Tourniquets conceal superbugs……

This is the title of an article from the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA)  posted by my twitter colleague @chemosabe from Australia. Design/Setting: A prospective study in a tertiary hospital to collect and analyse reusable venesection tourniquets for the presence of MROs —methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and extended-spectrum β-lactamase and metallo-β- lactamase-producing…

Two-wah……

Time flies when you’re having fun!!! This week, the Infusion Nurse Blog is celebrating its two year blog anniversary!!! *throws confetti* As I said before and again this year, sometimes I still feel like I don’t have anything interesting to blog about. But I am very encouraged, grateful and honored because you have continued to…

Bridges to Global Alliance: 2011 INS Annual Convention – Louisville

Hi y’all!! A two hour drive south on I 65 takes me to downtown Louisville, KY for the 2011 INS (Infusion Nurses Society) Annual Convention and Industrial Exhibition. I am so excited to be here and always looking forward to meeting up with old and new colleagues.The weekend session just concluded and it is going…

May 6-12 National Nurses Week…

There are nearly 3.1 million registered nurses in the United States; 2.4 million of them are employed according to the ANA and every year, we celebrate and honor these nurses. The celebration begins on May 6, which is National Nurses Day and ends on May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birth anniversary. Some interesting statistics about our…

“Single Use” Only = Safe Injection Practices

Last February 2010, I wrote a blog when I observed some nurses re-using syringes. I couldn’t believe that a nurse would actually re-use a syringe but it happened and I was there to see it.  Here’s my blog post in case you missed it…“Single Use Only” I wanted to believe that it was an isolated…

No joke…2011 CDC Guidelines is now available…

The long awaited update to the 2002 CDC Guidelines for the Prevention of Intravascular Catheter -Related Infections was released today April 1 by the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC). The 2011 guidelines  outline steps to eliminate bloodstream infections in patients with intravenous catheters, which…

March 19 National Certified Nurses Day

Are you a certified nurse? It’s a day to recognize you and other board certified nurses in many nursing specialties.  Congratulations! Certification is a profession’s official recognition of achievement, expertise, and clinical judgment. It is a mark of excellence that requires continued learning and skill development to maintain.  I have been a “CRNI” – certified registered…

Hello to Florence….

that is, Florence Nightingale. During a recent business trip to England, I decided to stop by London for a quick visit with friends. Certainly a lovely city to visit with all the wonderful historical attractions. Like many tourists, I boarded the tour bus with a tour guide providing live commentary. As we approached the area …

Survey Results: Standards of Practice

Here are the results of the survey from a  previous post “Take our survey: Standards of Practice”. Q1  Are you aware that there is a Standard of Practice for Infusion Nursing?   n=75 Yes:  82.5%                      No:  17.65% Q2  If you are an RN, LPN or APN performing, administering, delivering IV/infusion therapy, do you think the…

Where’s the IV site???

It’s an interesting question and more interesting is how different nurses describe their documentation of an IV start. A few nursing colleagues on IVchat said: (thanks, twitter buddies) “created stamp for chart that identifies size, site, no. of attempts, time date and operator” (site meant 2 refer 2 the actual vein & location, if u…