Throughout the ages, nurses have played an essential role in times of war. The founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, rose to prominence as a nurse during the Crimean War, where she earned the moniker, “The Lady with the Lamp.”

Look back at a history of the thousands of military nurses who have served their nations bravely since the Crusades:

[Via: Carrington College's Nursing Program]

Chamberlain College of Nursing is proud to be a military-friendly school. Learn more about Chamberlain’s military benefits.

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Chamberlain Named Among America’s Most Military Friendly Schools

Top Benefits of a Career in the Navy Nurse Corps

The post Infographic: Recognizing Military Nurses This Memorial Day appeared first on Chamberlain Nursing Blog.

Nurse Protects Newborn Baby from Oklahoma Tornado 

Early this week, one baby had been in the world less than an hour when 200 mph winds approached the hospital where he’d been delivered. Nurse Cheryl Stoepker wheeled the mother and baby down to the cafeteria, and shielded them with her body. “The baby was a little over an hour old, didn’t even have a diaper yet at that point, but mom and I held the baby and prayed and made it through,” she said. Read more on MSNBC. 

Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect’s Nurses Speak 

Many of the Boston Marathon bombing victims were treated at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. So too was the suspect. Liz Kowalcyzk reported on the trauma nurses asked to care for the suspect after treating the victims: “All of the nurses asked by supervisors to care for Tsarnaev agreed, the hospital said. The Globe interviewed seven of them, and all said that the ethical bedrock of their profession requires them to treat patients regardless of their personal history. They are sometimes called upon to nurse drunk drivers, prisoners, gang members, but this assignment was the ultimate test of Florence Nightingale’s founding ideals.”  Read the reactions of readers in the Boston Globe. 

Nursing Service Trip Participants Treat More Than 3,100 Patients in Two Weeks 

Meloney Black, a student from Chamberlain’s Chicago campus, recently returned from the International Nursing Service Project trip to Kenya, where her group treated more than 3,100 people. “I didn’t go on the trip thinking I would come back and say, ‘I’d do that again in a heartbeat,’ but when I got home that’s exactly what I said,” Black said. “I’d absolutely do it again.” Read more in Homewood-Flossmoor Patch. 

A Packing List for WWII Nurses 

Plenty of lipstick, material for curtains, a plate, cup and saucer are among the items on a packing list that WWII nurse Laura Rodriguez received as she prepared to fly to Germany with her unit in December 1944. Read more in Slate Magazine. 

Nurse to Hospital CEO a Growing Career Path 

As healthcare demands change, so has the role of nurses in meeting that demand. Nurse Cathy Fickes, president and CEO of St. Vincent Medical Center, believes her 20 years in patient care has made her a better CEO. “My education has allowed me to serve patients and their families at times of crisis in their lives when they cannot take care of their health care needs,” Fickes said. “It has also allowed me to become an effective communicator between what is needed at the bedside and the economic and business aspects of health care.” Read more from CBS Los Angeles. 

What are your thoughts on these stories? Tell us in the comments below! 

Read past issues of Nursing News You Missed

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Eight Types of Nurses You Never Knew Existed 

A new book, “The American Nurse,” showcases just how diverse the nursing field is. With photographs and interviews by Carolyn Jones, the book highlights 75 nurses working in a variety of settings and roles, including a roller derby nurse, a NASCAR nurse and a prison hospice nurse. Read on for more nursing career paths that might surprise you in PBS Newshour. 

Chamberlain Grad Forms a Nurse Team with Grandmother in Labor-Delivery Unit 

Chamberlain College of Nursing graduate Krissy Maher and her 75-year-old grandmother Jean Kingery both work as nurses in the labor & delivery unit of Adventist Hinsdale Hospital. “She has been my biggest role model ever since I could remember,” Maher said. “When (patients) see my grandma, they think experience. I can tell it kind of puts them at ease.” Read more of their story in the Chicago Tribune. 

Should You Tell Your Patients About a Staffing Shortage? 

You can tell your patient is frustrated or in pain due to the lack of attention they’ve received. Knowing you’ve let them down, should you mention your hospital is short-staffed today? Douglas P. Olsen, PhD, RN, evaluates this ethical dilemma and details how to assess the situation and make the right decision for your patient.  “Doing the right thing at the bedside requires an awareness of your own values; the ability to analyze the principles guiding ethical care, reflect on your own motives, and correctly judge the effect of an action on the patient; and the integrity to choose to do what is best for the patient,” Olsen wrote. Read more in the American Journal of Nursing. 

New Survey Finds Doctor & Nurse Practitioners Not Seeing Eye-to-Eye 

With a shortage of primary care doctors, will nurse practioners fill the gap? A new survey, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that nurse practitioners and doctors are divided about the quality of care both can provide. Read more in HealthDay. 

Doctor Pays Tribute to Nurses Who Have Taught Her 

Leana Wen, M.D., an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s & Mass General Hospital, credits nurses for their instrumental guidance and teaching. “Time and time again, these nurses have saved me from making mistakes, big and small. They have taught me clinical judgment and clinical skills. They have demonstrated true patient-centered care, and shown me what it means to really listen,” she wrote. Read more in the Huffington Post. 

