The Handoff - Issue #8

Hello fellow Nurse, this is your weekly handoff. Some quick and dirty nursing news that’s worth sharing. Enjoy!

Something to talk about next shift 

As a former travel nurse it makes me very uncomfortable to say that I am one of the very few who financially benefitted from the pandemic. I feel guilty that unlike some of my friends who found themselves unemployed, I found myself with plenty of overtime opportunities. Then because I kept going in to work, I never even had to experience true lockdown. However, then I also remember that as a Covid nurse, I saw more death in that two years than a lot of nurses see in their whole careers. I worked my ass off- all while wearing a space suit and a mask that gave me pressure injuries on my nose from wearing it for 13 hours straight. Therefore my issue with this subject, and always has been, is why do they not fight to raise staff nurses wages instead of solely trying to lower travel nurse pay? Because you're dang right if I am going to go through the trenches of a pandemic I am going to take the higher pay offer somewhere else when my home hospital is only offering a measly $2 an hour pay increase for "hazard" nursing. That being said, I should not be making 4 times as much as the nurse next to me when we are wiping the same butt. That wage gap can be closed from both ends though- lowering travel nurse pay without raising staff salaries may just lead to hospitals being even more short staffed than before... Thoughts? 

Something to Listen to 

 Dr Mohammed Sollman, MD, PhD, MBA  discusses how much psychiatry plays a role in all aspects of healthcare on this podcast. He made me realize just how many unknowns there still are with the brain to body relationship- it seems havoc with one usually causes havoc with the other. For example, he discusses stroke patients- "It is not because they have an illness that they are depressed, it is something about strokes that biologically make them more prone to depression." He pulls from cancer research as well. Did you know 60% of those with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed with depression before the cancer is even diagnosed? As a psych doc, he uses that information to really focus on the bigger picture of why something like depression may be occurring.  Diving in deeper, he also discusses off label use for some medications and how they have been proving to treat depression faster and better than many of the SSRIs. This podcast is a two part series and we may have to tune in for the next episode... 

Something Heartwarming 

A veteran. A nurse. A woman who truly loves what she did for a living. Wilma Kellogg celebrated her 102nd birthday surrounded by family, friends, former colleagues and the Nebraska Nurse Honor Guard. "Everyone has been touched by a nurse sometime in their lives." Deb Zobel, and RN and the found of the Honor Guard, said. "I think these people need to be honored. They dedicated their lives to the profession, they serve others and take care of others. They deserve to be honored and we should be doing that." Included in the article is a link to an interview that Wilma did with the Library of Congress where she talks about her time working during the war and what her education was like. My favorite part of the local news clip though is how, amongst everyone gushing about her huge achievements in life, you get a glimpse of her true nurse humor when she says "I'm just happy to be breathing!" and "Someone told me I was a hundred and two and I said are you kidding?". I would love to know her- Happy Birthday Wilma! 

If you liked this newsletter please share with your friends. Which bullet is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Email me and let me know.