Welcome to pulp fiction week at Change of Shift. I want to thank Kim from Emergiblog for allowing me to serve as host. You may think that Dr. Duane is obsessed with his nurse, but I think the good doctor is obsessed with blogging. He’s just leaning into his nurse so he can tell her about his latest post. Or not. Everyone has an obsession. If you’re familiar with Emergiblog, you know that Kim is obsessed with Star Bucks coffee, rock and roll music, and giving excellent patient care. Check out Kim’s call to arms. She’s mad as heck, and she wants nurses to start taking back the nursing profession.

It seems like a lot of people are having delusions. Doctor Sarah Reagan thought that people didn’t like her because she was a woman and a doctor. Little did she know that is was all in her mind. Don’t worry, she lives happily ever after. Matt from hypocaffeinemia thinks that a study about near death experiences is delusional and full of hooey. The drama, the suspense, it’s a great post! I hope that everyone in that surgical suite is paying attention to what they are doing. It looks like too many minds are wandering. Rita Schwab, the author of MSSPNexus Blog, is concerned about objects being left inside of patients after surgery. I may only be a psych nurse, but even I know that correct sponge count is really important. Check out her post.

Meet Nurse Jeanne Reynolds. She is living south of the border. I don’t know why she’s smiling. It gets hot in the desert, and she’s wearing a long sleeved dress. I bet she’s also wearing a girdle and white hose. She looks very professional. I love the cap. Check out that guy that’s standing behind Nurse Reynolds. He’s hot, too. Come on, you know what I mean. I hope that Nurse Reynolds makes a positive impact within her local Hispanic community. Keith from Digital Doorway submitted this post about Hispanics and the U.S. healthcare system. This is his forth post under the auspices of the nurse blogger scholarship that he recently received from Value Care, Value Nurses. His post is insightful and very informative.

Nurse Fiona Smith can multitask. She’s a crackerjack pediatric nurse, and her other talents extend into the kitchen. According to the handsome blond hunk chatting with the kids in the background, Fiona can really cook. It seems like cooking is on everyone’s mind this week. Heather Johnson, who writes about online nursing schools, sent in this post about how to eat healthy during the summer. Heather makes low fat meals look inviting. Nurse Tammy Swofford sent in her post about sneaky vegetarians and hot dogs. The vegetarians are plotting to overthrow Oscar Meyer Wieners in the name of colon cancer. Tammy also sent in the post about Steven Job’s obit that was inadvertently published by Bloomberg News.

 And speaking of food, Sandy from Junk Food Science wants you to know that not all junk food is the same. According to Sandy, some of it is bad for the intellectual mind. Sandy wants nurses to keep their critical thinking nursing caps on when reading online nursing journals and while pursuing CE opportunities.

Meet Nurse Jacqueline Clarke and her two suitors, Guy and the “great and wonderful” Dr. Broderick. When Jacqueline came from France to nurse at a Yorkshire hospital, she had never known any Englishmen except her father. Now she has two handsome Englishmen fawning all over her. I wonder what Jacqueline is dreaming about. Every nurse has a dream. Merys Jones from I Am Not A Drain On Society is dreaming about ways of paying for medical school. (Please make a donation). She’s also reminiscing about one of her patients. Read her powerful post about a man who is slowly dying. Mercy works as a part time bar maid, and a not-so-part time auxiliary nurse.

 Locolorenzo from The Loco Days of Locolorenzo has his hopes and dreams, too. He hopes that he will have more days when he’s “that nurse.” He had a very good day, and I know that he will have a lot more good days during his nursing career.

Student Nurse Nancy from Stethoscopes and Diapers dreams about the day when she can put on her nursing uniform and not feel like an idiot. Read her post about what it’s like to be a student nurse. Don’t worry Nancy, we all go through that awkward period during our nursing career. Trust me, you’re not an idiot.

The hospital emergency room is busy, and full of drama. Nurse Diane Waycott and Dr. Ken Michelson look cozy now, but they have a tempestuous relationship. One night Nurse Wacott flung these bitter words at Dr. Michelson:

 
“You don’t belong in a hospital! If you were honest you’d operate a beauty parlor!”

