Members get a daily Covid-19 topic focused on Covid in Tennessee.
Supporters are part of a self-improvement sub-group where value is dispensed daily on personal growth in all aspects of life, informed by many sources. New members welcome!
Today in Tennessee, 192 people tested positive for SARS-CoV2 infection, 2 died, and hospitals currently hold 350 Covid-19 patients in our state. Positivity was 2.29% today.
Nationwide, daily deaths are in the 400ish range. There's some concern about the Indian variant now being up to 9% of tested samples in the US. Given that 64% of Americans are vaccinated with at least one dose, and over 10% of Americans are known to have had Covid-19 (I think much more than that actually had the infection), I think we've reached effective herd immunity and the variants will have to do something really unexpected to break through.
Nursing shortages are once again a big topic of conversation. For context, I started nursing school in 1992, and graduated with my RN in 1994, and again with a BSN in 1997. I taught clinical nursing students from 1998 until 2003. I've heard about nursing shortages since before I ever started classes. So, when I hear about nursing shortages, it doesn't really bump my attention needle.
But Covid has put a fine point on things. A lot of our nurses have rethought their career decisions. Between burnout and having done a little traveling out of the area for significantly better money, many, and especially our younger, nurses are turning in their notices. This is in all areas of nursing, too.
I can tell you that nursing has become less and less about patient care and more about satisfying documentation requirements. There is no joy in feeding data into a computer, and that's gotten worse, not better, as time has passed.
Nurses are dealing with more back injuries on the job than they in the past, because our uncontrolled obesity problem has started to demand payment, and so these corpulent patients are a growing proportion of hospitalized patients.
I would like to think that nurses are treated collegially by doctors, but that's also not always the case.
And, aside from all of these ongoing headaches, nursing is an emotionally exhausting role. It's difficult to find the balance that keeps us human. It's easy to burn out, or, as ZDogg says, suffer moral injury.
So, because of these issues and more, the attrition rate from nursing is a problem on its own.
Compounding that is our aging population, which will require more services in the coming years.
And then there is the supply problem. Towns with multiple nursing schools don't have as much of a problem, as the new batch of shiny new nurses each year helps hospitals not need to compete nationally on the wage front. But there are too few student nurse positions nationally, thanks to not enough faculty positions and too few clinical locations, among other problems.
As I understand, there are many qualified nursing school applicants that are turned away for lack of available slots.
At least these are the arguments put forth. Bring up the wage issue and it's always deflected with other excuses. But free markets find a wage balance to address shortages. Nursing has traditionally been a relatively high paying job for an associate or bachelor's degree graduate, but wages have not really kept up with inflation, and some regions have an artificially low pay rate compared to national average.
The way it looks to me, nurses are rarely paid enough, and the shortage might right itself with better working conditions and better pay. But I'm no economist.
For my nurses reading this, know that I love you for the heart you put into your work. I know it's been awful for the past year and more. I hope you aren't burned out, but if you are, there's no shame in it and I hope you can recover and come back. We do need you.
Stay healthy.
I'm on a weekend night call schedule this weekend, which always leaves me feeling under-rested and generally icky.
But I wanted to remind you that outdoor exercise without screens is really good for your mental health.
Go outdoors, preferably into the woods.
Get in tune with those surroundings, the sights, the sounds, the smells, even the movement of air and the varying temperatures as you walk.
We were made to be outdoors.
We were definitely not made to work in cubicles.
One Degree!
What you want from your body will dictate what you need to set as goals, and the goals will determine what you'll end up having to change to attain them.
I've spoken many times about systems being better than goals, and my position has not changed.
But goals are easier to discuss and to understand, so for this week, we'll be very specific about goals.
Do you want more muscle mass?
Do you want to be stronger?
Do you want to run faster?
Do you want to gain weight?
Do you want to lose weight?
Do you want to improve general fitness?
Do you want longevity?
Do you want strong bones?
Do you want to earn a Black Belt?
Understanding the benefits and costs of each particular goal may help you decide what you want.
For example, if you want to compete in body-building competitions, you'll not be doing the same thing as if you were focused on longevity. Same with strength competitions.
But general fitness and longevity go fairly well together.
Running is great but will increase the likelihood of needing knee or hip ...
I'll make this one short and to the point.
Spring time change is hard on all of us. Having to get up an hour early doesn't make going to bed an hour earlier much easier.
Yes, it's nice to have more productive time in the evening.
But it's at the cost of forcing us out of be an hour earlier, as we all know.
Our challenge is to adjust our circadian rhythm to match the world's expectations around us.
My main strategy is supplementing with a dose of melatonin about a half hour before I need to be asleep. It helps most people fall asleep more readily.
If you need a nap during your day, take it between mid-morning and early afternoon. Limit it to 20 minutes.
Taking a longer or later nap may make it even harder to get off to sleep in time.
All of the other normal advice applies even moreso:
- Take a 20-minute walk after supper.
- No screen time for the last hour before bed.
- Listen to calm music after supper.
- Don't eat for 2 hours before bed.
- Don't have conflict-laden conversations ...
