I never did get around to finishing my synopsis of that nursing shortage program from Boston’s NPR. Well, it will have to wait. I’m headed out of town tomorrow morning, and am still not set up on my laptop to blog. One of these days….

I’ll be back around the 7th. Stay tuned!!

I haven’t had a chance to get back to my nursing article, which is in fact, something that is appearing on NPR out of Boston. But I just couldn’t ignore this, and thought I had to share this breath taking moment of spam:

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I mean, that’s what I’ve dreamed of–to get my penis rock hard and 20% thicker. Of course, it would greatly help matters if I actually did have a penis.

All spammers should be forced to spend the day with George Bush, or better yet, be thrown into the arena with Anne Coulter and not be given a rabies shot.

Now some genius has put together a documentary on the “Longest Running Nursing Shortage in History.” Sound provacative? Well, I haven’t listened to the audio, but if the accompanying blurb is any indication of what awaits us, then I surely would not waste my time listening to yet another fairy tale rendition of the late, great nursing shortage.

Here’s a sample, obviously written by someone living in outer space, or who has absolutely no clue about the evolution, trials and tribulations of American healthcare, or of American social history.

80 million baby boomers are slated to retire in the next decade and they will need a lot more medical care. At the same time many experienced nurses will be leaving the profession. The shortage began after managed care ushered in an era of cost cutting in the early 1990s. Nurses were replaced by lesser skilled workers. In Massachusetts 27 percent of hospital nurses were laid off, the largest number in the country.

The profession became unattractive to women who began to have many other career choices. But as nurses left the workforce, studies showed that patient care suffered. One study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that patients whose nurse cares for 8 or more people have a 30 percent greater chance of dying than if their nurse cares for four patients.

Now this tidbit of stupidity makes it sound like prior to the 1990s, there were no problems in nursing, and women did not have any other career choice. From what this dork has written, it sounds like all was fine and peachy, and nurses were wonderful and devoted little drones, happy to be angels of mercy and sacrifice themselves until the big bad corporations ruined everything. Cost cutting triggered the nursing shortage, and as nurses were laid off, doors in other professions miraculously opened.

I can’t even comment. At least not now. I’ve got to have some breakfast first. So in the meantime, if you want to have a good laugh, or cry from sheer stupidity, tune in to the audio.

Just when we thought we were safe from bird flu….it’s back! The airwaves are full of those cryptic reports of how 1 person (out of 200 million) has been infected. Never mind that this person also sleeps at night with chickens…

Anyway, just in case you’re revisiting the idea of hording that semi-worthless drug known as Tamifu, this may help put things in perspective.

This is from Foreign Policy, and the article is the Top Ten Stories You Missed in 2006 You know, if you were blinded by the headlines about Tom Cruise, and the latest traffic accident, or that all important news of how George W Bush was saving pre-embryos in petri dishes–what a giant step for the human race.

In 2006, bird flu didn’t become the killer pandemic everyone feared. In fact, there were no confirmed deaths in developed countries from bird flu. But the alarm, stoked by Western media reports, led to an unexpected—and unfortunate—outcome: A rash of abnormal behavior, hallucinations, and even deaths attributed to Tamiflu, the medicine marketed as a key drug capable of fighting the disease.

In November, the Canadian health ministry issued a warning on Tamiflu after 10 Canadians taking the drug had died suspiciously. And the U.S. Food and Drug Administration received more than 100 reports of injury and delirium among Tamiflu takers for a 10-month period in 2005 and 2006. That’s nearly as many cases as were logged over the drug’s five-year trial period. For now, the cure seems worse than the disease.

In case anyone remembers or even paid attention, Tamiflu has been found to be only minimally effective against the regular flu. Meaning, Tamiflu is barely effective against the regular influenza which zips through annually. It doesn’t prevent it, and only minimally reduces the severity.

And so it seems, that you may be better off taking your chances with bird flu, then going anywhere near Tamiflu.

We knew that it was coming, and now it’s here. Almost, anyway.

Welcome the nursebot, an ingenious nurse-robot that is currently being brought to life by mad scientists in the EU. This is the answer to the nursing shortage. No need for humans to deliver health care, if a robot can do it. Sure, they need maintenance and power to run, but it’s certainly a lot cheaper than paying a salary, health insurance, pension, vacation time–and the best thing is that robots don’t need to sleep or put their feet up. Or take a bathroom break.

From This is London

Robot nurses could be bustling around hospital wards in as little as three years.

The mechanised “angels” being developed by EU-funded scientists, will perform basic tasks such as mopping up spillages, taking messages, and guiding visitors to hospital beds.

They could also distribute medicines and even monitor the temperature of patients remotely with laser thermometers.

Working in teams, the intelligent robots will be able to communicate with each other and co-ordinate their duties.

