief Residents. It is a fun-filled evening. Awards are presented to and from the chiefs. This year's roast is June 12th. It should prove to be entertaining and I will post some pictures from it.

The day after the roast is the annual "Trinidad Cup Race" for the chiefs to prove their prowess one final time. After a night of revelry, racing in the afternoon sun can be challenging. We'll see who has the greatest stamina.

Then it is time to say good-bye. A new class of chiefs will take over and along with that comes a new class of "interns". OMG!

With sadness we say good-bye to Megan, Jen, Nancy, Heather, Mark, and Trey! We wish you the best of everything! You have enriched our lives!

Surgical Techs

I have written a new page about Surgical Techs and feature some great gift items. I hope you check it out!

Surgical Tech T-Shirts & More

Accelerated Nursing Programs

Do you work in the medical field and want to become a nurse? Are you already a nurse and want to advance your current degree? This page is an excellent resource to help you achieve that goal. Check it out and good luck in your educational endeavors!

Best Accelerated Nursing Programs

If you are interested in becoming a nurse, I have put together this guide to help you. It takes you from application to schools through your first year as a nurse. We need more nurses. Many of today's nurses are reaching retirement age. The nursing shortage of today can only worsen as we lose these seasoned nurses. So, if you're considering a nursing career, visit this page.

Guide To Becoming A Nurse

Take The Operating Room Nurse Quiz

I wrote a page last year for Squidoo titled, Operating Room Nurses. It has been my best ranked lens for about 6 months. I created a quiz from the information on this lens. See how much you know about what operating room nurses do. Here's the link to the quiz: Quiz: What Do Operating Room Nurses Do?

Scrubs-Not Just For Nurses

I wrote a new Squidoo page with great scrubs. MyNursingUniforms.com is a great site to get scrubs directly from the manufacturer and save 15-40% off uniform store prices. If you need scrubs, I recommend this site. Your satisfaction is guaranteed and there's no shipping charge on orders over $100.

Nurses Week is coming May 6th. Get your favorite nurse some new scrubs!

Visit Scrubs-Not Just For Nurses and order your scrubs today.

Scrubs-Not Just For Nurses

Don't you just love wearing scrubs? Not the ones at work, but those cute and colorful scrubs that the nurses on the units get to wear. They sure have come out with some really cute designs. Baby Phat has even gotten into the scrub business.

Visit my Squidoo page and get some great comfy scrubs: Scrubs-Not Just For Nurses. Thanks!

Precepting A New Nurse Resident In The OR

Does your operating room offer a nurse residency program for nurses wanting to work in the operating room? It's an exciting adventure to be sure. I work at UNC Hospital in the operating room. There is a good nurse residency program there. Experienced nurses, as well as new graduate nurses, are accepted into the course. The first few weeks are all classroom. Subjects include sterile technique, instrumentation, sterilization, and just about anything associated with the operating room's daily routines. After the nurse residents complete the classroom portion, they start the clinical portion of the program. I am a primary preceptor for the clinical portion of the nurse residency program. A new group has just started the clinical phase of their training.

As a preceptor, I try to take the first day to learn about the needs and educational desires of the trainee. It does me no good to use visual cues if they are a tactile learner. I ask them to give me a list of things they think are important for them to learn the first day and we go from there. I stress the importance of patient care and safety. I teach them that their focus is the patient, not the computer. Unfortunately, they are so locked in on the charting, that the patient becomes secondary at times. I work on this all day the first day. I think positive reinforcement is an essential tool to teaching.

There is so much to learn in the OR. I remind each student I have that they are not going to learn everything in a day, week, or month. I tell them that I have been in the OR for 28 years and I am still learning. With all the changes that occur in surgical procedures and equipment, learning is a constant process in the OR.

Our nurse residency program is not long enough, in my opinion. Each new resident only gets three weeks in each specialty. The first week is circulating, the second week is scrubbing, and the third week is the choice of the resident as to whether they want to scrub or circulate. Now my specialty is General Surgery and Urology. General surgery has General GI surgery, Surgical Oncology, and Trauma. Urology can be broken into several categories as well. There are open cases, Robot cases, and cysto. It is very difficult to cover these 4 arenas of surgery in just 3 weeks. My personal opinion is that these new residents should get 3 weeks in each of these surgical specialties, but I don't make that decision.

My priorities for teaching include patient safety, patient comfort, prioritization of tasks, maintaining the sterile field, and the importance of accurate documentation. I stress to each nurse resident that it will take them about a year before they start to become confident in their skills. I encourage them to establish a routine that helps them remember the steps to take in starting a case. I instruct them in the things they need to do for a case regardless of the specialty. There are certain things you do all the time.

T-Shirts For Perioperative Nurses

I have written a new Squidoo page with t-shirts for Surgical techs and OR and PACU nurses. Check it out here.

These are samples of what you will find:

Good Scrub Tech by bethd821

OR Nurses Keep by bethd821

Gifts For Certified Nurses Day

Certified Nurses Day is March 19th. Show your certified nurses they are important and you appreciate their efforts to improve the quality of their care to patients.

Design by Day has a selection of gifts for you to give. Here is an example. The text can be changed from CNOR to CRNA or CRNFA if you choose.