What are your thoughts on these stories? Tell us in the comments below! 

Read past issues of Nursing News You Missed

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The Student Nurses Association at Chamberlain’s Arlington campus made and sold pink tutus to raise money for the team. In two days, they made nearly 40 tutus and raised more than $400 for the cause.

Male members of the staff, faculty and student body also volunteered for a “Who Should Wear the Tutu?” contest, with votes priced at a quarter each. Faculty member Daniel Ampomah, Ph.D., RN, won out and sported the tulle creation, as well as runner-up Jim Garrison, an IT support technician on campus.

“It was a great experience,” said Chamberlain Faculty Instructor Jennifer Drake, MSN, RN, CRRN, ONC. “I loved seeing how excited the students were! Everyone was dressed up in pink and taking photos of each other.”

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Chicagoland Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure – Accelerated!

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DeVry University, co-located in Addison with Chamberlain, also participated in the tour, sharing the University’s new Veteran Center, Student Central, library and classrooms with the congresswoman and her staff.

A highlight of the tour was the congresswoman’s moving recollection of her experiences in the Illinois Army National Guard.  Duckworth served as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot and was one of the first women in the U.S. Army to fly combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Seriously wounded during her service, the congresswoman expressed her appreciation for the care and attention she received from the many nurses who helped care for her during a long recovery.

U.S. Rep.  Duckworth represents the 8^th Congressional District, which includes Addison.  She is an Iraq War Veteran and was awarded a Purple Heart for her service.  She is also the former Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs in the Department of Veterans Affairs and a student, currently pursuing two doctorate degrees.

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We ended our first week here in Salvador, Brazil on a high note. Thursday, we spent the morning at an orphanage for abused children. These children were either abandoned by their mothers or abused by a family member. The students spent time feeding, bathing, assessing and playing with babies and toddlers.

View a photo album of the trip to Brazil!

This gave the house mother precious time to clean the babies’ cribs and rooms. Friday was spent at Faculdade Ruy Barbosa, where the students presented the U.S. healthcare system to 71 Brazilian nursing and physical therapy students. Kim, from the Addison campus, was so animated and funny that she received the loudest applause.

Then on Saturday, we drove to a favela, a Brazilian slum, where 100,000 people live in small tight places as high as three stories. The community warmly welcomed us with Portuguese songs.  The students broke up into two groups and spent the morning visiting patients at home.

Sunday morning we were invited to a Catholic church for mass. We enjoyed the music and were blessed by the priest twice. Parishioners came up to the students to thank them for coming to help their people. We even got invited for some Brazilian coffee and snacks. The rest of the day was spent traveling to Castro Alves, a rural city three hours away.

One of best things about this Brazil trip is the inter-professional collaboration with the physical therapy school at Ruy Barbosa. Professor Renato Almeida brought two students along on the trip and taught all the students physical therapy assessments, while psychology Professor Stella Sarmento brought her behavior science knowledge. This exchange of information allowed for a more holistic approach to healthcare.

The ten wonderful Chamberlain students come from a variety of backgrounds and three different campuses—Addison, Chicago and Miramar. In the beginning, they hardly knew each other, but one week later, they are a team. What a wonderful Nurses’ Week gift for me! Happy Nurses’ Week!

Read more stories from the International Nursing Service Project Trip to Brazil! 

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As a former faculty member, though, I continue to have the love and passion for teaching. I am fortunate to still have the opportunity to present one lecture in NR-322, Pediatric Nursing. This is the lecture on pediatric cardiology, which is my clinical specialty.

For many years, I was a clinical nurse specialist for pediatric cardiology at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. I was part of a multi-disciplinary team that worked with infants and children with congenital and acquired heart disease, as well as their families. Many of the infants and children were in need of diagnostic and interventional procedures, which were performed in the cardiac catheterization laboratories. Likewise, some of our young patients were in need of open-heart surgery to repair their cardiac problems and several patients were candidates for cardiac transplants.

It is such a pleasure for me to teach this pediatric specialty, and share my knowledge, expertise and experiences with our student nurses. I love working with students, and teaching my clinical specialty gives me an opportunity to continue to work with students in the classroom.

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Years ago, I used to try to balance my busy schedule. As I look back, I think striving for balance was more stressful than not having balance at all. In 2009, I came across this post: “Work-Life Balance is Bunk.” The more I read Val Kinjerski’s thoughts on work-life balance, the more I found that I agreed with her.

Rather than trying to compartmentalize my priorities into work/family/leisure etc., I now try to integrate my life. I agree with Ms. Kinjerski that everything in life is connected. As I decide where to focus my time, rather than feeling guilty about my decisions, I see how everything in my life is connected. Doing one task does not eliminate another. I am not talking about multi-tasking. I am talking about placing my focus on the task at-hand, knowing that in the next moment, my focus might change.

