Medical handouts are given to patients, when they are discharged from the hospital, at the doctor’s office, when a test is scheduled, when a new medication is perscribed, anytime there is a need for teaching. When medical teaching is created and distributed, it is meant to be followed. Is it always followed, is it always understood, is it always read?

Having a nurse write your medical handout cannot gaurantee that it is read, I will give you that. However, as far as understandability and likelihood of being followed, as a freelance nurse health writer, I can help you with that.

The most important thing is being able to speak the audience’s language. Nurses are speaking the patient’s language. As a nurse with many years of experience, I know the patient’s language and I

There is a term that healthcare professionals use that makes so much sense to us but may feel very derogatory to patients. Non-compliance.

I have had a patient complain to me, while I was on Leader Rounds, that they had been called non-compliant. They expressed embarrassment and frustration and told me that it was not true, they were compliant! I spent time letting them know that it was only the way it is stated and is not meant as an insult. But was I fully transparent and truthful?

What is the definition of non-compliance? Well, it means that one does not comply with what is asked, that’s easy.

But what does it mean to the healthcare professional, if we are honest, completely honest, even in our frustration. It might mean the patient is not doing what we asked,

When it comes to healthcare, I’m passionate about culture because the feel of the workplace is critical in allowing individuals to do their best work. When nurses and the entire healthcare team are doing their best work, that is when patients are safest.

Don’t most healthcare systems state their main goal and purpose as some variation on safe patient care? Organizations have committed to a plan to deliver the best care possible, which is presented under many names, such as;

·       continuous process improvements

·       HRO principles

·       using CUSS

Productivity is a measurement, busy is an action. Busy is having things to do, and truly busy is having one or more things that you need to do as soon as you finish what you are working on. To Do lists can certainly look like you are busy and at times they can keep you very busy. However, having a To Do list can also keep one productive.

Productive is the act of using one’s time efficiently and dedicating the appropriate amount of time to each task that needs to be completed. When used in the workplace, productivity can also speak to the number of people who are assigned to complete each task. If several people are completing the same task, none of them executing a unique aspect of the task or adding quality by having the second person involved, that does not lead to

As a nurse, I have education, both formal and earned through time at the bedside, in rounds, in the conference room, and in the office. As a young nurse, I felt like I had to know all things, or at least act like I did. That was not all bad, I had the bravado to speak with confidence in front of the patient, until I could step away to explore if I really knew what I thought I knew. This could have been dangerous if I was confident enough to act before checking. Luckily, I was too cautious to go there. In time I gained enough knowledge and courage to be able to say, I don’t know what that means, I am not sure how to do that, I have not heard of that, can you explain that to me?

So, what does it mean to write with authority as a nurse? Well, taking the experience and growth that

When it comes to health, I’m passionate about family because I have worked in Maternal Child health for so many years. During that time, I have worked to make sure that the baby and mother during labor were safe and healthy. I have worked to keep a mom pregnant, for “a few more days” hoping for a little more maturity of those lungs so baby would be better able to make it without profound BPD and ROP. I have worked to be sure that the neonate, no matter how small, was ventilated as gently as possible, to save all the lung capacity that we could. I have fed that baby, paying attention to the baby’s lead, making sure I did not cause any aversion, always aware that I could be causing lifelong struggles with food if I was not following the baby’s