Bax, Rich, Olly: Father and Sons Apps

Our crowdfunding campaign went live last night so we are now on a 46 day countdown to reach our $8500 goal. My two sons and I are all very excited about our launch into the mobile app game industry. As app newbies we have a lot to learn but we have had great teachers in Trey Smith and Chad Mureta.

Our game is a running game based on the popular game Temple Run. Our game Bull Run is set in an ancient Spanish city where you are trying to out run three escaped bulls by turning left or right all the while avoiding obstacles by jumping over them or ducking under them. as you run you can collect coins that can be used for in-app purchases. Its going to be a lot of fun. Please help us make it a reality.

Please visit our idiegogo campaign here and then tell everyone you can about our campaign via social media (there are tabs to do this on the page). There you will find the video we made to help promote the crowdfunding campaign that will enable us to produce our mobile app game Bull Run. Please make a contribution if you can (thank-you!) or tell at least three others about it. Please visit our mobile app project site at http://.www.fatherandsonsapps.com  Cheers Rich, Olly, Bax

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My Two Sons & I Are Making a Mobile Phone App! is a post from: RichNursePoorNurse.com

Are regular chocolate eaters really thinner?

Chocolate can be good for you … in moderation.
AAP

People who eat chocolate on a regular basis tend to be thinner, even when they do not exercise more often, a new study claims.

But health experts have warned that the findings of the study, published today in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, do not establish a direct link between the consumption of chocolate, which is high in calories and saturated fats, and a low body mass index (BMI).

Merlin Thomas, Adjunct Professor of Preventive Medicine at Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute, said: “In excess, chocolate will induce weight gain. It will induce obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and an early demise. But then again, so will any overindulgence.”

A research team from the University of California, San Diego, found that among about 1,000 men and woman aged 20 to 85 who did not have heart disease or diabetes, those who consumed chocolate more frequently had a lower BMI than those who consumed it less often. On average, participants ate chocolate twice a week and exercised 3.6 times a week.

Health experts say a normal BMI is typically in the range of 18.5 to 24.9.

“People who ate chocolate more frequently consumed more calories, and they did not exercise more, but despite this they weighed less,” said Beatrice Golomb, with the university’s Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. “It’s not amount of chocolate, but frequency of chocolate consumption [that counts].”

“Chocolate has been linked to lower heart disease and more favourable liver profiles and better blood pressure,” Dr Golomb said. “The chief factor that has typically led people to hold back from recommending chocolate has been this concern that the expectation was that it would be associated with being heavier and gaining weight more, and this study at least does not provide support for that but rather the contrary.”

Consumption of certain types of chocolate has been found to have other metabolic benefits on blood pressure, insulin sensitivity and cholesterol level.

“Our study doesn’t really constrain exactly the amount of chocolate [people should eat], but it does suggest that more frequent chocolate consumption is associated with better BMI.”

But Professor Thomas said that the study showed “why association is not the same as causality.

“Paradoxes are not uncommon in medicine and usually reflect the influence of other unmeasured factors. The population studied also matters. In this instance, the impact of chocolate consumption on middle-aged overweight men may not reflect the harm confectionery does to women or adolescents.”

Professor Thomas said that the plant-derived flavanols found in cocoa products, such as dark chocolate, did have real effects on metabolism. However studies highlighting their health benefits invariably used very large doses “that could never be garnered by eating the amounts of chocolate described in this study. Most processed confectionery contains little of the original antioxidant potential of the original cocoa.”

This article was originally published at The Conversation.
Read the original article.

Can Nurses Eat Chocolate and Stay Thin? is a post from: RichNursePoorNurse.com

Continuing Education for Nurses

Author: nursing.education

Continuing Education for Nurses

When you begin working as a nurse in a hospital or any other health care center, it does not mean that you will have to discontinue further education. It does not mean that you will have to stop pursuing academics. There are many seminars and classes for nurses who want to continue with their nursing education. There are many universities and institutes that offer continuing nursing education for working nurses to enhance their education.

What is Continuing Education for Nurses

Continuing Education for Nurses refers to courses taken by nurses after completing a nursing program and getting a license. The courses that you choose can be either general or specific subjects. There are a wide range of nursing courses offered by different universities. The availability of specific courses is purely dependent upon the institution or university that you choose to attend. Every institution or university has its own specialized courses and its own curriculum. Some of the subjects covered by nursing CE are Personal Development, Biological and Physical Sciences, Behavioral and Social Sciences, Nursing Administration, Legal Issues relating to Health Care and many other such courses.

