Nurse Ratched’s Place

An old country doctor once told me that nurses are like cats. He said that nurses fight like felines and that it’s dangerous to step into the middle of a cat fight. He was a very wise man. A reader left a comment over at Emergiblog in response to a comment that I left about [...]

I wrote a letter to the Arizona Nurses Association when I learned that the association was not coming to the aid of Amanda Trujillo. If you haven’t heard, Amanda was fired from Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center after she educated one of her patients about their upcoming liver transplant. I wrote about it here [...]

Do you remember when patients came first? This picture was taken in New Orleans at Marine Hospital in 1942. Back then a hospital administrator looking at this picture would have seen a patient, a doctor, and a nurse. The administrator would have acknowledged the importance of each person, but he or she would have viewed [...]

I can’t believe that this is really happening, but maybe again, I can. Banner Health fired an Arizona nurse because she did the right thing, and now the Arizona Board of Nursing is threatening her nursing license because she is an excellent nurse. The whole incident smacks of unbridled greed and hubris. The nurse is [...]

I received an email the other day from Erika Stewart, an account executive for an onlinemarketing agency. As the propritor of a nursing blog, I get a lot of letters from people like Erika everyday. They want me to write up a blurb about their clients. I hit delete, delete, delete. Erika’s letter was different. [...]

In the 1976 movie Network, actor Peter Finch, who played the part of Howard Beale, a frustrated newsman, belted out the immortal words, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Those words pretty much sum up the Occupy Wall Street Movement. People are sick and tired of corporate greed at [...]

I received this in an email from my mother. I wonder if Mr. Snowman’s health insurance carrier will deny his claim based of some preexisting condition. Happy Holidays! Tweet

A VA nurse is being accused of an anti-gay tirade according to a news report. Esther Garatie, 28, a former Marine lance corporal, has filed complaints against the nurse practitioner, Lincy Pandithurai of Cedar Hill, with both the VA Medical Center and the Texas Board of Nursing. I hope this really didn’t happen, but I [...]

It’s that time of year again and nothing says Christmas like a mob fighting over television sets on Black Friday. Admit it. Were you one of those people who got in line before midnight on Thanksgiving in order to get a door buster deal? I couldn’t believe the throng of humanity out on the streets [...]

This little gem comes from the National Museum of Health and Medicine. The caption reads: “Those who spent time at Walter Reed Army Medical Center will remember turkey legs in the mess hall. In this photo, a dietician is helping a wounded veteran eat his Thanksgiving meal.” I’ll never forget the Thanksgiving meals I shared [...]