Everything in my life contributes to my “deeper purpose,” which Kinjerski references. Changing the emphasis from work to family to leisure throughout the day is natural and comfortable. By integrating what we do, we are able to shift focus as needed, picking up where we left off and placing our emphasis where it needs to be at the time. There are certainly times in everyone’s life where one aspect takes priority over another. While these times might represent larger issues, allowing integration of our life’s work can relieve stress every day.

I know that you, as students, have many competing priorities. Try thinking about integration rather than balance and see if integrating your priorities, rather than seeing them as competing with one another, makes a difference in your daily life. As we pass each other in the halls on campus, feel free to stop me and talk about how integration is working for you.  I would love to have the conversation with you.

Related Stories: 

5 Tips to Balance Family, Work and Nursing School

4 Tips to Master the Nursing School Balancing Act

The post A Different Approach to School-Life Balance appeared first on Chamberlain Nursing Blog.

White House Announces New Program to Help Veterans Pursue Nursing Careers

A new program will help veterans with healthcare experience, such as medics, build upon their skills to enter the field of nursing. “The Veterans’ Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program recognizes the skills, experience and sacrifices of our veterans, while helping to grow our nursing workforce,” said Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services.  “It helps veterans formalize their skills to get jobs, while strengthening Americans’ access to care.” Read more from ADVANCE for Nurses. 

Nurses Deserve Praise for their Contribution to Healthcare, Student Says 

In a letter to the editor, Chamberlain College of Nursing student Claire Mack encourages the public to recognize a nurse during National Nurses Week, May 6-12. “Nurses have long been at the forefront of health care innovation. National Nurses Week is a time to show our appreciation for these efforts to improve not only the health of individual patients, but the health of our nation.” Read more on cleveland.com.

How Old is Too Old for Nursing School? 

Research shows that hospitals have better patient outcomes when they employ baccalaureate-prepared nurses. But for older nurses, is it worth it to go back for the BSN? “If you have the desire [for a BSN], why not go ahead and do it?” said National League for Nursing CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN. Read more from NurseZone.com. 

Number of Nurses Completing their BSN, MSN, Degrees Increasing 

A recent survey by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing found that the number of students enrolled in RN to BSN programs increased by 13.4 percent% from 2010 to 2011, while master’s programs saw a 7.6% increase in enrollments for 2011. “A driving force behind this increase in BSN enrollment is the Institute of Medicine’s ‘The Future of Nursing’ report that calls for the number of nurses who hold BSNs to increase to 80 percent by 2020,” said Betsy Snook, CEO of the Pennsylvania State Nursing Association. Read more from PennLive. 

Nursing Shortage Looms in Michigan 

With thousands of nurses approaching retirement in Michigan, trouble looms, experts recently warned. “We have an aging nursing work force and our nursing faculty is even older,” said Carole Stacy, director of the Michigan Center for Nursing, a program of the Michigan Health Council. Read more the Center for Michigan.

What are your thoughts on these stories? Tell us in the comments below! 

Read past issues of Nursing News You Missed

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Smith, an academic success coach at Chamberlain College of Nursing, is affectionately called the “test whisperer” by students on the Phoenix campus for her ability to help students achieve high marks.

On a recent Sunday morning, she set out with her dog to hike a mountain preserve close to her home.

“It’s kind of an off-beat track—not the usual path that people take,” she said. “As we were going up the side of the trail, a man went running past me.”

Smith had her headphones on and didn’t pay much attention as they crossed paths. Several minutes later, she came around the bend and found the man on the ground. She checked to see if he was responsive, and found that he had no pulse and wasn’t breathing.

“I wanted to just start compressions, and I had to think to call 911 first,” she said. “When you’re in the hospital, it’s totally different—you have all the resources in the world. I call for help there and I have four other nurses and two doctors.”

Smith put 911 on speaker phone and began compressions on the man.

“I didn’t know how they ever would find us,” she said. “I was trying to explain to 911 where I was on the side of this mountain, while I was doing compressions and at the same time screaming for help.”

Luckily, someone did find her. Two people heard her yells, and joined her. One happened to be a paramedic. For 20 minutes, Smith and the paramedic performed CPR on the man as they waited for emergency personnel to arrive on the side of the mountain. Off and on, he would get a pulse and have labored breathing, before losing his pulse again.

The firemen arrived before the paramedics, and Smith and the paramedic used the defibrillator to shock the man. He continued on a touch-and-go basis, with Smith giving compressions intermittently until an ambulance arrived.

“I happen to work in the ER at the hospital they took him to,” she said. “That was kind of cool—I could check in on him. He ended up surviving.”

The Chamberlain community commends Debra for this heroic effort!

Read more extraordinary nursing stories:

Heroes In Action: Chamberlain Nurses During Hurricane Sandy

The GiFT That Keeps On Giving: Chamberlain Grad Helps NICU Families In Need

Chamberlain’s Arlington Campus Gives Back To Wounded Warriors

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