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Jan 14, 2025 | 
nurse.com | Alice Benjamin
Imagine you’re midway through a busy shift and a family comes in with their teenager. The teen identifies as transgender, and their parents are desperate for answers. They’re asking for help — guidance, support, maybe a referral to a specialist. You want to help, but the law in your state prohibits or limits gender-affirming care for minors. How do you help this patient without jeopardizing your license and facing other legal consequences?
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
nurse.com | Nancy J. Brent |Alice Benjamin
The RaDonda Vaught case, in which a nurse mistakenly administered the wrong medication, resulting in a patient’s death, drew significant attention from nurses and other healthcare practitioners. The primary reason was Vaught’s trial and conviction for negligent homicide, which raised serious questions among nursing professionals. However, the case also brought attention to the importance of consistently following medication safety protocols without exception.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
nurse.com | Alice Benjamin |Nancy J. Brent
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I truly recognized the depth of a critical issue: Nurses were not visible in media reporting on the outbreak, at least not in the way I had hoped. Instead of being highlighted as the experts that nurses are — leading discussions, guiding public health measures, and sharing critical insights — we were often portrayed as victims of a broken healthcare system.
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Dec 1, 2024 | 
nurse.com | Donna Cardillo |Nancy J. Brent |Alice Benjamin
Hi Donna,Can you tell me the correct way to list nursing credentials after my name? Does my RN come first or my BSN? I've seen it both ways, so I'm just wondering what is correct. Sincerely,Wondering About Credentials Dear Wondering About Credentials,Either way is correct when writing out your name and credentials — Jane Doe, RN, BSN, or Jane Doe, BSN, RN. In the world of academia, the college degree is used first and then licensure and other credentials.
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Nov 22, 2024 | 
nurse.com | Alice Benjamin |Nancy J. Brent
Picture this: It’s a busy shift at your hospital, and you’re running between patients, charting assessments, and coordinating care with your team. A new nurse has joined the unit — quiet but eager, asking thoughtful questions about hospital policies and pitching in to help wherever needed. At first glance, she seems like an ideal addition to the team. Now imagine finding out weeks later that this nurse wasn’t a nurse at all.
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
nurse.com | Nancy J. Brent |Alice Benjamin
Healthcare providers have a legal and ethical obligation to obtain a patient’s informed consent before medical treatment or surgical procedure. In the following case, a nurse and surgeon played central roles in obtaining the informed consent of a surgical patient, but whether they acted responsibly is at the heart of a lawsuit. The informed consent discussionA woman's primary physician discovered a "cavitary lesion" in her left lung during an examination.
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Nov 14, 2024 | 
nurse.com | Alice Benjamin |Nancy J. Brent
For me, the old saying, "It's not the destination, it's the journey." couldn't be truer. When I started my nursing journey as a certified nursing assistant (CNA), I didn't foresee that this first step would morph into a lifelong journey filled with purpose. Today, I'm a family nurse practitioner (FNP), but every stage of my career was critical to my personal and professional growth.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
nurse.com | Nancy J. Brent |Alice Benjamin
A nurse submitted a question asking whether an RN can admit a patient whose glucose level had dropped even though the healthcare team, including a physician and an APRN, had decided against admitting the patient to the unit. The submitted question lacks details, but it raises some important points for discussion. It's unclear why the team members wrote orders that prevented the patient's admission. Also, what was the patient’s glucose level? Was it simply below normal or dangerously low?
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Oct 31, 2024 | 
nurse.com | Alice Benjamin |Robert Hess Jr.
My journey into cardiovascular nursing began with a personal tragedy that changed the course of my life. My father passed away from sudden cardiac arrest alone in an emergency room. He had been a frequent visitor to the ER, and on that day, he simply wasn't monitored closely enough — perhaps because he was seen as just another "frequent flyer," expected to receive the usual treatment and be on his way.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
nurse.com | Alice Benjamin |Robert Hess Jr.
Register for Nurse Alice's webinar on acute kidney injury. Limitations of traditional detectionCurrent detection methods that rely solely on creatinine and urine output may not be effective enough. A 2017 study published in Intensive Care Medicine advocated for urine analysis that includes measurements of sodium, urea, protein, and creatinine concentration to provide a more comprehensive assessment of kidney health.
