NEWS-Line for Nurses – Vol. 13, No. 1F

Joanna J. Burgess, BSN, RN, CWOCN, is a RN specializing in wound, ostomy and continence nursing at an acute care center. She also has a specialty in the treatment of lymphedema, and has educated nurses on a state and national level utilizing the technique of Combined Decongestive Therapy. Joanna graduated with a BSN from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1985, and holds certifications as a massage therapist (1993), a lymphedema therapist through the North American Dr. Vodder School of Lymphatic Therapy (1995), and a WOCN through the Emory School of Nursing (2007). After surviving a rare cancer as a child, Joanna knew she wanted a career helping others in a “nurturing and caring way.” Joanna was named the 2011 Great Comebacks® South Region Award Recipient by Great Comebacks®, a program designed to raise awareness of quality of life issues for people living with intestinal diseases that can lead to ostomy surgery.

• Full Article
• eMagazine
• Nurses Home Page
• Calendar & Events
• Nursing Job Board

NEWS-Line for Occupational Therapists & COTAs – Vol. 11, No. 1F

Melissa A. Abrams, MS, OTR/L, is an OT specializing in pediatrics at Theraplay, Inc. She graduated from Misericordia University in Dallas, Pennsylvania, with a BS in health science and MS in occupational therapy with a pediatric track. She is also certified in Interactive Metronome and Therapeutic Listening®. Melissa has been an occupational therapist for more than three years at Theraplay, and describes her work environment as both “fun” and “rewarding.”

• Full Article
• eMagazine
• OT Home Page
• Calendar & Events
• OT Job Board

NEWS-Line for Physical Therapists & PTAs – Vol. 17, No. 1F

Michele Kehrer, PT, DPT, ATC, Owner and CEO of LifeStyle Physical Therapy is a physical therapist specializing in PT for patients with vestibular and orthopedic disorders at her own facility in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from Western Illinois for her undergraduate degree and the University of Illinois at Chicago for her doctorate. Dr. Kehrer also has certifications in cervicogenic dizziness and vestibular rehabilitation. Michele’s clinic, LifeStyle Physical Therapy and Balance Center, has been in business for more than five years, and she describes her job as “exciting!”

• Full Article
• eMagazine
• PT Home Page
• Calendar & Events
• PT Job Board

NEWS-Line for Physician Assistants – Vol. 21, No.1

Misericordia University has named Scott L. Massey, PhD, PA-C, as founding department chairperson, program director and professor of the new Physician Assistant program. The five-year Master of Science program, which is offered through the College of Arts and Sciences, begins classes in late August 2012.

• Full Article
• eMagazine
• PA Home Page
• Calendar  & Events
• PA Job Board

NEWS-Line for Nurse Practitioners – Vol. 18, No. 1

Marcelle Pick, MSN, OB/GYN NP, is an NP and author of The Core Balance Diet and the recent best-selling book, Are You Tired and Wired? She has a BSN and a BA in psychology from the University of New Hampshire and an MS in nursing from Boston College-Harvard Medical School. Marcelle is a certified nurse practitioner in OB/GYN and pediatrics, hosts the weekly radio show, Core Balance for Women’s Health on Hay House Radio, and writes a bi-monthly newsletter featured on the web site for Women to Women, www.womentowomen.com. Marcelle is also a regular contributor for The Huffington Post.

• Full Article
• eMagazine
• NP Home Page
• Calendar & Events
• NP Job Board

NEWS-Line for Pharmacists – Vol. 21, No. 1

Melody L. Hartzler, PharmD, AE-C, is a pharmacist specializing in outpatient/ambulatory care in a family practice residency clinic and an assistant professor of pharmacy practice. She graduated from Ohio Northern University in 2009 with a Doctor of Pharmacy, earned a teaching certificate from the Ohio State University College of Pharmacy, and completed an ASHP Accredited Pharmacy Practice Residency with an emphasis in Ambulatory Care at Chalmers P. Wylie VA Ambulatory Care Center. Melody is a registered pharmacist in the state of Ohio and has certifications in Basic Life Support, APhA Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery and APhA Delivering Medication Therapy Management Services in the Community. Melody began teaching at CU in August 2010 and describes her job as “fun!”