Need for Continuing Education for Nurses

There are many nurses who prefer to enroll themselves into different nursing education courses so as to further their knowledge in a specific area of medicine. For instance there are many nurses who enroll themselves into a midwifery course so as to understand the various aspects of prenatal care. Nurses can also opt for courses that will help them to develop their nursing careers or help them to prepare for a higher degree. There are many nurses who enroll into advanced nursing courses in order to become professional nursing practitioners. A licensed and certified Nursing practitioner can examine patients and recommend treatments. Nurses who are already working can attend nursing conferences or attend classroom training programs to enhance their skills. In some instances, the employers may prefer nurses continue their education even while practicing the profession.

Continuing Education for Nurses through Online Programs

Every institute or university has a calendar of nursing education that they follow strictly. This calendar comprises of the entire curriculum for the year which is then scheduled on a calendar basis. Further, most institutes, colleges and universities offer nursing education by way of online programs. These programs are perfect for working nursing professionals who find it difficult to attend classroom programs. These courses allow registered nurses to develop sufficient knowledge and skills in order to meet their licensing requirements. The online course are designed keeping in mind those registered nurses who just want to enhance their skills and at the same time also designed to meet the expectations of those nurses seeking management roles.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/online-education-articles/continuing-education-for-nurses-3322336.html

About the Author

:- Nurses who want to continue their nursing education, can find many seminars and classes offered by universities and institutes that offer continuing nursing education (DNE) for working nurses to enhance their education. visit http://nursing-education.com for more information.

Continuing Education for Nurses is a post from: RichNursePoorNurse.com

I am into personal development. I believe it has helped me to be a better person and nurse. Personal development has helped me both in my personal and professional life. Your personal and working lives are closely connected and if you don’t believe me the next time your personal life is going off the rails I bet it impacts in a big way on your working life as well.

I like to read personal development books, I like to emulate the lessons of those older or wiser than I and to try and be a better person by learning from others that I respect or admire.

I like to do personal development courses that show you how to apply their teachings to your own life so you can live a happier and more fulfilled life. I have done some Tony Robbins courses and have gained a lot from them personally. There is nothing quite like doing a firewalk on 600 degree hot coals to be a reference point for the rest of your life to remind you that you do anything you put your mind to!

Kurek Ashley is a Best-Selling Author, former Hollywood Actor, Peak Performance and Success Coach who moved to Australia from the USA 7 years ago. Kurek helps people to reach their full potential.

Recently I had the privilege to interview Kurek for this blog for Nurses. You can hear the full interview at my blog. I hope you enjoy it and gain some insights from Kurek’s pearls of wisdom. Personal development is what I am into but should we do this stuff as nurses?…Well what harm could it do? I believe there is no downside, only benefits.

I believe that there are many lessons we have to learn in our lifetime and if we don’t get the lesson the events that are sent to teach us can get more and more dramatic and impactful. So by opening yourself up to the concept of self improvement can affect your life by making life a bit easier. Sure there will still be problems or bumps in the road but what if you felt enabled to handle whatever comes along.

We as nurses have to deal with our patients who may have a lot going on in their lives just like we do as well. So coping strategies to help people to cope with their lives is probably going to be quite beneficial. I have found that my personal development quest has enabled me to be better able to cope with situations that come along both personally and professionally.

As the healthcare system and those in it becomes more and more stressed and runs on fewer and fewer resources, the better able the staff are able to cope with stress and difficult situations the better it will no doubt be for us and our patients.

I believe we can be better nurses if we open our minds to some personal development input. Here is the link for my interview I did with kurek Ashley. I suggest you read Kurek Ashley’s book “How Would Love respond” . http://www.archive.org/details/InterviewWithKurekAshley

Personal Development, Do Nurses Need It? is a post from: RichNursePoorNurse.com

There was an article on the ABC News about how a survey revealed that almost a third Nurse Practitioners are currently unemployed. If you are like me you are not surprised by this and are not in a hurry to quit your F/T nursing position but should you be concerned by the bigger picture here?

Is the fact that a third of the qualified Nurse Practitioners are out of work due to medical practitioners not supporting them by not referring clients or is it just the staff freeze that we seem to have on in NSW Health at the moment, or both?

