This year marks my and my Fidelis Christi Mariae 1993 college classmates’ 30th year as Paulinian nurses. Maybe for that reason, I am a little bit introspective and reflective as I think back on our years in the storied halls of St. Paul College of Iloilo. Those four years were never walks in parks. In fact, they were hard, challenging, and at times, maddening. Nevertheless, I appreciated every skill, knowledge, and attitude (values) I learned from the sisters and our…
So many nurses these days are asking about nursing informatics opportunities. These nurses come from different backgrounds and specialties. Some are bedside clinicians who may have had enough of working short-staffed shift after shift. Others are advanced practice nurses who are looking to venture into other fields. What is surprising to me is a handful of travel nurses who have expressed willingness to let go of their high-paying travel assignments in exchange for getting into the narrow door leading to…
Ooops, I almost wrote Upgrace instead of Upgrade in the title. Pardon me. Hard habit to break, I guess, haha! Kidding aside, our team has been busier these few past weeks because of our scheduled electronic health record (EHR) system Summer Upgrade. Clinical informaticists from all of our sites have been working collaboratively with so many stakeholders to bring about this change. Analysts, principal trainers, information technology (IT) folks, hospital and system leaders, and vendor representatives are some of our…
We have established in the previous post that it is indeed hard to be a nurse, yet be so far from our loved ones. This is more so true when those family members are in need of healthcare. Our nursing instincts kick in almost instantaneously and we want updates every step of the way. We feel that despite our absence, we still need to have our say. Thus, we turn to the computer screen to continue our life-saving crusade! The…
My former manager said that a nurse is a nurse regardless of where he or she practices. Of course, this partly refers to our ability to flex and float to another unit. However, if you look at it from an immigrant nurse’s perspective, it could also mean that you are able to practice as a nurse no matter what country you are in. However, the opposite is true. Yes, culture shock does exist in nursing jobs, too. Below are the…
If you have read my previous post, you would be correct in assuming that I just recently came back to work. Yes, back to my nursing work. But, no, not the kind of nursing work you may be thinking about. You see, I am a nurse informaticist. What is that you say? Please allow me to explain. Nursing Informatics: What is That? I asked the same question when I started this job a year ago. Most, if not all, of…