Debunk: Hospitals hit by ransomware attacks are seeing an increase in heart patient’s death..

As an a BSN, RN for over 20 years, primarily with cardiology and Trauma/ ED experience, I take issue with the “hysteria” r/t the premise that IS security and downtime issues are directly r/t an increase in 30 day morality acute myocardial infarction rates.

In the Vanderbilt study I see nothing about post MI care much less prior risk factors. There is no mention of the time of onset of s/s and the patient’s response to seeking emergency medical assistance.

As healthcare workers we all SHOULD know that an unquantified number of patients, particularly women, do not seek emergency medical attention for s/s of cardiac issues.

Within the Vanderbilt study I see nothing about post MI care or prior risk factors. Door to EKG time matters but one must consider what is the delay in patient response to s/s and seeking Emergency Medical Care. Nor is there mention of effective protocol if a patient presents with classic s/s.

It’s more of a protocol issue than an IS issue. Systems go down. That’s a given..the weak link is in the emergency protocol response not the fact there’s an IS issue.

If a patient presents with MI s/s and systems are down you move forward. CK/Troponin x3. Maybe an echo and straight to the Cath lab if necessary.

This study and the turmoil it has created is bogus.

The crux of the issue is payment. Typically you do an EKG to verify the patient is articulating true s/s. BS! ST depression or elevation should be beside the fact if the patient presents with s/s of an MI.

MD’s are not STUPID, give them some credit!! They know if their patient is in eminent risk and if they are worth their salt they won’t wait for an EKG.

This entire study is embellished to fuel a sort of hysteria.

Think about it..

The true issue is meeting the qualifications of reimbursement.

Utterly disappointed in such irresponsible journalism..well..so called journalism.

 

Showing Up

GREY MATTER LIFE

Woven through the seconds, minutes, days, weeks, months, years, decades and moments entwined from our first to last inhalation of life breath, our lives are held together and formed by all those who simply showed up.

Strangers, friends, family and every iteration of being between; each showed up before we ever had a conscious understanding of what it meant to have anyone show up.

Since the beginning of time, humanity has shown up. You have shown up. I have shown up and and I dare to say that showing up is one of the most powerful gifts one can bestow upon another being.

We show up by choice. We show up by court order. We show up to get paid and we show up with no expectations. We show up by obligation and we show up by a calling. We show up with heartbreak, hearts overflowing, hope, anticipation, remorse, regret, tears…

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On: The death of bedside nursing (and why it should matter to everyone…)

This is the nursing reality of 2017! Great post & on point!

Santa and GOD

Christmas time comes but once a year. A celebration of the birth of Christ. Typically marked as a time for family, friends and worship. A time for thankfulness and sharing. The exchange of gifts beautifully decorated, goodies so delectable and irresistible that many vow to burn up hours and pounds and dollars in the local gym beginning the first of the New Year.

As the years have passed the way I celebrate Christmas has evolved. Shaped by time and life changes.

As a child I remember sharing Christmas with my twin sister. The living room was divided in two. One side mine, one side hers. I still vividly remember one year that Santa brought the “Barbie’s Friendship Airplane”, WOOHOO! I can even recall the smell of it. Latex, plastic.. who knows what it was made of but it is still a very strong sensory memory.

Fast forward…

Sometime in my “tween years”, the realization that there may not be a Santa Clause after all.

Tonight…

My quite mature and awesomely cool 11 year old son asked me “Mom, do you still believe in Santa Clause?” I paused and then told him I choose to still believe that maybe there is a Santa Clause. No firm commitment either way on my part but definitely a sense of hope. He looked at me as if to say “are you serious?” I got the overwhelming feeling that he was satisfied with my answer. The look on his face gave me the impression that he was somewhat hopeful and maybe even relieved.

This year I will celebrate Christmas with friends and coworkers. A modest 4 ft. artificial tree and a few gifts with less than elegant wrapping that I used to spend hours on.