Holy cow! I wonder if she was having PMS, or if she caught Dr. Michelson in the linen room with another nurse. Of course these two kissed and made up just in the nick of time in order to save a young girl’s life. Emergency rooms are places of real life drama, and of life and death stories. Unfortunately, unlike romance novels, not all emergency room stories have happy endings. Please read Disappearing John’s story about losing a regular patient in the emergency room.

Here’s another post about a patient in the emergency room. Braden, from 20 Out of 10, An Emergency Room Blog sent in this post about a patient who had altered thought processes….among other things. Darn fungal infections!

Politics is a hot topic within the blogosphere. It’s also the backdrop for this romance novel. Meet Nurse Amy Loring. Amy considered herself the luckiest girl in the world. She loved living in Washington, D. C., where her brother was a rising politician, and she was practically engaged to the young Doctor William Tabor. But then Amy met Congressman Bob Ainsley. He was handsome, dynamic and so ambitious that everyone knew he’d get whatever he wanted from life. And Bob wanted Amy. People told Amy that Bob was a ruthless, opportunistic politician, but she couldn’t believe that Bob could be as others labeled him. After all, she reasoned, in Washington every gesture was suspect, every act a matter of intrigue.

 
The upcoming presidential election is certainly getting intriguing. I wonder what Amy would think about Sarah Palin, John McCain’s choice for vice president. Everyone has an opinion. Lofty Zahari from M.D.O.D. asked his wife if Sarah can come live with them. He said that he’s in love with Sarah Palin. I wonder if that came up in the conversation with his wife. Drug Monkey from Your Pharmacist May Hate You also has plenty to say about Governor Palin. He said that she’s no Hillary. That can be a good or bad thing depending on what side of the political fence your standing on. The Curmudgeon from Second Effort weighs in on Palin’s executive experience.

Look at the cozy little lovebirds. Meet Nurse Kristine Grand and one of her many suitors. Captain Jim Dudley and the brilliant Chief of Staff, Dr. Lee Bowen both wanted to marry Kristine, but she was confused. Kristine thought that nurses should never have a life outside of the hospital.

 “I’m a nurse, not a woman,” said Kristine. “I’ve resolved never to marry, and never to have a child. I’m a good nurse—I’ll stay one. I’m not going to be a woman.”

Like I said, Kristine is confused. Beth from Pixel RN has her own ideas about what it takes to be a nurse. Poor Kristine. I hope she learns that being a good nurse has nothing to do with being married with children.

Max E Nurse from It Shouldn’t Happen in Health Care believes that being a good nurse has nothing to do with traffic lights. Read his post and find out why he’s not a big fan of colored lights. By the way, Max, congratulations on your 80th post.

And I thought I had bad days at work. This isn’t anyway to start a shift.

 The life of a nurse is not an easy one, but Nurse Susan Trent enjoyed every minute of her work, even those times of tragedy when unavoidable accidents brought disaster, bloodshed and suffering. She found it absorbing because she shared in the difficulties and problems of all those whose lives and health she guarded. But Susan had not expected to be involved so deeply that the problems of others would affect her own secure existence, nor that the sinister and deadly happenings in the busy shops and factories would culminate in her own quiet office.

Nurse Susan looks very professional in her crisp white uniform even as her life is being threatened. She is the image of nursing perfection. Nurse Laura from Nurse Connect wants to help you scrub your weary image. Check out her post, so you, too, can have a more professional look just like Nurse Susan. Also read Nurse Kathy’s post about how to avoid mistakes when giving feedback to nursing peers. Nurse Kathy is also from Nurse Connect, and her pointers will help you express yourself without hurting someone’s feelings. I wonder if gunman got pissed off because Susan gave him negative feedback. Take it from a psych nurse. You have to be careful about how you approach some people.

Nurse Susan may start thinking about getting out of nursing when her shift is over. Read Heather Johnson’s post about the pros and cons of a Nursing Career. Heather is a contributing writer at NursingJobs.org.

Susan looks like she’s under a lot of stress, and as we all know, that can lead to a backache. Dean Moyer of The Back Pain Blog offers some tips for avoiding back trouble in Prevent Back Pain with an Ergonomic Workstation.

Thank you for dropping by Change of Shift. The next CoS will be hosted by Emily from Crzegrl, Flight Nurse on September 18th. I’ll see you there!