• Full Article
• eMagazine
• Pharmacy Home Page
• Calendar & Events
• Pharmacy Job Board

NEWS-Line for Respiratory Care Professionals – Vol. 11, No. 1/2

Keith Siegel, RRT, CPFT, AE-C, Director of Respiratory Care and Neurodiagnostics at Pen Bay Medical Center is a registered respiratory therapist in charge of managing the Respiratory Care and Neurology departments and Center for Sleep Medicine at a community hospital on the coast of Maine. He has an associate’s degree in applied science in respiratory therapy from Southern Maine Community College, and is currently enrolled in a bachelor of science in business administration program at Southern New Hampshire University (graduating in 2012). In addition to being an RRT, Keith is a Certified Pulmonary Function Technologist (CPFT) and Certified Asthma Educator (AE-C). He is also involved with the Maine Society for Respiratory Care and the American Association for Respiratory Care, and believes that “individuals can make a difference” in the lives of others through advocacy.

• Full Article
• eMagazine
• Respiratory Home Page
• Calendar & Events
• RRT Job Board

NEWS-Line for Speech-Language Pathologist & Audiologists – Vol. 11, No. 1/2

Irela R. Stout, MA, CCC-SLP, is an SLP specializing in dysphagia in Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg, Texas. She has a master’s degree in communication disorders from the University of Texas at Pan American and a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech and Hearing Association. Irela works full-time in a physician-owned acute care hospital and does contract work in a nursing home. According to Irela, she chose to focus on dysphagia in an acute care setting because “it’s one of the few areas in my field where I feel that I can make an immediate difference and contribution to the patient’s care.”

• Full Article
• eMagazine
• SLP/Audiology Home Page
• Calendar & Events
• SLP/Audiology Job Board

Groundhog Club handler John Griffiths holds Punxsutawney Phil. This was the 126th celebration of Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, PA

Temperatures were near freezing when he emerged at dawn — unseasonably warm — and were forecast to climb into the mid-40s in a winter that’s brought little snow and only a few notably cold days to much of the East.

Thursday’s ceremony is largely that: Phil’s prediction is determined ahead of time by the Inner Circle, a group who dons top hats and tuxedos and decides in advance what the groundhog will predict.

Organizers expected 15,000 to 18,000 people to witness the furry creature’s prognostication ceremony just before 7:30 a.m. EST.

This year’s crowd was warmer than most. The average early-morning temperature usually hovers around 17 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett was among the spectators this year. Those who couldn’t make it to Gobbler’s Knob could follow the groundhog on Twitter and Facebook, or watch a webcast of the event on his website.

“What started as a small gathering in 1887 has now evolved into tens of thousands of visitors from around the nation and even the world coming to Punxsutawney to participate in this time-honored Groundhog Day tradition,” Corbett said.

The Groundhog Day celebration is rooted in a German superstition that says if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on February 2, the Christian holiday of Candlemas, winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says, spring will come early.

Phil has now seen his shadow 100 times and hasn’t seen it just 16 times since 1886, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club’s Inner Circle, which runs the event. There are no records for the remaining years.

The tradition attained a large following with the 1993 Bill Murray comedy “Groundhog Day,” in which a weatherman covering the event must relive the day over and over again. Before the movie came out, Phil was lucky to have an audience of 2,500, said Mike Johnston, vice president of the Inner Circle.

And while the group has records of Phil’s predictions dating back to 1886, what it doesn’t have is a tally of whether Phil was right.

Johnston said the reason is simple: “He’s never been wrong.” Phil is “incapable of error,” he said, because the groundhog smartly avoids being site-specific in his prognostications.

If Phil predicts six more weeks of winter, said Johnston, “I guarantee you someone’s going to have six more weeks of winter.”

Source: MSN

CBO’s economic outlook predicts that federal spending on Medicare, Medicaid and other healthcare programs will climb to $1.8 trillion — or about 7% of the entire economy — by 2022.

If healthcare costs aren’t contained and taxes stay at roughly their current levels, the debt will climb to “unsupportable” levels, CBO warned.

The aging population is the single biggest driver of CBO’s projected increase in healthcare spending. The budget office expects Medicare spending to rise 90% between now and 2022 — and that’s assuming Congress signs off on Medicare cuts that, in reality, lawmakers always prevent.

Under current law, which CBO must use for its economic baseline, doctors are scheduled to see a 27% cut in their Medicare payments. If Congress blocked those cuts for the next 10 years and never raised doctors’ rates, but rather kept them frozen at 2011 levels, Medicare spending would grow by another $316 billion over the next decade, CBO said.

Source: The Hill Healthwatch

The Leadership Institute for Black Nurses was conceived of in 2005 by Yvonne Wesley, PhD, RN, FAAN, an NYUCN alumna, NYUCN adjunct associate professor of nursing, and LIBN’s Director. LIBN helps black nurse managers to both envision and achieve career goals in administration, education, and research. It was founded not only to advance black nurses’ careers but also to address the extreme disparities in health between African-Americans and other groups in the United States.

