Author: wolvenmedia

LRG is currently seeking 2 Nurse Practitioners with 3 or more years of experience as Hospitalist or in Family Practice with inpatient experience. These positions are in North Carolina and the client is ready to hire. Please contact Robert Litton at 704-900-6536. To view the job posting please go to North Carolina NP Jobs .

Article by Kimberly Spering, MSN, FNP-BC

Article provided by Clinical 1 http://clinician1.com/

The past two weeks were difficult for me, physically and emotionally. One of my favorite patients, “J,” went to hospice care in a local nursing home, as her husband could not physically care for her at their home. I counseled a lovely older woman who is on her third bout of cancer in the past two years… colon, then breast, and now probable lymphoma—all primary cancers, mind you, not metastatic disease. I counseled—for the umpteenth time—then sadly sent termination letters to—patients who persistently were non-compliant with their care and not showing up for office visits as scheduled.

I have counseled innumerable patients with depression and anxiety… many of them are nurses at our local “Magnet” hospital. So much for THAT status, as they are as miserable as anyone I’ve ever seen in 20 years of nursing. Their Employee Assistance Program has a SIX MONTH waiting list…”unless one is suicidal.” Gee… how comforting to know that those who are supposed to help support the caregivers… are also “backed up.”

On top of that, my own grandmother is facing terminal breast cancer, lung cancer (likely metastatic), and who knows where else it is. She has severe dementia and had expressed wishes years ago to not prolong her life. We don’t even know where all of the cancer is, because we have not done any further testing. So… my ONE grandparent that was always there for me is battling these health issues… and my wonderful mother is coping with all of the stress… and I am utterly helpless to stop it. My grandmother has a premonition that she will not be with us long, as stated to me and my mother… and I believe her.

I manage to hide my own grief and stress from patients… to a point. My boss understands… I get “really quiet.” I can vent to him… to my husband, my Mom… but still, it takes a toll when it occurs day-after-day.

So it is with this mind-set that I share with you a moment I had this week… with a young lady who managed to pull me up out of the momentary abyss of despair…

I had seen this young woman a few times before… two sick visits and a routine physical exam. Her mother is an ICU nurse at a local hospital. To show how “small” of a world it really is, I had been a “student nurse extern” (a.k.a “nurse’s aide”) 22 years ago in the SAME ICU that her Mom works in now. Her mother was one of the nurses I worked with… and learned from.

I count myself fortunate that I worked in that unit for two years. I saw amazing things, assisted in procedures that would make me shudder today (for liability reasons—as a student, that is), and learned so much about ICU nursing care, that it made my senior year at college rather easy. I distinctly remember my ICU preceptor telling me that I had to be “humble,” because the nurses were intimidated that a “mere student” seemed to know so much. (Bah. I faked it.)

However, as I talked with this young lady, I saw a passion in her eyes… she, too, now works in the same ICU as a nurse’s aide. Her mother and the other nurses—many of them the same as when I worked there—have taken her under their wings and shown her “the ropes” as well. She is thrilled to learn all of these things, and to be part of the health care team, even in her role as a nurse’s aide. She has vision… and determination.

She has applied to the local university to the Physician Assistant program. However, there is a back-up plan. If she doesn’t “make it,” she intends to go into the BSN program at the local college… then work her way up in nursing for the advanced degree.

I caught my breath, while talking with this young woman. I saw my own passion in her eyes… from so-long-ago. Wow… what a moment. When dealing with numerous crises, and the despondent nurses from the local hospitals… it is easy to forget that dedication, that spark. I told her the nurses that I remembered from two decades ago… most of them STILL work in that ICU. Her eyes grew huge as she realized that I, too, had walked in her footsteps so long ago.

I thanked her for reminding me, yet again, why I do what I do. We need others to pass the torch… to keep that passion alive.

Deja vu… and good memories.

Ok, so we have all heard about Twitter? Or maybe not? Twitter, a rapidly growing social media outlet has moved beyond following the tweets of friends or celebrities and is fast becoming a great way to stay informed about job openings in your specialty. It is now possible to receive tweets about physician assistant and nurse practitioner opening! You can even pinpoint a specific location so for example if you wanted to only hear about Nurse Practitioner openings in Internal Medicine in Charlotte, NC then you can set things up so those are the only tweets you will receive.

The company leading the way is http://tweetmyjobs.com/ It is worth the time to check this out because the type jobs your interested in will show up on your smart phone. This technology will transform the way we all look for new positions.

I got frequent calls from Nurse Practitioners asking how much they should be getting paid based on their experience and geographic location. In most cases it varies from hospital to hospital or practice to practice. In order to get a general rule of thumb to follow for salary information I did some research and found a Salary Survey that you may find helpful. I know I did. Just follow the link bellow. You will discover lots of good resources here. As always, we are here to help in anyway we can. Thanks for stopping by…..Robert

http://www.nurse.net/cgi-bin/start.cgi/salary/index.html

We are seeing more and more Nurse Practitioners when we visit the doctor now. You may be wondering why that is the case. To put it simply a Nurse Practitioner can do most of what the physician can do when it comes to treating colds, sore throats, flu etc and it is a lower cost provider so it saves the system money.

You may be wondering how do you become an NP and what would you do if you were an NP. Most nurse practitioners work in hospitals or medical centers, like registered nurses. There, they’ll be responsible for a number of general nursing duties, which are duties completed by nurses of all educational levels. These duties include gathering patient histories, working with doctors to order diagnostic tests, and performing routine examinations. Nurses may also be in charge of tasks such as taking blood, checking vital signs, delivering meals, and maintaining records, though many times, these duties are left to lower-level nurses, rather than to nurse practitioners.

A nurse practitioner can act as the primary caregiver when a doctor isn’t available. In some states, nurse practitioners must work in collaboration with a doctor, but in other states, this isn’t required. That means that you could even open your own practice as a nurse practitioner in some locations. With a nurse practitioner program, you’ll specialize in one area of medicine, like oncology or orthopedics, so the care you give specifically depends on your specialty.

With any medical facility, there’s a lot of paperwork that needs to be completed. As a nurse practitioner, you’ll be responsible for maintain patient records and writing reports, among other things. This might be one of the most boring parts of your day, but it is also one of the most important, as incorrect paperwork can lead to dangerous drug interactions, an incorrect diagnosis, and other patient mix ups.

It takes hard work and years of school to become a Nurse Practitioner but if you have what it takes it can be a very rewarding career. For more information on a career as an NP check out some the sites below:

Nurse Practitioner Jobs

http://onlinenursepractitionerprograms.com/how-long-does-it-take-to-become-a-nurse-practitioner/

If we want to get the rising costs of health care under control we better start expanding the roles of mid-level practitioners. The following article is very interesting. Enjoy!   Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistants

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_B_Litton

http://www.careertoolkits.com/rss/physicianassistant.xml This is a great resource!