Scientists from the universities of Warwick, Cardiff, Dublin and Newcastle are among the engineers and software experts taking part in the “IWARD” project. They aim to have a three-robot prototype system ready by 2010.

It is hoped the machines will ease pressure on hospitals and free staff to spend more time with patients.

By helping to keep wards cleaner, they could also cut infections by hospital superbugs such as MRSA.

I don’t think that this is a nurse that they are talking about, but a glorified maid. Do nurses routinely mop the floors in the UK? Do they take messages and guide visitors to the bedside? That sounds more like the job for a candy striper or a volunteer.

No wonder the nursing shortage is so severe in the UK. They get to do even more scut work then nurses on this side of the pond.

So it seems that these nursebots really aren’t nurses at all, but merely cleaning machines. Talking message machines. And little helpers who can help old ladies through the hallway.

I love how they equate the job of nurse and housekeeper together. Like cleaning the wards and taking temperatures go hand in hand.

I don’t think that these machines are necessarily a bad idea, but please don’t call them electronic nurses. They appear to be a combo maid, clerk and maybe an aide. Please don’t include mopping the floor with a nurse’s job. Maybe nurses did that in 1908, but not now. And any nurse who is routinely cleaning up spills should get an MRI of her brain.

This was a comment that I received from Dr. Robert. I would be tempted to call it spam, except his web address is legitimate, and he’s a real live scientist. One with an interest in viagra, no less. So I’m not sure if he sent this to me because he reads my blog, or if it was just part of a mass mailing, ie, spam of sorts. Anyway, it is kinda cute.

I figured www.nabeepchen.com could use a little humor.

Thanks

Talk about people with mental illness and the brave new world of childbirth. This has to be one of the more disturbing things I have read in a while. Basically, a dead man can have his sperm milked out of him, whether he wants to or not. Whether or not he wants to father a child.

At least in Israel.

This is from the BBC section called “Have Your Say” where people write in responses to a topic. This is the topic that I find so utterly repulsive:

Is it right for a dead man’s sperm to be used to father a child?

A child after death?

Can it be right for sperm to be taken from a dead man to impregnate a woman he has never met?

An Israeli court has decided that the parents of Keivan Cohen, a soldier killed in 2002, are allowed to use sperm stored hours after his death to inseminate a woman.

If a baby is conceived and born, it will be registered as the child of the deceased.

What do you think of the court’s decision? Is it fair on the child? Will it give hope to those who want to continue a bloodline after death? Send us your views.

Yes, please send them your views. The people have posted thus far have overwhelmingly found this offensive. The parents want to continue their “bloodline” so they are taking their dead son’s sperm to father a child. I know a lot of men donate sperm, but they do so of their own free will.

What next? Are we going to keep brain dead women alive to grow fetuses at someone’s whim?

I suppose the parents think that they are going to raise their son’s child and they will all live happily ever after. Of course, the woman selected to be the sacred mother may decide that she doesn’t want these people in her life afterall. She may marry, and have her new husband adopt the child, thus changing the name. The child may be born with a birth defect, be severely mentally retarded, and thus end the bloodline. Oh, I suppose that in that case, the handicapped child could be forced to donate sperm/be used as an incubator, to continue that damn bloodline.

This has all kinds of implications, none pleasant. I’m sure that these parents are upset over the lloss of their son, but how about taking in a foster child? Adopting a child? Volunteering at an orphanage? Doing something meaningful with their time? Start a scholarship fund in their son’s name?

I guess the dead aren’t safe in Israel anymore.

Bush doesn’t even attempt to hide his real agenda anymore. A bill that would force drug companies to negotiate lower prices for Medicare, ie, bring down health spending and make drugs more affordable does not jive with Dubya. And why not? Well, who cares if healthcare spending is over the top? Who cares about old geezers getting their drugs? This bill will harm big Pharma’s profits, and Dubya couldn’t stand to allow that to happen.

From ABC News

Despite President Bush’s veto threat, the House approved legislation Friday that would require the government to negotiate with drug companies over the price of medicines for Medicare participants.

Democrats used their new majority status to push through the latest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s priorities for the first 100 hours of the new Congress. The vote was 255-170, mostly along party lines, well short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.

Dubya says that competition is already “bringing down prices” and encouraging the development of new drugs. What a moron. Let’s hear all about the prices going down. Come on Dubya, let’s see some examples. Let’s hear all about how healthcare spending is decreasing.

Is this man one of the most despicable forms of human life ever to walk the earth?

The president and his Republican allies have argued that this bill would do nothing. Then why, I must ask, would he bother to veto it?” said Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Yes, if the bill is so benign and won’t have any effect on anyone or anything then why make such a big deal over it? Why bother to veto it? We’re waiting for an answer, George.

