week5 posting

/in /by

hey guys, so I really sat down and started to think after reading Grinberg’s “Let toys be toys,” article, and realized all of the things being taught to different kids each day. It really is true when she states that the way you are told how and which toys you should use (depending on the parent) really does start a way of thinking. I can remeber a bunch of times i heard my  male cousins dads basically yell at them for picking up a doll at such a young age and not knowing why it was wrong, but just that it was worng for them to have it in their posession. it was also interesting to read that 78, almost 80% of what people consider to be what makes boys boys and girls girls is in the close to zero range. There really is only a difference in mindset (other than biology) which is seperating boys and girls. Anyways, i sat down and started to ponder all this on a personal level, in temrs of what Grinberg means by letting toys be toys and having children decide which toys or attributes they want to aquire. As much as i told myself no, i too find myself fully sucked into the gender roles of society, and being completely honest (nto trying to stir the pot or anything) but i really don’t know how i would react or feel if I evr had a son who picked up a doll and tried playing with it. I want to say that part of me would let him keep playing with it for a bit before my inner instincts kick in and i try to persuade him to use a more “boy- orientated object” , I dont know, but this article really caught my attention to the gender roles that we associate with, well, everything.

Blog 4 how to compliment girls

/in /by

I am going to be an aunt for the first time, so this article stuck out to me. I realized that i will always compliment my friends on clothes and accessories. I do this mainly because i have a slight obsession with clothes. I realize that its very surfaced, and even though i have good intentions I want to try and compliment my friends on deeper traits.  Also, when it comes to children i will compliment their sparkly shoes, or princess dress because i feel like its an easy way to connect with little kids. However now i see that by focusing on appearance as a way to connect can create a larger issue. When my sister has her baby I will now think about what i say to my future niece or nephew. I want to compliment their kindness, intelligence, and other traits that mean so much more than physical appearance. Although i will want them to feel beautiful, i think kids need to understand that the important beauty truly comes within.

Sedation Vacay

/in /by

tim-teuscher-2I had never encountered the term sedation vacation before my time in the SICU last week. My nurse did bring up the term in educating me and said that it is used on critical patients such as the patient with a TBI I had on Thursday who was on long-term heavy sedation with Versed, Fentanyl, and Propofol, while intubated in the ICU to give her various body systems a break from the physiological effects of the sedatives. It also allows the nurse to perform a neurovascular check, as well as reducing the risk of ventilator acquired pneumonia and ICU delirium as well as assessing the patient’s readiness to extubate, which is the ultimate goal. I asked my nurse if, when they were given the sedation vacation, they were disturbed by the ventilator.

 

I imagined that if I were awakened suddenly out of a foggy sedation and found myself on a ventilator, I would be very disturbed. The nurse assured me that the patients were not fully awakened and so that was not a problem.

 

My nurse explained that ideally the sedation vacation is performed by a multidisciplinary team consisting usually of the nursing, respiratory, pharmacy, and the primary intensive care unit team. It is ideally done daily or once a shift. It can only be performed on patients who are hemodynamically stable enough to tolerate the vacation. These patients must also not show agitation, be properly oxygenated, not have very much secretions, and normal respirations under 38 per minute (ICU Sedation Guidelines of Care).

Patients are assessed for spontaneous breathing The Ramsey Scale which identifies six levels of sedation from severe agitation to deep coma is used. The Richmond Agitation and Sedation Scale is also used. It measures from light sedation to unarousable (ICU Sedation Guidelines of Care).

Sedation vacations, or daily sedation cessation trials have been found to reduce overall time on the ventilator, needed fewer diagnostic tests to examine neurologic function, had a better psychological adjustment and fewer instances of PTSD six months after their ICU stay (Dunn & Baker, 2011).