My parents passed several years ago and I have strained relationships with two out of three of my sisters, including my identical twin. I struggle at times with not having much family during Holidays. A sense of longing for years past and a loneliness that is kind of difficult to pinpoint. But Then there is my son’s question about Santa Clause………

Well I can tell you this much honestly…

I believe in miracles.

I believe in grace and foregiveness.

I believe in love.

I believe in the goodness of others.

I believe in the power of prayer.

I believe in all of these things… I cannot tangibly sense the giver of these gifts. But I am certain they are very real. They are real because I am alive and reasonably well and a functional, productive part of society. They are real because when I almost gave up on life a power greater than mine intervened, reminded me of the blessings, like my son, that he has given me and faith forged a path for me that I never would have imagined. GOD knelt down from heaven, picked up the pieces and breathed life into what felt like dying shards of my soul. God brought wonderful people into my life and worked his miracles through many of them.

I digress… Yes son, Santa Clause is a real possibility if hope in a jolly old white bearded man in a red suit with reindeer and a sleigh fills your heart with love and excitement, your spirit with joy and hope and brings the possibility of experiencing the many wonders in life, even though you may never actually tangibly sense him, yes baby, believe to your hearts desire!

My prayers tonight will include that hope through a child’s eyes strengthens faith and that faith leads you to continuing your walk with GOD, and a certainty that you are my greatest gift and one of GODS unique miracles. AND that you will respect yourself and others as such priceless treasures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A kiss

Sometimes at night I lay down and ask God to take me there. I stand beside his bed, lean over and gently kiss him on the cheek. I whisper “I love you, I miss you and thank you”.

LANDSLIDE

Michele, I have no idea if you know that tonight your memory has helped quiet my spirit. Thank you….

Road Worthy

Yes, I am a traveler of sorts. You see I am on this journey called life. I can see my destination and plot my course accordingly (or so I think). But just like any road there are twists and turns, deadends and construction zones. At times I have to make a u turn and go back. At times I am “led” to take a left instead of a right at the fork in the road. At times I have to cross a rickety, unsteady bridge to get to the other side and at times I just have to stop and try to make sure I am reading the map correctly. I’ve lost people and things along the way but when I stop at the rest area I invariably find that I’ve picked up a few new treasured gifts and momentos.
When I’ve reached my destination and my journey is complete I hope to be able to say “I’m home and look at the wonderful memories I’ve brought with me”…

My Christmas Gift

It’s been over four months since I’ve posted here. So much has changed. I have missed my followers and the sense of release l felt when I shared my thoughts.
Looking back, my last post was so true and to the point. You can run from a lot of things but not yourself. That’s what I had been doing for many years. I was my own worst critic and enemy. A standard of sorts that I think is true for many.
You see I developed some very unhealthy coping skills as I matured. In doing so, I learned to feel ugly. I learned to feel stupid. I learned to feel worthless. I learned how to hide in plain site. I learned how to fake “being fine”. Eventually I learned to not feel at all. I found the greatest anesthetic of all. Alcohol. It worked until it too became an enemy.
I found myself at the end. No more answers, no more quick fixes, no more “I’ll deal with it tomorrow’s”.
I felt paralyzed. How could I possibly live without my anesthetic? Yet I knew it would kill me eventually. “Dear God, please help me. I’m so lost. PLEASE help me…
I remember thinking “is there really a God? I don’t know, but this is all I have left to do.. Pray. What do you have to lose? Absolutely nothing.”
Sometimes it seems like an eternity ago and then sometimes it seems just like yesterday.
A total and complete sense of Powerlessness. Defeat. Emptiness. Loneliness. Despair.
I remembered a friend had suggested that I “crawl up in God’s lap and rest awhile”. That’s what I prayed for. That’s what happened.
After weeks of treatment and now active recovery and AA, I look back and know for absolute certainty that God, my higher power, whom I choose to believe is my Devine Savior, heard my prayer as I was on my knees in the dark and alone.
He knew all along it would take a miracle for me to believe and have true faith. He knew I would walk to the edge.. And that he would catch me. I’m certain.
Today I am living and feeling for the first time in a very long time. Feeling, at times can be painful, but now I have the tools to cope productively if I choose to use them. Notice I said CHOOSE. That concept can still be difficult. Reality is that life comes at you constantly and in many, but not all, circumstances I have the power to head off disaster if I make a decision not to be the victim. I cannot control your actions but I can control my own. How I choose to deal with how you affect my life is up to me not you.
Am I a religious fanatic? Umm not by far. I Identify with no particular religion. My concept of God and Jesus? One in the same. I rarely go to Church on Sunday and I wouldn’t dare try to quote anything from the Bible other than The Lords Prayer.
I suppose some pious Christian could argue with me that the former admissions do not qualify me to be considered a “true” believer. And that is fine by me. I lived through the darkness and saw HIS light with my own eyes, felt it with my own spirit.
What I am certain of is that this Christmas I will honestly celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior. It is a miracle in itself that I am able to have a really crappy week, not take a drink and somehow wind up in a place of peace with myself and my life.
An hour ago I was restless, sad, a little emotional. I looked through my “tool box”, used what I could find, and made a decision to “crawl in God’s lap and rest awhile”. (turn things over to HIM by faith).
I am at peace. I will lay my head on my pillow tonight, as I did last night and the night before and thank GOD for one more sober day. One more day, period.

