Welcome to this week’s Change of Shift. I’ve been sitting at my computer all day waiting for an inspiring theme to land on my lap, but guess what? It’s just not happening. So sit back and enjoy these finely crafted blog posts in my themeless edition of Change of Shift!

Patient Encounters

I was pretty blown away by Social Call, over at Traumaqueen; however, I’m still waiting for the scratch ‘n’ sniff version to come out. Haven’t had enough of Kal yet? I also recommend that you go over there and read Natural High. No bad smells in that one, I promise.

DisappearingJohn discusses a patient encounter that was both moving and unexpected in The Long Night, Part One and Part Two. What a great writer, and I suspect, a great nurse.

Kim at Emergiblog tells a fascinating story about communicating with a non-verbal patient in Behind Those Hazel Eyes. Kim, my curiosity is peaked – I might be asking you to borrow a certain book!

In Hard Day’s Night (Workin’ Like a Dog) , Faith Walker talks about several patients. Almost all of them faint at some point during her shift, except for the Yorkie. He just went into shock. Trust me. Just go over there and read it. It gives new meaning to “having a hard day.”

Get Your Gripe On

MJ at Nurse Ratched’s Place writes about how hard it is to get Mr. Grinch to cough up for nurse’s week. I once had a colleague that suggested to our DON to take all the money they would spend on nurses week, and install a 24 hour Starbucks kiosk in the lobby. It never happened. It’s too bad – They would have made their money back pretty darn quickly.

Labor Nurse talks about how difficult it can be to get patient care associates to actually well, do something in Problems With the Help.

Two words that probably sound like fingernails on a chalk board to most nurses these days: Medication Reconciliation. ERNursey gives her take on it.

The Heavy Stuff

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Scrubpants discusses a colleague’s unexpected suicide in Alone. I can’t even begin to imagine how staff members would be able to cope after that.

GNIF Brain Blogger asks a very daunting question: is The Medical Profession on a Downward Spiral?

Miss-elaine-ious talks about her first code in
20 something year olds shouldn’t die. As a nurse, you never forget your first code.

MyOwnWoman discusses the mistake of giving a patient false hope in A Lesson Learned the Hard Way. She also reminds me that I could never, ever, ever work Trauma.

Controversies of the Week

Therapydoc poses the question that all of us in the medical blogosphere have struggled with in Anxiety, Ethics, and Blogging.

ER Murse discusses several controversial topics this week including organ donation in
Who are the real Villains in the Nataline Sarkisyan case? and the rectal exam lawsuit, in Managing Assault Behavior in the Trauma Room.

And just in case you haven’t had enough to read yet, SharpBrains presents 21 books to read on brain health in Brain Plasticity, Health and Fitness Books.

Two more additions… Sorry, no cool icons for you late-comers. In fact I oughta write you both up for it! ( ;
Practice ICU Interview Questions from Nurse Sean.
Stella And the Pain Pills from Mamma Mia.

Happy reading everyone! It looks like the next edition will be hosted at NursingVoices (my favorite place to win an iPhone!) So I am going to put my money where my mouth is and add it to my list so I don’t forget to submit.