 

 

Dunn, J. & Baker, M.W. (2011). Daily Sedation Breaks and Breathing Trials Help

Wean Patients from Ventilators Safely. American Nurse Today 6(3). Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/741046

 

ICU Sedation Guidelines of Care. (2009). Retrieved from

http://www.carefusion.com/pdf/The_Center/2009-ICU-sedation-toolkit-disclaimer-updated-may-30-2014.pdf

 

10/5/2015

/in /by

Little girls

Wow! was how the articles left me complimenting little I believe on things like the newest clothes and shoes is absurd to me 10 years ago because I didn’t grow up with those things and my sisters did. I always have been on the late train with the newest things and have always complimented my sisters on their clothes  although I never thought of how much it would be of such importance in todays youth. A smile is way more deserving than a compliment over nice Jordans. However I was more moved by the target story.

Target is amazing for breaking the stereotypes on what toys boys and girls shpuld play with. I remember growing up my brother would be called a sissy if he played with my dolls and that’s because Ken Barbie was a boy. I know that earlier generations were highly affected with this issue and at some pint to the extreme where they even questioned their sexuality and all because of a doll, stroller and toys that were gender labeled for little girls. I allow my nephew to play with dolls and strollers because hes only 2 and he should be able to play baby one day little biys will be dads and will be carrying around one I think this topic leads into many and am excited to hear the whole classes input on both I really enjoyed the article and sent it to my sister so she can read it too.

SandCrabs and Micro Plastics/Fibers

/in /by

As of Friday I was able to get 31 sand crabs dissected and 20 of them had ambient fibers in their stomach content or surrounding tissues.  That is approximately 64% of the sandcrabs so far have ambient fibers.  Since the data from the summer research institute shows that a high percentage of the beaches sampled also had fibers and micro plastics, I hypothesize I will continue to find microfibers in the sand crabs.

Over the weekend I was able to travel north to San Louis Obispo county and collect 35 more crabs from 3 different sites as well as sand samples to process.  Hopefully my contacts in Orange county, Santa Cruz and San Francisco will come thru with more sand crabs and sand samples as well.  I am hoping to get a wide geographic range in sampling to see what I find.

Once the collected crabs are dissected I plan to test a hypothesis that the sand crabs will ingest micro plastics by sequestering them into small jars with sea water and exposing them to plastic microbeads I have filtered out of a face soap product that will be on the “to be banned” list if legislation is passed.

Microplastic updates

viewimage.aspx.jpg

GI Tube Patient Education

/in /by

When caring for your G-tube, it’s important to maintain the site by keeping it clean with soap and water and reporting any pain, inflammation, or drainage to your physician. It’s also important to maintain a dry dressing around the area to prevent contaminants from entering the site . Your G-tube should also be flushed before and after medication administration as well as every eight hours. If you’re on fluid restrictions, verify the exact amount and procedure with your physician.

October 5th

/in /by

DeMause Poverty in the News and Frica Global Food Disparity a Photo Diary

The article on poverty was interesting in the sense that we are aware that poverty is an issue worldwide yet we don’t give it as much as attention as other issues. Just knowing about something isn’t really enough to change the outcome of it. The media believes that poverty is not a news worthy topic so it is not continually covered. The food photo diary article was interesting because visual representations at least for me have always gotten the message across much more than charts, graphs, readings and so on. To see how much food a family gets weekly from different locations is a bit of an eye opener. Not only was the amount of food different but the type of food was extremely different. (junk food vs fruits and veggies)

The Best Way to Compliment Little Girls

This article was very interesting to me because it presented an issue and a solution. So many articles and news reports now a days only show the problem and not the solution to an issue. To empower someone with more confidence by complimenting their smile not their shoes means so much to an individual, because that smile will still make someone feel good the next day. Whereas only complimenting outfits that change day by day can have a rather negative affect on how people see themselves.