I have friends that are employed as casual nurses who have been having a hard time trying to get full time employment and have had to keep all their options open. One friend has even had to resort to getting work as a cleaner.

I am not a Nurse Practitioner but would love to hear back from some Nurse Practitioners as to how they have been received so far into the health hierarchy and if they are getting support from RN’s, GP’s and Allied Health workers? I would also like to know what there take is on where have all the Nurse Practitioners jobs gone?

The July post on the AMA website  http://www.ama.com.au/node/4841 has come out in support (in principle) with the new legislation that will “… allow some Nurse Practitioners and midwives to provide services funded under the Commonwealth Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and to prescribe medications that are subsidised under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).” 

Thearticle goes on to clarify that their support would be conditional in that the legislation is introduced ”carefully”…“The AMA submission highlights that, if implemented carefully, the legislation may help address unmet community health needs – provided it is done in a coordinated way and medical practitioners are still involved in the overall care of the patient. The AMA has warned the Committee that if the legislation is not implemented carefully, it will fragment care, increase the risks of inadvertent patient outcomes, cause duplication and increase costs.”

I can appreciate that GP’s are protective of their turf (and their income stream), I would be to. However, I hope I am wrong but I will be surprised if this new arrangement will work without the Nurse Practitioners getting the full support of their local GP’s.

I imagine the Government motives for introducing this legislation are that it’s trying to provide more accessible health care for the public in the most cost effective (cheapest) way possible…so Nurse Practitioners  are cheaper then GP’s and as we have seen with the recent recruitment drive AIN’s are cheaper then RN’s. Am I too much of a skeptic or are we seeing the cuts to the salaries and wages for health staffing resulting in a gradual restructure of the health system hierarchy?

Nurse Practitioners Jobs: Harder and Harder to Find is a post from: RichNursePoorNurse.com

Night Duty is always a challenging shift for anyone to do let alone nurses who have the added responsibility of staying awake and alert AND caring for their patients and making life and death decisions.

I am very fortunate that I haven’t had to do night duty for a long time but my nocturnal colleagues  have my respect and admiration as they certainly have the hardest shift to do. I mean the hospital or nursing home they work at has the minimal number of staff rostered on at that time and they don’t have the usual resource people available to tap into such as allied health and hospital support staff.

This can create a very challenging situation for nurses when there is no decrease in the nurses responsibility just because its night time, in fact the risk for the patients actually increases as does the responsibility placed on the nurses.  A recent study showed that patients who go into cardiac arrest while in the hospital are more likely to die if it happens after 11 p.m., when staffing may be lower or patients watched less closely. Hospitals’ ‘code blue’ most deadly at night

So as you can see it is especially important to be on your game while on a night duty. This is especially challenging when you are going against your bodies normal circadian rhythm which wants you to be asleep at this time. One recent NSW study showed that almost 1 in 5 working adults are chronically sleep deprived. And apart from feeling sleepy and grumpy the next day, these people are running a bigger risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

So study findings such as this may provide added motivation to take extra good care of yourself. This is something that we as nurses are not renowned for doing well. It is hard to find the time or energy to exercise when all you are living on the flip side to everyone else in your life (let alone most of the working population). Its not as if you can leave the car at home and walk to work!

Incorporating exercise into your night duty life style is probably the biggest challenge in the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. The best option may be for night workers to incorporate a ½ hr to 45 min walk on a treadmill (if you own or hire one) in the comfort and safety of your own home. Once at work most night duty nurses don’t have any reason to leave their ward so “taking the lift instead of the stairs” is no help.

Eating healthy is something that may be more easily incorporated into the daily routine of those who do the “graveyard shift”. This may simply come down to planning and making a bit of extra effort to nurture your body by eating well while your body is under the added stress of night duty or of having to change between day and night shifts. I am no dietary expert but we were all taught the basics in our training. Can get on line to find what the experts say or may be able to access to a dietitian at your workplace. Taking a vitamin or mineral supplement may help but it may not be able to undo the damage done by unwise eating choices such as a diet high in fat and calories.

Nurses Be On Your Game While On Night Duty is a post from: RichNursePoorNurse.com

Do patients relatives that get involved in the care of their loved one sometimes get perceived or labeled by nurses as being actively involved and helpful or nosy and assertive?

