I’m hoping to stay away from political ranting, and indeed, anything to do with the upcoming election other than any tidbits that concern healthcare or nursing. But John McCain’s recent announcement of his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, is reminiscent of my previous post about nurses being generic.

As far as the spinning heads blatherings go, McCain picked Palin in a desperate attempt to woo Hillary Clinton supporters who are dismayed that 1) Obama beat her for the presidential candidacy and 2) He didn’t pick her as his running mate. So to soothe their ruffled feathers, he’s giving them a chance to get a woman into that second slot by picking a former beauty queen from the wilds of Wasilia, Alaska, as his running mate.

According to this logic, these disgruntled women will do anything to see a woman as VP, or maybe even “P” if he kicks the bucket before his four years are out, and will gleefully abandon both their convictions and brains to vote for the McCain/Palin ticket. You see, McCain thinks that the only reason women wanted to see Hillary win was because she was female, and that’s it. So in his thinking, any woman will do because women are generic. I mean, surely all of these women who admired Hillary Clinton and wanted to see her as president will now just run and cast their votes for McCain.

Basically, the only thing that Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin have in common is a vagina. Yes, that v word. And McCain apparently thinks that vaginas are interchangeable and women (or anyone else who happened to want Clinton) can’t differentiate one from another.

What an insult. What a jerk. Can the man be this stupid? And if that was the case, then why pick a woman like Sarah Palin? She is on the far extreme right, has minuscule experience in politics, none in law, none in foreign affairs, has never even been out of the United States, was confused as to the exact duties of the VP, and has spent the bulk of her life in tiny Wasilia, AK, serving in the local politics of a town of about 7500 people in the remotest part of the United States. Plus she is also being investigated by the State of Alaska for abuse of power…

If McCain wanted to woo Hillary supporters with the promise of a woman in second place, then why didn’t he select one of the many highly experienced, politically savvy, and more moderate Republican women? Like Christie Whitman or Olympia Snow?

I don’t know if McCain realizes it or not, but women who supported Clinton are not likely to be impressed with a female candidate who wants to teach creationism in schools, or who thinks that people have nothing to do with global warming, or who believes that abortion should be illegal even in the case of an 11 year old being raped by her grandfather. None of them want a female VP that badly.

And what McCain also doesn’t seem to realize is that even if they did like Palin, getting her into office would mean voting for him, and Clinton supporters are generally not interested in having a Bush clone for another four years. They want a Democrat, someone who is going to initiate change, not “McSame.”

While I haven’t done a survey, or spent too much time on this, I did read through some of the forums and comments about McCain’s pick for VP. And interestingly enough, and again, this is purely anecdotal, but I didn’t see one comment stating that they were now going to vote for McCain because of Sarah Palin. That his choice of VP convinced them to vote for McCain. However, I saw quite a number of people who said that they had either been undecided or had were going to vote for McCain, but were now voting for Obama because of his VP choice. Their reasons were generally 1) that is was scary to have someone so inexperienced sitting one heartbeat away from the presidency 2) they were insulted by the selection 3) Palin was too far to the right for their taste 4) their faith in McCain disappeared–ie, he picked someone he had only met once for 15 minutes.

So at least in the forums, McCain’s ploy–if that what it was–is backfiring. Otherwise, the only other alternative is that the man is really getting senile, or maybe he just wants a young chickie to prove his manhood.

No, I don’t mean blocking nurses. I’m talking about nurses as a voting block. And no again, I don’t think nurses vote as a block. Not even remotely.

It is silly to think that certain groups of people are similar, simply because they work in the same profession.  In my experience as a nurse, for example, I worked with nurses who were male, female, gay, straight, fat, skinny, short, tall, and who came from all walks of life.  Some were born in other countries, some born in poverty, some well to do, and their life experiences before, during and after becoming a nurse varied dramatically.

In this same vein of thought, some nurses I met were racist, bigots, narrow minded, ignorant, just plain stupid, mean, malicious, psychotic, and substance abusers. Others were kind, thoughtful, honest, hard working, open minded, brilliant, sweet, loving, and mentally healthy.

On the political front, and politics were rarely a topic of conversation for obvious reasons in the workplace (just like religion–best to leave it alone), I do know that nurses selected their candidates much the same way other Americans do. There was no “standard” nurse vote. No nurse voting block.

The reason I bring this up is because healthcare is such a big issue on the ballot. It is an issue for everyone really, because at some point, everyone is going to use the healthcare system in one form or another. But just because one is a nurse doesn’t mean that healthcare is the most important or pressing issue on the agenda, or the issue that raises the most concern. Just being a nurse doesn’t mean that the vote will go to the candidate with the best healthcare agenda. Other factors may be more important, such as the candidate’s position on what to do with the Iraq mess, environmental concerns, schools, and so on. A nurse who has a relative dying from ALS might be very keen on what the candidate’s think of stem cell research and who is going to support it, for example.

