Archives: January 2009

How to Host a Blog Carnival part Two, Change of Shift Volume Three No. 14

by Emily
Published on: January 10, 2009
Categories: crzegrl.net
Comments: 21 Comments

As I sat down to lay out this edition of Change of Shift, I realized how many first timers took the plunge and decided to submit blog posts. That in itself is very exciting. A few I corresponded with, giving words of encouragement and even went out and got a video blog post from another blogger who didn’t originally intend on submitting.

All in all I have 23 entries. That is right.

23

Wow.

And I do video.

So as the hours ticked by, and I got a few last minute entries I realized something important.

I have no theme. No kitschy idea for the video. No “International Talk Like a Pirate Day” to celebrate. No video from Barcelona with Zippy. No helicopter to film from.

Just me.

In my house.

It was during a conversation with TJ that I realized my adventure in creating the edition was story enough in itself.

So, without delaying this edition any further (because it wouldn’t be a CoS edition hosted here if it wasn’t late!) . . .

——————And for the unfancified text version of CoS!——————

Out with 2008 In With 2009!

Alvaro Fernandez, one of our most consistent contributors, begins this edition off with “Brain Fitness Update 2008” a recap (pun intended) of the best of the blog Sharp Brains. Over at Digital Doorway, Keith transitions our theme over in “Welcoming 2009 with Compassion” a great look at the new year through the eyes of hope.

What are your New Year’s Resolutions? Over at the Nurse Practitioner’s Place, Nurse Practitioner’s Save Lives gives us her resolutions in numbered order! What a brave soul! Kathy at Nurse Connect is here to help us all make sure we are successful in her post “A New Year’s Resolution.” Also at Nurse Connect, Laura talks about personal professional evaluation and growth in her post “Change May be Closer Than You think.”
Laura—good luck in your new ICU position!

General Health and Wellness

Is losing weight on your list for the new year? The blog Losing Weight Feels Great has just the post for you: “Simplicity for Weight Loss Success.”

My favorite blog graphic (other than StrongOne’s abs) is the header of the blog My Caffeine Addiction. As I drink too much of the stuff, the post “Top 10 Coffee Alternatives Avoid the Negative Effects of Caffeine” by the blogger Coffee Addict, was especially interesting.
As some of you heard my whining concern about my neck and back recently being adjusted, you better believe I read Dean’s post “Neck Pain and the Cold” with great interest from his site The Back Pain Blog.

There were two entries from the site Fast Medical Info for this edition. The first post, “Allergy to Latex” is a great review. From an entirely different wave, they also submitted the post, “Still a Difference in Gender Accomplishment – Surprised? Why?” I would love to see the citations for their statistics as I bet the sources would make this topic even more interesting.

Newbie Submitters!

I was so excited to see this many new blogger submitting posts for this edition!
NitWitMama is plugging away at nursing school and going though what most of us can relate to. Gotta tell ya, her post from the blog also titled Nitwitmama, “Whew Halfway Point” brought back some VIVID memories to this nurse!

Ross is also a long time reader, first time submitter. I am even more excited because he is representing internationally from his blog Nurse in Australia. In his post “Public Perceptions of Nursing” he tackles the basics of how we are viewed after an interaction with a taxi driver.

Another international blog I would highly suggest you bookmark is Nursing Ideas. After some Twitter discussion I convinced Robert to submit to Change of Shift and am grateful he did. Check out his entire site after you check his video “Are you Culturally Competent?

Trauma Junkie, or TJ as Dr. A and I have dubbed him on seperate occasions, gives us a view of a code from a respiratory therapist/CNA in his post “A Tale of Respiratory Arrest at Change of Shift.” I will be watching his blog Surviving RT School with great interest as he is taking the blogosphere by storm [see below].

Although not necessarily a newbie, Karin’s post from her site Nurse’s Life Blog fits well after TJ’s as she to talks about a code in her post “The Absent Nurse.”

***Whew! Over Half Done!***

Advice and Reference

Strong One, over at My Strong Medicine wrote a great post titled, “Be a Preceptee with Patience.” This is a great read for both the new nurse and the experienced one as well.
Are you looking for a great anatomy reference list? Laura at Geriatric Nursing Certification wrote “101 Free, Useful, and Striking Sites to Learn About Human Anatomy.”

How about making a career change in 2009? Amanda at Travel Nursing Blog submitted the “Top 10 Reasons to be a Travel Nurse.” As I stare out the window and see nothing but white, this is more and more tempting!

The Un-Category

As I am not quite sure where else to put this post, it is going to get its own heading. Being a pre-hospital provider at heart, I found “Sliding Scale Ambulance Service–Making a Difference” an amazing read over at the blog Pharmacy Technician Certification.

The Kleenex Post

As with every good edition of Change of Shift, there is one post that gets ya where it counts. PaedsRN nailed the topic of child abuse in his post “Christmas” on his blog Cricoid Pressure.