Thank you GOD for all that you are to me.
Very, very real!

A First Step

One of the first steps to change is realizing that you can run from just about anyone or anything except yourself…

How I Choose

After reading this I initially felt a sense of frustration. I had to stop for a minute and really think of why this caused such a reaction. I hope in the following post I can effectively articulate my thoughts.

“Everything” and ” every” jumped out first. What global, black and white, all encompassing choice of words. Writer beware.. In my opinion once these words are chosen I immediately sense a single minded view just possibly influenced by little understanding, tolerance, and acceptance.

“Everything you do is based on the choices you make. It’s not your parents, your past relationships, your job, the economy, the weather, an argument, or your age that is to blame.”

Writer please tell me if you take genetics, basic brain physiology, and life experience out of the equation, what’s left? What pray tell do you base a choice or decision on? A simple knee jerk reaction? Thank God that is not how I exist. Neither do you. Like it or not before birth your brain was hard wired to take all of these life experiences into account, storing them as memory for the purpose of recall in order to afford you the ability to make decisions and choices.

“You and only you are responsible for every decision and choice you make. Period.”

If I find that I make a poor choice or decision, yes I like to think that I take responsibility for it. But as it happens, in the world I live in, there are those people compassionate enough to help me shoulder some of that weight when I do make a poor choice or decision. You ask.. Then why make a poor choice or decision? Because I am neither Devine or Omnipotent, by the grace of God only human. It is also a by product of basic learning behavior. My brain is wired to react based upon stored memories. Yours is too. Like it or not. Again, basic human biology. Additionally I have not lived in a bubble for 44 years .

Finally “blame”. Interesting word. I’m curious, why this ‘choice’?

My head hurts now. Too much thinking? Nah. All in all this passage strikes me as a form of diverting the age old notion of being your brothers keeper. You and only you..Diverting responsibility for directly or indirectly influencing another’s choice or decision based on your own actions, inactions,words or silence. Conveniently “passing the buck”?

And again, the passage completely negates the factual structure and function of the brain itself.

I prefer this..

You are responsible for the decisions and choices you make based on your life experiences and the influences around you. As fact, you are stuck with your particular brain biology and chemistry to a great extent. Whenever possible take a second to reflect on your personal circumstances before making a choice or decision. Understand that sometimes you are born with flawed genetics and grow up in a less than ideal environment. I see that. Although I am not willing to let you escape responsibility for your choices/decisions I will consider helping shoulder some of the burden or at least try to understand the foundation the choice/decision was based upon. I do this because I CHOOSE to remain very aware of the human condition and all it’s imperfections.

Merely existing is black and white. Right or wrong. Experiencing life and living is full of gray. Packed full of opportunities and valuable lessons.