Dr. Wesley emphasizes that both race and gender have historically been barriers to career advancement.

”Black nurses in entry level managerial positions for more than five years, share feelings of stagnation,” she explains. The Institute helps the Fellows express and pursue their career goals within the workplace and negotiate across an uneven table.”

LIBN holds six monthly training sessions, addressing topics such as individual efficacy, leadership paradigms, negotiation, and collaboration. Participants not only build on personal strengths to develop leadership ability, but also gain practical management skills, such as developing a vision, evaluating and measuring program outcomes, and understanding health care management and finances.

“This program was established in keeping with a long tradition of commitment to black nursing leadership at the NYU College of Nursing,” says NYUCN Dean Judi Haber. “With the grant from the City Council, the Institute’s commitment to education and mentorship has been greatly enhanced. We are delighted by, and appreciative of. the City Council’s generous support and commitment to developing leaders in nursing.”

Each participant is paired with a leading African-American nurse in the New York City area who serves as Project Mentor and advisor on a community-health project. In addition, the program has invited 10 outstanding nursing leaders in the New York City area to be Career Mentors available to the fellows for additional consultation.

Jennefer Grannum, RN, BS, MS, Nurse Manager at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center, was a LIBN fellow in 2006, and went onto become a mentor in the program.

“The LIBN provided me with an opportunity to share my experiences with others and propelled me into thinking beyond my scope,” Grannum said. “The superior level of networking among peers and the dynamic interactive sessions are other distinguished features of the LIBN. As a Fellow and Mentor, I am confident that my experience will help me to become a catalyst for leading changes,” she said.

Wayne J. Christie RN, MSN, CAN, an Associate Director of Nursing at NY Methodist Hospital, was also a 2006 fellow and subsequently gave back to LIBN by becoming a mentor.

“LIBN has been a process of transformation which unfolded over time,” Christie said. “Finally tapping into my personal and professional potential is very profound. It is about relationships, establishing them and nurturing them. Mentoring other Black nurses through the transition from LIBN fellow to mentor has been most rewarding,” he said.

The Leadership Institute recruits nurses by contacting chief nursing officers in hospitals, deans of nursing programs, and Black nursing associations. Participants must have a minimum of a baccalaureate degree and have shown leadership ability. Of the participants, more than two-thirds (69%) hold master’s degrees, and all serve in management-level positions.

In moving Black nurses toward positions of greater authority, the LIBN aims to develop health-system leaders who will be in positions to find solutions to racial disparities in health care. African-Americans are more likely than members of other groups to die from some of the leading health problems today, such as cancer, heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes.

“Research shows that Blacks receive lower-quality care even when they have insurance and access to health care,”” says Dr. Wesley, who hopes that with more black nurses in executive leadership positions, these problems will receive closer examination and greater resources.

2011 Fellows, NYU Leadership Institute for Black Nurses

The 2012 Leadership Institute for Black Nurses Fellows are:

• Jennifer Ogilvie-Buchanan, BSN; Register Nurse-Clinical Nurse IV, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center;
• Judith Garcia, BSN, MSN, MPH; Head Nurse, Elmhurst Hospital Immunology Clinic (HHC);
• Josiane Hickson, BSN, MSN, EdD (cand.); Clinical Program Manager-Cardiology Core Measures, Mount Sinai Hospital;
• Marie Marcellus, BSN, MSN; Supervisor of Nurses and Educator, Jacobi Medical Center (HHC);
• Roslyn Morrison, BSN; Clinical Director, The Visiting Nurse Service of New York Home Care;
• Murielle Nose, BSN; Assistant Nurse Manager, NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases;
• Jacqueline Sandy, BSN; Assistant Nursing Manager, Maimonides Medical Center;
• Shalom Simmons, BSN, MSN; Clinical Nurse Manager, Mount Sinai Medical Center;
• Claudette Powell, BSN; Assistant Nursing Manager, Maimonides Medical Center; and
• Merle Fraser-John, BSN; Unit Director, Buena Vida Center for Rehabilitation and Continuing Care

For more information on the LIBN, visit http://www.nyu.edu/nursing/ce/libnurse.html

Source: New York University College of Nursing

After undergoing three follow-up surgeries and highly specialized occupational therapy at the Loyola Center for Health at Burr Ridge, Thompson says his thumb and finger have regained 60% to 70% of their original function.  He can’t bend the middle joint of his thumb, there’s less feeling in his index finger and his grip strength is reduced. But he can do many everyday activities, such as tying his shoes, buttoning his shirt and picking things up between his thumb and index finger.

