Recently I was on an airplane when a passenger became very ill and went to the restroom. A flight attendant asked if there was any health professional available to provide help. My first thought was “Oh, no. I haven’t practiced in years! Do I really want to get involved? And, if I do, can I get sued if I try to help.” After a few quick moments, my heart went out to this poor person in need. No one else seemed to be getting up to help so I rose from seat. Fortunately, there was one … [Read more...]
Know Your Professional Boundaries
As a nurse or other health care professional, we have a special relationship with our patients. People expect a nurse to act in the patient’s best interest and to respect their dignity. It is extremely important for a health care professional to maintain a therapeutic relationship with the patient. A therapeutic relationship is one where the nurse can apply her professional knowledge, skills, abilities and experiences to meet the patient’s health care needs. When patients need health care, … [Read more...]
The Problem with Multiple Professional Licenses
Did you know that if you have professional licenses in more than one State and an action is taken against your license in one of the two, it is most likely that an action will be taken against your license in the other State as well? Did you also know that if you have a license that is no longer active in another State, that State then can still take action against your license? These are examples of what I call, “the domino effect.” Are you wondering how these things can … [Read more...]
Every Nurse Needs a Mentor
… and, in fact, it’s not just nurses but everybody! I have several mentors and coaches who guide me in my law practice. Even though I’ve been a lawyer for 25 years, mentors always have new insights to help. Many nurses get caught up in the norms of their unit with the “we’ve-always-done-it-this-way” syndrome. If you are a new nurse, you may not know that this is not proper. You may get a bothersome gut feeling but you’re too timid or afraid to say something. You’re just going with the flow … [Read more...]
My View on “The View”
Normally I am neither one to get on a bandwagon nor to comment on anything negative. Though I hesitated to write this article, I found myself so moved by the response of nurses to a recent broadcast of the television discussion program called “The View” that I felt compelled to write this. I watched last week’s broadcast of the Miss USA Pageant when Miss Colorado, Kelley Johnson, performed a moving monologue about her nursing experiences with one particular Alzheimer’s patient. It made me so … [Read more...]
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