Social Media Research (Challenge 3.3)

/in /by

This week’s research invited us to search social media for our topics. In order to research social media, I felt it best to turn to Twitter for information. Twitter is used by many people because of its sheer convenience in spreading news, whether it is mundane or something worthwhile. I first looked for accounts that regularly updated about LGBT rights and activism, and I found the account https://twitter.com/gaynewsnet and I was definitely pleased to find that not only did they update their Twitter constantly, but the moderator also made sure to include relevant links. This twitter led to not only popular media celebrities supporting LGBT rights, but they also provided information relevant to the community. For example, they have tweeted about LGBT importance in politics and how the stances of presidential candidates. This Twitter account obviously wishes to keep the public informed, and I feel that this is a fantastic quality to have when being informational.

I wanted to find more information about LGBT representation, and Twitter was once again a good place to search. Without a hashtag, I simply searched “LGBT representation” on Twitter to see what sorts of tweets were making it through the Internet. I found that many people speak out about representation through their Twitter. Perhaps they feel that their voice will be more easily heard through Twitter? Either way, some of these tweets were satirical and criticized the lack of representation through a ruse of humor, and others were openly speaking about the misrepresentation of LGBT people. Whether these tweets were linked to an account that focused on LGBT topics exclusively or were from a personal account, people used Twitter to express their feelings about representation and LGBT rights.

Finally, I wanted to see what sort of information other social media outlets had for my topic. I feel that many young adults are using Instagram nowadays, however I did not find the sort of information I had hoped to find. Instead of finding usable research, I found that Instagram was mostly used to make oneself known in the LGBT community. I searched “#lgbt” into Instagram, and was led to selfies of LGBT youth and their personal accounts. While these posts don’t provide for in-depth research of my topic, it helps to show that the community is out there and existing, and they are using social media as a way to connect with each other. Social media will continue to be important for LGBT people because, if one cannot find a safe place within their home to be themselves, then maybe their safe place can be cultivated through social media.

Patient Teaching Modalities

/in /by

The patient teaching method I found that stood out as most unique to me does not pertain to GI modalities alone, but all aspects of patient care.

www.getwellnetwork.com

This program was developed by a former cancer patient who wanted to make improvements in the overall patient care process. It involves the use of mobile devices, TVs and PCs to deliver many aspects of patient care to all age groups and demographics. It has programs tailored pediatrics, adults, senior adults and even veterans to cater to each demographic’s specific needs. It engages patients and allows them to become more directly involved in their care in all settings (inpatient, ambulatory, etc) through an education library containing thousands of award-winning videos and content on specific health conditions, medications, tests and procedures. Patients are also prompted to relevant education and care tasks to help enhance their care. The program also enables communication with the primary care provider.

I am in no way endorsing this program having not seen it in the hospitals yet, but I think it could be a valuable asset to both patient healing and nursing care and would like to see it first hand in a hospital to see how effective it is. I also like how it was developed by a former patient, who through their own experience has a unique perspective on what might be lacking or need enhancement with regard to patient teaching and discharge planning modalities.

I just thought it sounded pretty interesting. If anyone else would like to check it out, I posted the link to the overall page above and I will post the link to the adult program, since it is relevant to our current course content. Enjoy!

http://www.getwellnetwork.com/solutions/patient-experience/adult

The Poor Will Always Be With Us: Just Not On TV News

/in /by

This week’s articles were interesting, but the one that stood out the most was The Poor Will Always Be With Us: Just Not On The TV News. Visibility was displayed through out this article, but i would say in a negative manner due newscasts covering TV stars rather than poverty and inequality not receiving any coverage nightly. Additionally, there was an instance where poverty did receive  rare coverage, but it was to display individual’s hardships of hurricane Katrina’s aftermath. Growing up, i was always interested in what the news had to say, but then i later realized, it’s a bunch of garbage. It’s visible in what the news stations intentions are as far as “news” is concerned. They tend to cover negative images of war, crime, and celebrities, instead of covering current poverty issues and what individuals can do to help, or even success stories that include heroic acts.