“Dr. Bindra and his team performed an outstanding job,” he said. “I have quite a bit of movement. And my hand looks almost completely normal, like nothing happened.”

Each year, thousands of Americans lose fingers and/or thumbs. Many, like Thompson, are do-it-yourselfers, Bindra said. Thompson was cutting wood trim with a miter saw when the accident occurred. “I was in a hurry to finish, and my concentration level dropped for just a second,” he said. His index finger and thumb were almost completely severed. On average, Bindra sees three or four cases per month in which one or more digits have been completely cut off or almost completely severed. The typical patient is a do-it-yourselfer, rather than a professional carpenter who has undergone safety training, Bindra said.

Bindra reattaches bones with tiny plates, screws and pins. He sews nerves and blood vessels together with sutures that are finer than a human hair. In Thompson’s case, Bindra also took a vein from a forearm to reconnect blood supply to the thumb.  Thompson underwent occupational therapy with certified hand therapists Kim Esposito and David Spear. The therapy included, for example, exercises to stretch and bend his finger and thumb joints and open the web space between his thumb and index finger. Thompson also received extensive education on how to reduce post-surgical swelling, keep his wound clean and change his bandages.

Hand surgeons have long been able to reattach digits. But results are improving due to better techniques and more sophisticated surgical instruments and microscopes, Bindra said. Bindra said a finger or thumb can be reattached within 12 to 24 hours of an accident. The digit should be wrapped in a clean cloth and put in a Ziploc bag, and the bag should be submerged in ice water.  Of course, it’s best not to get injured in the first place. Before he retired, Thompson was involved with operating power tools for many years. “Always stay focused and pay attention — and never hurry when operating power tools,” he said.

Source: Loyola University Health System

“The claims against converted vehicles are completely ill-informed and unsubstantiated,” said NMEDA Executive Director/CEO Dave Hubbard. “Our members adhere to strict guidelines designed to enhance and promote dependable mobility products. It appears that the new-entry to the industry is taking liberties when it comes to deciphering fact from fiction.”

Contrary to recent claims, OEM vehicles have been proven to maintain their structural integrity throughout the conversion process. All structural modifications to the vehicles are proven safe through extensive durability and impact testing and are required to pass the same crash testing as the original equipment manufacturer.

“We are not a start-up company, and this is not a start-up industry,” said Nick Gutwein, President of The Braun Corporation. “Our products set the standard for reliability and safety in accessible vehicles, and our proof comes from hundreds of independently verified test results, thousands of satisfied customers and four decades of industry experience.”

In regard to safety, all new modified accessible vehicles manufactured and sold in the US and Canada are required to comply with Federal and Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. They must pass extensive front, rear, and side crash tests to ensure that the Original Equipment Manufacturer safety certifications remain intact after any modifications are made.

“It’s important that all members of the mobility industry, particularly customers, make certain all information provided to them is factual,” said Sheldon Walle, President, ElDorado National Kansas, Inc. “For over three decades we have assured customer safety and quality, and to suggest otherwise not only impugns our company but our industry as well.”

“Our safety record proves that we build vehicles that are dependable and well-engineered,” said Doug Eaton, CEO of Vantage Mobility International. “We’re confident that our vehicles feature superior handling, ergonomics and design including innovative ramps that are designed after painstaking research and careful study.”

Wheelchair van conversions also offer options, including the ability to drive the vehicle or ride as a passenger, the choice of a side-entry or rear-entry ramp and the ability to choose a vehicle with dimensions that best fit the individual customer’s needs.

“My wheelchair van has never let me down,” said Steven Ray, of Dallas, who recently purchased his second retrofitted vehicle. “I’ve driven that van for over 300,000 miles and it’s taken me everywhere I wanted to go in the last ten years.”

Source: NMEDA

The SkiTour program is the only one of its kind, ensuring opportunities for wounded warriors, youth and adults with disabilities to receive advanced instruction and state-of-the-art adaptive equipment throughout the nation’s leading ski destinations such as Breckenridge, Sun Valley, Aspen, Stowe, Park City, and Tahoe.

Events include beginner to elite ski races, race training, learn-to-ski or snowboard, Nordic ski programs and adaptive instructor training.  From January to April 2012, the DSUSA Winter Series will include more than 100 events hosted by 43 DSUSA chapters and affiliates in 21 states.  Programs for the wounded warriors are part of DSUSA’s Warfighter Sports program, which offers sports rehabilitation programs free of cost to severely wounded warriors.  Warfighter Sports rebuilds lives through sports by improving self-confidence, promoting independence and uniting families through shared healthy activities.