My Favorite Post

This title goes to Braden and post “The Best Nurse I’ve Ever Had” at his blog 20 out of 10. I am so glad you decided to submit this Braden! So many time we see nurses who become hardened and jaded. Some of the best advice I ever received: “Emily, it costs you nothing to be nice, but it will cost you every thing if you are not.” We as health care providers would do well to live by that.

The Dr. Anonymous Caller Post

Every time I have had the honor of hosting, I have recieved one or two strange submissions. You know, kind of like the strange caller from Dr. A’s last BlogTalkRadio broadcast. This edition it was “Holmes Humidifier Reviews” from the blog Humidifier Review. Ironically, I woke up this morning with a headache . . . because my house was in need of a humidifier.

Closing Notes

Before I close out this edition of CoS, I have one last link I want to share with you. Trauma Junkie, a Respiratory Therapy student, has gone all out in doing the ground work for a new RT blog carnival called A Source Of Inspiration. I wanted to take the time to welcome this new edition to the medical blogosphere!

Sourceinspiration Sm

Good luck TJ!

As always, my thanks to Kim at emergiblog for giving me the opportunity to host this edition of Change of Shift!

Please check out emergiblog for the next host!

How to Host a Blog Carnival, Part One

by Emily
Published on: January 9, 2009
Categories: crzegrl.net
Comments: 7 Comments

I am here to recruit you to become a Change of Shift Blog Carnival Host!

Yeah, ok, I am not all about the hard sell, but in working on this edition I thought I would capture the process I have found for making my carnival hosting duties a bit easier. It is all about organization.

Although this is my devised step by step plan, I would love to hear all you other bloggers who have hosted as well. So, pipe in and let us know your tricks of the trade!

How to host Change of Shift: A Step By Step Guide

The Prep Phase

  1. Volunteer–That’s right, take the plunge! Email Kim at Emergiblog and ask to host! Whew that step was rough!
  2. Watch your email. If you are like me, the date will creep up and all of the sudden you will start getting email with ‘Change of Shift’ in the subject line with submissions in the body!
  3. Set up a folder in your inbox. I label it for CoS and make sure all the emails get priority movement there so I don’t lose them or delete them.
  4. Send an email to each submitter so they know it was received. This is something I started this edition and have gotten to know some new bloggers because of it.
  5. Promote your edition. Mention it on your blog. Talk about deadlines, and of COURSE mention it on Twitter!

Reviewing and Publication Set Up

  1. Open all entries from email list in order received in same web browser window with tabs. I use FireFox and have quite a few tabs open simultaneously. Opening them in order of emails received allows me to cross reference and ensure no entry is missed.
  2. BOOKMARK THEM. In my browser there is an awesome option to bookmark “All Tabs” which allows me to create a new folder and save all the opened entries in the same place. This saved me tons of time when my browser crashed not once, but twice.
  3. Print emails in order. That is right. I print each and every entry so I can read them, makes notes on them, and work on ordering them in a logical fashion for my final post.
  4. Re-verify that no one is missed. I actually go through the paper copies and cross reference between email and the post tabs in my browser. (Can you say anal retentive ICU nurse?)
  5. Read and make notes. I actually write the following at the top of each version of the paper post: Blog (title), Post (title), Author (screen name as posted on blog, NOT email). By having the information in my handwriting it is much easier to reference and I will be less likely to twist something around incorrectly.

Writing the Carnival Entry, Determining a Theme

  1. Review the posts, look at the emails and take a look at what everyone has done in the past, especially when the date falls near a holiday. The exciting part of hosting is coming up with something unique. The scary part of hosting is finding something unique!
  2. _I_ hope a theme just comes to me. Heh.

Tricks, Bits and Bobs for Publishing Links

  1. Open all of the entries in one browser window from your bookmarked folder that you saved earlier.
  2. Arrange the tabs and therefore the pages in the order you are writing about them.
  3. As you write out your post make mental notes of where you want to add the links. Either add in the links as you go, or do them all at once after the document is finished.
  4. SAVE, SAVE, SAVE! I know that goes without saying, but there, I said it anyways.
  5. Don’t forget to link to the next host at the bottom of your post! That information can be found on the Change of Shift archive page.

Finishing Touches

  1. Email Kim the link to the edition. She is great about promoting it!
  2. Promote the edition as well by sending Tweets.

Benefits of Hosting

  • You are exposed to new blogs and new bloggers.
  • It drives traffic to your site introducing you to new readers.
  • It promotes nursing and multi-profession harmony.
  • You get to read some really awesome posts!

I hope that this takes some of the anxiety away for those of you considering volunteering for hosting duties. It has been an awesome part of my blogging and would love to see some of you “newbies” and some of you old crusty bloggers step up!