I can see that as far as patient care is concerned there can be two differing points of view…the nurses looking after the patient and the relatives’ point of view. I have recently experienced what it is to be a “concerned relative” when I was involved in the care of my 38 yo niece (with advanced breast cancer) during a hospital admission to bring her pain under control.

I saw my role as the “concerned relative” as one of ensuring that my niece was getting well looked after and that her pain was being brought under control as quickly as possible. When talking with the nursing staff (who were wonderful) I tried to be inquisitive, friendly, polite but not pushy, to ensure that I was not perceived as someone who was trying to tell the nurses how to do their job (suck eggs so to speak).

As the relative who also happened to be a RN I was able to provide a lot of the basic care (washing, repositioning, assistance with eating, etc). I was also able to teach my other family members how they could also do what I was doing as far as providing the basic care was concerned.

This made them feel empowered as they felt useful and my niece felt comfortable that her needs were being met by her family and that this level of care could then extend to the home environment. To care for a sick family member can be an open expression of your love and compassion for that relative and is why it can also be so rewarding.

I know that as a nurse on a busy ward some relatives can seem to be interfering or bothersome. In my experience this has mostly stemmed from the relatives feeling frustrated that they cannot do enough to help their loved one or they may feel they are “in the dark” and have not been kept informed of the situation by the medical staff.

As the nurses are more accessible (as nurses are on the ward 24/7) then the doctors, the nurses can end up wearing the brunt of the patients relatives frustration and may tend to label the relative as “interfering”.

When confronted by relatives you may perceive to be interfering you have the ability to turn this situation around. You can try and improve the situation and make it better by:

•  Acknowledge their apparent frustration, even saying “you seem very frustrated, is there anything I can do?” can help,
• Offering to answer questions where appropriate or have the doctor come and answer their questions,
• Encourage the relatives to be actively involved in a constructive way by teaching them how to provide their loved one with basic care or comfort measures.

Remember you are just one person so can’t be physically every where at once. Encourage the patients relatives to get actively involved as you feel they are able (start small) and it’s appropriate for them to do so.

Patients & Relatives: It’s a Package Deal… is a post from: RichNursePoorNurse.com

In 1991 I was flatting with the actor Steve Bastoni and he was good friends with Russell Crowe. I had come to live with Steve as I had just separated from my first wife and found the room on offer in the newspaper affordable and close to where I worked. Steve took pity on me and he wanted to help reconnect me to the social scene. Going out on the town with actors (I am a nurse) was an amazing experience.

On the occasions that I went out on the town in Sydney with Russell Crowe and Steve Bastoni were certainly memorable and there is no doubt that the more popular celebs don’t have to cue to get into night clubs.

I can see why Russell Crowe has over the years obtained the bad boy label but having the opportunity to get to know him a bit I feel that when you get to know him he is not a bad bloke, it’s just that he has a shorter then average fuse and likes his privacy. This is what makes him who he is so I believe we should embrace Russell for who he is and not ever look to expect him to change into someone more user friendly for the media.

Actors are artists and like many artists have their eccentricities that make them who they are so to try and change him you risk changing the creative genius that has over the years brought us so many outstanding performances in his many movie roles.

I remember how the movie “Romper Stomper” was in the pipeline back then and how much preparation and research Russell Crowe put into his role which is now recognized as being the one where Hollywood discovered him. From what I have seen great actors are made and not born and there seems to be a lot of hard work and persistence required and some luck landing the smaller roles that lead onto the bigger ones.

Russell Crowe you have come a long way since I knew you in 18 years ago in 1991 and I salute and congratulate you on your career success, marriage and two kids. Russell’s success didn’t just happen overnight he went out and worked hard and never gave up on his dream until it became his reality. Steve Bastoni was a great flat mate and I could tell you some funny stories about Steve but I’ll save that for another time.

My Fifteen Minutes Of Fame Was With Russell Crowe is a post from: RichNursePoorNurse.com

I used to change nursing jobs every two years as I used to get bored with each job I had. I was lucky to find a position that I was happy to stay with. While I was fortunate to end up in a position that suits both me and my family life if I had put a little more thought and effort into my nursing career it could have been a shorter journey to end up working in a area that I enjoy.