Anyway, I started thinking about this–how certain groups of people are often placed into arbitrary clusters as if they were generic and of one mind. What brought it on was the memory of what some guy once said to me in LA, when I was sitting outside reading. He lived in my apt building, and I had never spoken to him before. He struck up a conversation, and when I remarked that I worked as a nurse, he nodded his head.

“I like nurses,” he said. “They’re good people.”

The generic nurse. Even the nurse who kills patients or who falsifies patient charts is “good people.” If I said I was a mortician, do you think he would have made such a stupid comment? Or if I said I was a dentist? Does anyone ever say, “I like dentists. They’re good people.”

How do our 2 presidential candidates feel about nursing issues? The ANA decided to find out, and sent each candidate a questionnaire–about nursing and related healthcare issues.  Only Barack Obama responded, and you can read his responses here–this is a transcript containing Senator Barack Obama’s remarks to the American Nurses Association’s 2008 House of Delegates on June 27, 2008.

Unfortunately, I can’t offer a link to John McCain’s remarks/responses because he hasn’t yet responded.  Maybe he will eventually, but healthcare is an important issue and nursing is part of that. Surely the man can’t be blind to all the media hoopla about the nursing shortage. If he wants to get brownie points, it would be worth his while to have one of his speech writers draft some nice prose and fill in the blanks, and at least show nurses that he’s interested.

Surely there had to be a nurse assigned to this patient at some point? An RN, LPN, or an aide? Surely this is not just a warehouse to toss living bodies into and watch them die…

From CNN:

A mental patient died after workers at a North Carolina hospital left him in a chair for 22 hours without feeding him or helping him use the bathroom, said federal officials who have threatened to cut off the facility’s funding.

The state sent a team Tuesday to help Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro draft new procedures to ensure patients receive proper care.

An investigator’s report released Monday found that 50-year-old Steven Sabock died in April after he choked on medication and was left sitting in a chair for close to a day at the facility about 50 miles southeast of Raleigh. Surveillance video showed hospital staff watching television and playing cards a few feet away.

The scene of the crime is Cherry Hospital, which is supposedly a JACHO accredited institution. Accreditation is supposed to mean that they meet a certain standard of care.

How can this happen, you may be wondering. Me too. I’ve worked in some pretty bad hospitals, but I couldn’t imagine anyone sitting a patient in a chair and then leaving him there for 22 hours.  Four shifts came and went, and still this man sat in his chair without food or being able to use the bathroom. I mean, what did nurses say at report?  Mr. Sabock is sitting in his chair and has been for the past 10 hours, and oh, I don’t think he’s hungry. Or has to go pee-pee.

And didn’t anyone stay with him when they gave him his medication, especially considering that he was a mental patient? You know, to make sure he took it? Or if they left it, to check back that he did take it instead of leaving him to choke on it?

Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Tom Lawrence said the state team also may investigate what, if any, disciplinary action should be taken after Sabock’s death.

Surely they jest? Are they questioning if any disciplinary action should be taking, or is this just a poor joke? Anyone related to this patient’s care should be fired, and have their license (if they have one) permanently terminated. And criminal negligence charges should be brought among the most guilty, like the nurse who dispensed the medication, or the workers who sat watching TV and playing cards while this poor man sat in a chair without food, and probably peeing and pooping in his pants.

The message has to be sent that no, this is not okay. And the hospital should get a stiff fine, and be investigated as to how it trains its workers. Surely there must have been a nursing supervisor walking around. Did she not say anything to the workers watching TV, like, “have you checked on all of your patients?”

Were there any nurses’ notes on this patient? Did anyone chart on him?

Did he call for help, I wonder?

Sorry, but I don’t think the hospital can blame this one on the nursing shortage.

Still not the most attractive blog in town, but at least I’m back up and running. With all my full content intact and in pristine condition.

The good thing is…drum roll…is that with the new version of Word Press, I have succeeded in almost entirely eliminating spam. Yes, it is true, the spam is almost completely wiped out. Whereas I previously would have had several hundred of those obnoxious and unwanted spammies clogging up my comment box after 2 days, now there was only one.  A lonely little spam that made it through the deadbolt lockand showed its ugly little face. But never fear, it was quickly sent to spam heaven.

So no more complaining about spam. And even if I have to put up with the blue background and no frills look for a little while longer, it is well worth it for the update and clean up.

Still a lot of dust to clear away. As you can see, there has been a BIG delay in posting. Part of that was due to my travel schedule, but the more pressing issue was that my site was hacked and those annoying little kiddies who have nothing better to do messed up my passwords and did all other kinds of mischief. Fortunately, no permanent damage.

I’ve also been working slowly but surely on updating Wordpress and doing some behind the scenes and visible upgrades.

Anyway, this is just a note to say that the blog is alive and well, albeit still in the middle of transformation, which is taking longer than planned. Stay tuned.

Oh, as for the blue background…well, that is going to have to do for now.