CNOR by bethd821
Browse more Cnor Buttons

Certified Nurses Day

CCI, Counseling and Credentialing Institute, has declared March 19, 2010 as Certified Nurses Day. This applies to CNOR and CRNFA certifications. Certified nurses embody the nursing spirit and set a high standard in the field. CCI and AORN are honoring these nurses with special discounts on CNOR and CRNFA gifts and apparel.

Check out these sites to see the discounts offered:

CNOR pins - http://www.cc-institute.org/stor_cnor.aspx

CNOR plaque - http://www.cc-institute.org/stor_plaque.aspx

CRNFA pins - http://www.cc-institute.org/stor_crnf.aspx

Gifts for Perioperative Nurses - http://www.cc-institute.org/stor_peri.aspx

CNOR/CRNFA clothes - http://www.cc-institute.org/store_clothes.aspx

From the CCI website:

About Certified Nurses Day
History of Certified Nurses Day-March 19, 2010
CNOR®s and CRNFA®demonstrate their personal commitment to "every patient, every day" by earning and maintaining their certification. There's no better time to celebrate that commitment than on Certified Nurses Day, March 19, 2010.

Certified Nurses Day started as just an idea and quickly gained support before the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) launched the program nationwide in 2008. This special day is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the contribution of board certified nurses to the advancement of nursing professionalism and to higher standards and better outcomes in patient health.

Certified Nurses Day may be a relatively new concept, but it has strong ties to the history of nursing certification in the United States. ANCC selected March 19th because it is the birthday of Margretta "Gretta" Madden Styles, who is known as the "Mother of Nurse Credentialing." Styles was the architect of the first comprehensive study of nursing credentialing in the 1970s. She also served as President of the American Nurses Association, the International Council of Nurses, the California Board of Registered Nursing and the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

With the support of OR nurses, CCI hopes to help the nursing community raise awareness, celebrate and encourage certification, improve patient outcomes, support extraordinary care and further the role of certification in the American healthcare system.

Message from the CCI Board of Directors President:
CCI and our certificants are committed to creating a culture of safety for patients through certification and professional development. Certified Nurses Day gives the healthcare community the opportunity to stand up and celebrate the work that certified nurses do in all areas and to help support the delivery of quality patient care.
Michelle Byrne RN, PHD, CNOR

Board certification is a key factor in the assurance of minimum standards of knowledge, skills and abilities in nursing specialty practice and contributes to better patient outcomes. National certification allows nurses to be recognized for competence in their specialty.

Let your certified nurses know you appreciate their knowledge and expertise by thanking them for their efforts on Certified Nurses Day.

Just Checking In

I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted here. I've been writing pages for Squidoo and Qondio. Even did a couple of Xomblurbs.

Meanwhile, the main job in the OR continues to nourish me body and soul. I feel so blessed to be able to do a job I enjoy. I feel fulfillment everyday. The job can be physically and emotionally draining, but I get satisfaction knowing I'm helping people get better most of the time. Sure, there are those cases where nothing can be done. Those are the emotionally draining ones. I had 2 of those last week.

My heart goes out to these patients and their families. You tell yourself it's not supposed to be this way. Sometimes there are tears, other times you just have that empty gnawing feeling in your gut. After a while, you quit asking why because there is no satisfactory answer to that question. It just is, that's all.

Enough on that subject. Hopefully the next post will be happier.

Thanks for letting me vent.

National CRNA Week, This Week

I just learned today, the this week is National CRNA Week. I want to say thank you to all the CRNA's in the world. I have worked with a lot of great ones. What is a CRNA, you ask? It stands for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. These nurses have earned their Masters Degree and are certified to provide anesthesia in surgery. They work hard at their jobs and continuing their education to maintain their certification.

Congratulations and Happy CRNA Week to all of you!

Here's a great gift for CRNAs.

CRNA by bethd821

More Nursing Gifts

Do you have a nurse you want to thank? Do you know someone graduating from nursing school soon? Do you just want to tell the world you are a nurse? These items are just what you're looking for.

Nursing by bethd821

Heart Designs by bethd821

Click here for more great designs.

Squidoo Gave Me A Purple Star

I love Squidoo and now I have several more reasons to love it. 2010 is starting out as a GREAT year for me on Squidoo. I was made a Giant Squid, a SquidAngel, and now they have honored me with a Purple star award for my lens Operating Room Nurses.

Thank you to whoever nominated this page for the award and to all of Squidom for their support and encouragement.

Gifts For Nurses

Great stethoscopes from Amazon:

Join Me On RedGage

Click this link to join me on RedGage: RedGage.com

RedGage is a first-of-its-kind web site that pays people for their online content and monetizes their social activity. It's centralized hub where you can earn money for all the things you're already doing online at places like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and Blogger. RedGage pays based on the value of your content, measured by page views/popularity. It aggregates from other sites so you don't even have to regularly visit RedGage.

Vote For Nurses Week Logo

Follow this link to vote for the logo for Nurses Week 2010. There are four to choose from.

http://www.nursingworld.org/ANA-What-Is-New/Vote-2010-NNW-Logo.aspx