If you are new to nursing you may want to consider the following tips to help save you working in areas that you don’t enjoy and to help you select a nursing specialty area and then fast track your nursing career path in your chosen area of expertise…

1/ Consider what areas of nursing you enjoy working in (e.g. paediatrics, surgical, maternity). Do you have a ward or department that you seem to have a natural flair for?

2/ Consider specialising in that particular area by talking to the CNS’s, CNC’s and NUM in that field to get tips on a career path you might follow. Have a prepared list of questions and ask them what they like about that speciality. I heard a tip once that said if you don’t aspire to one day take on your bosses’ job, you’re in the wrong job.

3/ Apply for a position in your chosen specialty (if not already working in that area). Find out from the NUM what you can do to enhance your chances of being a successful applicant.

4/ Check what courses are available at University and TAFE. Courses may help boost your chances of attaining CNS status or for getting a go as the acting NUM when the boss goes on holidays. Filling in for someone and walking in their shoes for a while can help you decide if you really do want to take on their role one day.

5/ Set a goal of working in a certain specialty to be achieved by a certain date. You should be working towards achieving goals in your nursing career. E.g. I will be a CNS in Paediatrics by Dec 2009.

6/ Take an active role in the ward. Volunteer to run a quality assurance project for the department. Be interested and enthusiastic about your work and be a role model for your peers.

7/ Become a resource person for your department. Conduct research at home on the internet to see what research, break throughs, technology is being introduced into your specialty area. You don’t have to be the ward geek or walking encyclopaedia but being armed with interesting facts and trivia will show that you are more than interested in your specialty.

8/ Attend conferences and seminars that relate to your area of expertise. Even if you have to pay your own way (you can get a tax break on your out of pocket expenses). Attending these will keep you up to date with the latest and greatest in your area and you will be one of the first to know of the new and exciting directions your chosen specialty is heading in. this will also help to feed your enthusiasm for your area of expertise.

9/ Do one Personal Development course each year so that you are achieving your life AND career goals and such are maintaining a healthy balance.

10/ If it’s not working out for you don’t stress as you can always change specialties. I have found that is one of the biggest benefits of nursing, you can have many jobs in the one nursing career.

Are you just treading water in a nursing job or are you on track in your nursing career? Its worth spending time to sort out the difference. The saying I like is that you in your lifetime you may only get 70 or 80 summers so make them all count. Its the same when it comes to your nursing career,  don’t waste years in a nursing “job” when you should be moving towards your nursing career end goal.

Nursing Career: Don’t Just Drift Along, Choose a Nursing Specialty is a post from: RichNursePoorNurse.com

I am a proud Dad of 2 boys aged 13 and 9. I am not here to bore you with all that I find great about being a parent (DAD) but just to say that I love being a Dad. I treat it as a privilege and in my opinion it’s the biggest responsibility I have ever been given. I would rather be remembered as a great Dad then a great career nurse.

Hey you don’t have to take my word for it… I am reading a book called “The Biology of Belief” by Bruce Lipton PhD and it says…”Frontier science is confirming what mothers and enlightened fathers have known forever, that parents do matter, despite best-selling books that try and convince them otherwise. To quote Dr Thomas Verny, a pioneer in the field of prenatal and perinatal psychiatry:”Findings in the peer-reviewed literature over the course of decades establish, beyond any doubt, that parents have an overwhelming influence on the mental and physical attributes of the children they raise.” (Verny and Kelly 1981)”

While a career nurse we may not all be parents but we can still however try to make the kids in our care feel like they are special and that they are important. Never under-estimate the positive influence you can make in a child’s day, even just a simple smile and a friendly hello.

While my late Dad and I have fairly different ideals on parenting, the principles underpinning them are basically the same, let your kids know and feel that they are loved. My Dad was very much old school where kids were seen and not heard and hugs were few and far between. Probably not surprising as his father was a headmaster of a boys school.

I will never forget the day I was feeling at my absolute lowest when I got my Higher School Certificate results and opened the envelope (no internet back then) to discover that I had failed. My Dad came home after work and instead of being angry or disappointed he just let me know that he loved me and that I would get through it. I got to know and appreciate my Dad on a whole new level that day and hey, I did get through it.

Have there been times in your life when your Dad has come through for you when you really needed it? How has your Dad shaped you? Do you currently have a conflict between being a career nurse vs being a parent to your kid/s?

Career Nurse vs Being a Parent: Which Is The More Important Job? is a post from: RichNursePoorNurse.com