Oh, last word of advice? Yeah, plan a few more hours then you think you will need to get the edition up. ;)


Advances in Medicine via War: Navy Captain fights to help Traumatic Brain Injury patients

by Emily
Published on: January 9, 2009
Categories: crzegrl.net
Comments: 2 Comments

One of the things that excites me about being part of the military is how war of any kind advances medicine and nursing practice in a way that would be impossible otherwise.

The nursing profession was born from war as was the Red Cross.

Wide spread use of antibiotics, damage control surgery . . . the list is amazingly endless.

As much as this topic deserves an entire series of posts, I bring it up as a way to highlight the incredible work being done by Navy Captain Michael H. Hoffer highlighted as “Someone You Should Know” at BackFive.

Now, back in Iraq, Navy Capt. Michael H. Hoffer feels he has won a significant victory against arguably the military’s most serious and common casualty, traumatic brain injury. Traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, occur when an individual experiences shock waves from a blast, acceleration-deceleration (collision), or an impact or penetration directly to the skull. Doctors divide TBI into severe, moderate or mild.

This also hits close to home as my cousin, a Marine and two tour vet of OIF is benefiting from his research and tenacity.

My thanks to Capt. Hoffer and his colleagues.

h/t BlackFive


Red Bull Gives you Wings! After you chew out the nurse?

by Emily
Published on: January 9, 2009
Categories: crzegrl.net
Comments: No Comments

As I slave away at Change of Shift (which is late……) battling a SEVERE case of ADOBSO I want to give you with a bit of International Red Bull Light nurse humor….with Wings!

Oh, does that sound like a maxi-pad commercial to anyone else? *sigh*


Crzegrl’s Going Road Blogger Tripping!

by Emily
Published on: January 6, 2009
Categories: crzegrl.net
Comments: 21 Comments

I should know better. When bored, I should NOT sit behind my computer and let the hair brained ideas take over. The good part is that you, my blogging buddies and lurking readers may get sucked into this one!

Piqued your interest?


View Larger Map

Say you connected those little blue markers with a string and followed it clockwise in a very snazzy convertible packed full of adrenaline based safety gear (ie: skydiving rig, motorcycle helmet) and an iPod crammed full of road music. Who would you hope to run into?

Currently this is just a crazy idea from a nerdy girl who has been cooped up for way too long but it sounds like a hella fun road trip! (yes, I used the word ‘hella’)

I know a few of you have mentioned lunch via twitter. I promise to be on my best behavior and not bite (Dr. A). But I may talk some of you into stretching those adventure legs and jump out of a perfectly good airplane or at least meet me for a beer!

Soooooo…..if you are anywhere in that general path of crzegrl meham, let me know! I would love to see how many of you I can meet in the living and breathing world in one trip.

Am thinking this is going to need a motto, logo, t-shirts and a pirate flag.

oh yeah….a pirate flag.


For Craig and B.J.—Dah Dah Dah Da Dee Dum Dah De Dum

by Emily
Published on: January 5, 2009
Categories: crzegrl.net
Comments: 4 Comments

It has been awhile since I posted something for you two…..this cracked me up before my coffee.


this crzegrl’s wet dream

by Emily
Published on: January 4, 2009
Categories: crzegrl.net
Comments: 7 Comments


This is quite simply

f’ing

awesome

h/t thebronzeblog


Today’s View—Back in the Saddle

by Emily
Published on: January 2, 2009
Categories: crzegrl.net
Comments: No Comments

Winter flight droughts are enough to make me crazy. Today I finally got my fix.

Dear 2008:

by Emily
Published on: January 2, 2009
Categories: crzegrl.net
Comments: 3 Comments

My nephew Gauge says it all!

And just remember, there is always more than one way to skin a cat . . . or squirrel as it were.

Gauge, the mighty hunter

We grow ‘em tough out here.


Funeral Services Set for MAJ John Pryor, M.D.

by Emily
Published on: January 2, 2009
Categories: crzegrl.net
Comments: 5 Comments

I was humbled a few nights ago to have received an email from Dr. Richard Pryor, brother of MAJ John Pryor, M.D., who died while serving in Iraq on Christmas Day.

Thank you to everyone who left comments, and sent emails. As per Dr. Pryor’s request, here is the link to a web site created to honor his memory and spread the word as to his public wake, visitation and funeral mass.

Although I will not be able to attend in body, I will be in uniform this weekend, thinking of him, his colleagues and family often.

I challenge each of you to honor him by thanking a soldier for their sacrifice. And if the opportunity presents thank their family as well.


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The postings on this site are my own views and do not represent, or are they intended to represent the US Army Reserves, Spectrum Health or Aero Med's views, positions, strategies or opinions. The opinions herein are for informational purposes only. All posts, comments and stories are written with strict adherence to HIPAA and permission, either written or verbal, has been granted for all posts, etc which include my co-workers and friends.

Information is not meant to diagnose or treat any medical condition and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified medical health professional with any questions regarding your medical condition. Don't ignore medical advice because of something you may read here.

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