SkiTour will again be supported by US Paralympics, a division of the US Olympic Committee, through funding provided US Department of Veterans Affairs. Their support will help provide enhanced sport programming for severely wounded military service members and disabled veterans by increasing opportunities for wounded warriors to participate in physical activity in their home communities and in advanced regional and national Paralympic sport programs.

“By working together, US Paralympics, Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense and Disabled Sports USA can provide greater winter sports opportunities and reach more veterans and service members with physical disabilities in a cost efficient manner,” said Charlie Huebner, Chief of Paralympics, USOC.  “SkiTour will have a profound impact on building local programs, and also future generations of Paralympians.”

SkiTour includes internationally sanctioned elite International Paralympic Committee “NorAm” ski races that qualify USA and international ski racers for events worldwide, leading to the Paralympic Winter Games. NorAm is the only national qualifying race series for ski racers attempting to qualify for the US Disabled Alpine Championships. The SkiTour schedule also includes the Diana Golden Level I Race Series for youth with physical disabilities.

“The 2012 DSUSA SkiTour provides skiing, snowboarding, sled hockey, biathlon and Nordic sports opportunities that teach people with disabilities that they can lead full and active lives with their physical challenges,” said Kirk Bauer, executive director of Disabled Sports USA and a disabled Vietnam veteran. “The confidence, dedication and commitment it takes to succeed on the mountain can be applied to other areas of life. They come away from their experience with the attitude embodied in DSUSA’s motto:  ‘If I can do this, I can do anything!’”

Additionally, DSUSA works with the Professional Ski Instructors of America – American Association of Snowboard Instructors (PSIA-AASI) to train ski and snowboard instructors in the latest adaptive techniques and learn about advances in adaptive equipment. 

DSUSA chapters hosting SkiTour events are highlighted below by state.  To view the SkiTour calendar of events, visit www.dsusa.org.

Source: Diabled Sports USA

The study focused on 35 women and 25 men, all smokers from Western New York who were on average 48 years old and smoked a pack of cigarettes per day. Participants who were randomized to take the smoking cessation medication varenicline (marketed as Chantix) for four weeks prior to trying to quit smoking were more likely to successfully quit smoking than those who took varenicline for just one week before quitting, which is the current standard therapy for the drug. Everyone took the medication for an additional 11 weeks after the quit day.

“Varenicline was designed to make smoking less rewarding, and our data suggests that it does that better when people take it for a few extra weeks before quitting,” says Larry W. Hawk, Jr., PhD, lead author and associate professor of psychology in the UB College of Arts and Sciences “If this finding holds up in larger studies, it could have a major impact on public health.”

“We saw nearly full compliance, which suggests that this is not only a well-tolerated therapy, but one people

can realistically stick with,” says co-author Martin C. Mahoney, MD, PhD, associate professor of oncology in RPCI’s Departments of Medicine and Health Behavior and clinical associate professor in UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions and School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

While many participants reported mild nausea, Mahoney says, the researchers found that the symptoms typically dissipated after a couple of weeks and may have helped reduce their desire to smoke.

“Whether through changes in taste or nausea, it seems this extra varenicline reduces smoking rates before people try to quit,” Hawk says. “These changes should make it easier to quit smoking, but we also know that it takes some period of time for this new learning to occur. That’s why we decided to see if a longer period of treatment with varenicline before smokers tried to quit would result in better outcomes, and it did in this small study.”

Of special interest was the fact that women who took varenicline for four weeks were especially likely to reduce their smoking, possibly because they reported more nausea in the pre-quit period. After three weeks of treatments with varenicline, women reduced their smoking by more than 50%, on average. The men who took the varenicline for four weeks reduced their smoking by 26%. The researchers say that much larger studies are needed to tell whether the gender differences are real.

“This study suggests we may be able to take the most effective smoking-cessation treatment we have and make it work 50% better, just by giving the medication for a few weeks before smokers attempt to quit,” concludes Hawk.

In addition to Hawk and Mahoney, co-authors are Rebecca L. Ashare, PhD, Nicolas J. Schlienz, Stephen T. Tiffany, PhD, Julie C. Gass, Jessica D. Rhodes, all of UB’s Department of Psychology; Shaun Fickling Lohnes of Roswell Park, and K. Michael Cummings, PhD, former chair of the Department of Health Behavior at Roswell Park, now at the Medical University of South Carolina.

The study was funded in part by a 2008 Global Research Award for Nicotine Dependence (GRAND), an independent, investigator-initiated research program sponsored by Pfizer, which manufactures varenicline, and by the National Institute for Drug Abuse.

Source: University of Buffalo/Roswell Park Cancer Institute