How many days until 2008? I do believe that George W Bush will go down in history as not only the absolute worst president in the history of our country, but as one who caused some of the worst destruction to our planet and the creatures living upon it. How many people have died or been injured from his policies, which include not only Iraq but also withholding money from the UN Population Fund, his sickening stipulations for the AIDS funding, and trying to bully nations into going along with his thinking. How much destruction has he caused to our planet with his greed and denial of global warming?

And now he wants to attack old people. Deny them lower prices for drugs. What a guy. You just gotta love Dubya.

Now here is a story that can make you sick to your stomach. I think this so-called doctor should be arrested and subjected to his own experiment.

From the Seattle PI

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will send an inspector to a hospital where a neurosurgeon demonstrating a medical device to salespeople deliberately induced a brain aneurysm in a dog, which was later destroyed.

The Cleveland Clinic, known for its heart center and for treating high-profile patients such as royalty, said that it had not authorized the procedure. The hospital reported itself to the USDA, which regulates animal testing.

A neurosurgeon caused the brain aneurysm in the anesthetized animal Wednesday at the clinic’s Lerner Research Institute in Cleveland to demonstrate a medical device to a group of 20 to 25 salespeople. The large, mixed-breed dog was destroyed afterward because of the damage caused by the aneurysm, the clinic said.

Yes, you read it right. This arrogant asshold of a doctor, who is supposed to have some regard for life, tortured and killed a dog to demonstrate a device to salespeople. Salespeople. Let’s repeat that a few times. He killed a dog for a demo to non-medical geeks whose only interest is in selling the product.

Could he have used a dummy? Of course. But did he? No.

The Cleveland Clinic will not release his name or say if he has been suspended. I think he should be fired, be stripped of his medical license, and then used for the next demo. He thinks that salespeople need to see a living specimen. Well, we got a volunteer, and let’s induce an aneurysm on him while he is wide awake.

I wonder what the salespeople thought. I would have stopped the procedure and called the police, the Humane Society, the press, PETA, anyone. And then plastered his name all over the news. Is this the kind of neurosurgeon you want digging into your brain?

Or should I say no power. My power just came back on. It took them about 7 hours to repair it. This seems like it is becoming a way of life in Seattle. And despite the fact that it is cold, and there was light snow last night, this was not weather related. The system is in dire need of an update, and they refuse to do it. Instead, Seattle Power & Light is out here every few weeks, trying to get the power back on.

Anyway, I’ve got to catch up. I missed a few days of blogging as I was away. And today I had all good intentions, but then the computer went dead, the heater shut off….at least it was a nice and sunny day so there was plenty of natural light and the sun warmed the rooms.

Here’s a spam right off the press, in its last seconds of life before I hit the delete key:

I haven’t been up to much today. Such is life. My life’s been basically dull today, but that’s how it is.
I’ve just been letting everything wash over me recently. So it goes. What can I say?
I haven’t been up to much these days. Such is life. I’ve just been letting everything happen without me these days, but I don’t care.

Great, so now we have depressed spammers. Is that supposed to generate sympathy, so I’ll be dumb enough to click on the link?

Maybe I should hook this spammer up with the spammer peddling Prozac. Now that sounds like a match made in heaven.

A lot of nurses (and I don’t say ALL nurses because not every nurse feels this way–RN or LPN after a name does not make one caring and compassionate regardless of the stereotype) are concerned about the 40-60 million people who do not have health insurance in this country. Or

the ones that are underinsured.

As a new year’s resolution, some California politicos would like to change that. Bravo, I say, except they are going about it in a completely anal and stupid manner. Oh, it looks good on paper, but it just can’t work in reality. Why won’t it work? Because the politicos are looking at the usual bandaid approach and not tackling the situation at the heart.

Insurance companies. They slip by these proposals with nary a mention. Not a word about the exorbitant overpricing, not a word about the piddly policies pushed on people, not a word about cutting people off if they ever should get sick.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Second Democrat puts forth health care overhaul plan — focus on kids

Sacramento, CA — A new health care overhaul proposal released Thursday by the leader of the state Assembly would extend insurance to all Californians by mandating that employers pay for coverage and by expanding existing government programs for the poor and disabled.

But Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, said his primary goal is to make sure that all children in the state — including illegal immigrants — are provided insurance coverage.

“First and foremost, what this is about are the kids,” said Núñez at a news conference held in the children’s clinic at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. “You cannot have health care reform unless each and every child in the state of California is covered. So above everything else, children need to get the health care they deserve.”

Sorry, but I’m not that much of a bleeding heart liberal. Illegal immigrants have no business getting one iota of public funding. That’s a great incentive to curtail illegals from crossing the border, isn’t it. Just get the word out that if they can manage to make it to California, they will be eligible for publically funded healthcare.

Yes, Fabian, we can have health reform without paying medical expenses of illegal immigrants. We should be deporting them, not pouring money into making them comfortable here. If they want to emigrate to the US, then let them do so through legal official channels, as other immigrants. And why they arrive here LEGALLY, get legal resident status, then they can be inlcuded in whatever plan is cooked up.

But here’s a few other intelligent tidbits, which are guaranteed not to work.

Both Perata and Núñez want to require employers to pay for worker coverage and are unlikely to settle for any voluntary program.

Both also want workers to share some of the costs with their employers, but neither has said how those costs should be divided. Expectations are that Democrats will want to put the lion’s share of the burden on employers.

Mr. Nunez is willing to “provide a temporary exemption to payment requirements for employers with fewer than two full-time employees.”

Wow, isnt’ that generous of him. But you can see that the man is so out of touch with reality, or maybe deeply enmeshed in the pockets of the insurance companies.

First, most small mom and pop businesses can’t afford to provide insurance to employees. Insuance companies have seen to that, and offer very little in the way of discounts for the small business owners. So in keeping in step with Fabian’s brilliant plan, we will see 1) small businesses laying off employees because they can’t afford to insure them 2) Small businesses going out of business 3) A lot more people getting pushed to part time (sans benefits) or per diem, or contractor status. In other words, they will search for ways to get around this hideous tax on them.

You see, what is missing from all this is any word about insurance reform. There is nothing in Fabian’s brilliant plan about reigning in insurance costs, forcing insurers to come up with affordable packages for small businesses, or forcing them to offer more comprehensive coverage. So you really have to wonder about someone like Fabian, who has so delicately left out any mention of the primary cause of the problem–costs that people can’t afford.

Bottom line–no health reform bill is going to make any difference until someone gets the balls to face off with the insurance companies.

Vince Sollitto, spokesman for the California Chamber of Commerce, said the mandate on employers will be viewed as a tax — and one that many cannot pay.

“The problem with a tax is that it presumes the ability to pay it,” he said. “If employers could pay it, they would already be providing health insurance to their employees. The reason they don’t is that they can’t afford it.”

At least there is one intelligent voice in California. But now, is anyone in the California government, including the governator, going to take on the insurance industry?

On a website the other day, someone was discussing Nobel prize winner Richard Feynman’s speech. I guess he was very inspirational, because he described a lengthy story of all the wrong moves that he made and the walls he bumped up against in his scientific journey which eventually garnered him a coveted award. He said….”the sequence of events, really the sequence of ideas…by which I finally came out the other end with an unsolved problem for which I ultimately received a prize.”

He also is very supportive of what he called the pursuit of “a peculiar and unusual point of view; one that he may have to invent for himself.”

So how about those lessons being applied to healthcare journalism, especially the coverage of the nursing shortage. Don’t run with the pack because that’s what everyone else is doing. Stop writing these same ridiculous tired stories about how the nursing shortage is merely a combination of current nurses turning into old farts and schools not putting out enough fresh new meat.

Offer some interesting insight. You see a story where a nurse is awarded a hefty grant to “study the nursing shortage,” and bells should go off. The nursing shortage has been more closely studied than any other subject in the history of the human race. It has been studied for several decades and the reasons have not changed. Write something intelligent.

The media has in part been fueling this notion of the great nursing shortage and giving the idea that hospitals are really doing “everything” possible to alleviate it. That’s a crock. Visit some nursing bulletin boards, speak to some nurses and promise anonymity, and you’ll get an earful. Look up stats on nurses leaving nursing, or bedside care. Ask them why. Stay away from academians–remember, there’s a reason why they’re sitting safe and snug in their little ivory tower and not out on the front lines getting blood and piss all over their manicures.

Anyway, just some thoughts to start the new year.

Is this the year that the great nursing shortage will come to an end? I mean, look at all the great stuff people are doing to solve it. I’ve been blogging about it all year. They’re giving out loans to triple PhDs who want to study the causes of the nursing shortage as though its a subject never before explored by the hands of an academian; they’re developing fancy new fangled abbreviated nursing programs that will turn out nurses at maximum speed (never mind that the time they spend learning anything is curtailed but we’re looking for bodies not brains); they’re still “looking” at ways to increase the number of nursing instructors (never occured to them to offer more money or incentives); and the busy little beavers are rapidly opening up new programs or expanding exisiting ones. Whew, progress, huh.

Oh, how could I forget scholarships and the nurse reinvestment program. And trying to brainwash 3rd graders into becoming nurses. And developing websites like Discovernursing.com, where you can read quotes from nurses who say, “I get to be me as a nurse. That certainly tells you a lot about the nuts and bolts of nursing, doesn’t it? I mean, I would hate to think that you had to become someone else.

Well, then that solves it. We can look forward to a nurse abundant 2007.