We have so many things to be thankful for, including living in a land of great natural beauty. Our wish for each of you is to find some relaxing time to enjoy the great Northwest (or other beautiful location) over the holiday weekend!
But first -- read on for continuing e
ducation ideas and nursing
news!
Happy Thanksgiving!
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News2Use is published monthly for KCNA members and other nurses throughout King County. To comment or submit content, email rose@kcnurses.org.
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KCNA has Four Free Seats for
March of Dimes Nurse of the Year Breakfast
The March of Dimes is celebrating its 14th year of honoring the best and brightest local nurses with the Washington Nurse of the Year Awards. Nominations for these exceptional nurses have been accepted statewide, and the winners will be honored at a celebratory breakfast - this Friday, November 18, 9 a.m. at the Meydenbauer Conference Center in Bellevue. Awards are given in many categories, including Patient/Clinical Care, Leadership, Research, Rising Star and Legend of Nursing.
If this is something you are able to attend "spur of the moment," we have four free tickets to offer; just email right away to kcnurses@kcnurses.org.
Project Cool seeking volunteers for this Saturday
In September, Project Cool for Back to School provided 1,400 backpacks filled with school supplies for students in need. Since then, they have received MANY donations of supplies. There will be a work party to sort and organize these supplies this Saturday, November 19, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the Columbia City Church of Hope. Can you help? Click here
to volunteer!
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Continuing Nursing Education
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KCNA Has Stellar
Continuing Education Offerings
Dinner Seminar:
Heroin and Prescription Opioid Addiction Epidemic
Wednesday, December 7, 5:30-8 p.m.
Good Shepherd Center, Wallingford
2-hour Certificate of Completion
This program will include: the current epidemic of heroin and prescription opioid addiction; local efforts to address the problem; and the role of nursing in policy and practice.
Speaker Darcy Jaffe, MN,
ARNP, NE-BC is Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Associate Administrator at Harborview, adjunct clinical faculty at UW School of Nursing, and a member of the King County Mental Illness & Drug Dependency Oversight Committee.
Click here for more information and to register.
Heads Up:
Poverty Immersion Workshop
Saturday, February 4, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Tukwila Community Center, Tukwila
Poverty Immersion is a virtual experience of life on the edge, designed to help professionals better understand and serve those living in poverty. This unique interactive experience helps participants understand what life is like for those with a shortage of resources and an abundance of stress. Although it uses play money and fictional scenarios, Poverty Immersion is a facilitated role-play, not a game. Each participant is assigned to a family unit, and must try to make ends meet for a four-week simulation while interacting with "service providers" stationed around the room. This experience increases awareness of issues facing people in poverty and helps build a foundation for personal, professional and organizational change.
This workshop is FREE (sponsored by Salal Credit Union) and includes a continental breakfast, lunch and materials. Questions? Email
kcnurses@kcnurses.org. Or register
here by January 23.
Heads Up:
Cultural Competency: The Role of Reflective Practice & Cultural Humility in Nursing
Wednesday, February 22, 5:30 - 8 p.m.
Good Shepherd Center, Wallingford
2-hour Certificate of Completion
Health disparities among under-represented patient populations continue to increase despite work by the nursing profession to provide culturally competent care. This program will address issues
related
to health disparities and culturally competent health services.
Presenter Christine R. Espina, DNP, MN, RN, is Interim Nursing Program Director and Visiting Professor at Western Washington University.
Dr. Espina's background is in Community Health Systems Nursing with an emphasis in Cross-Cultural and Global Health. She practiced as a Fulbright scholar in the Philippines studying women's utilization of reproductive services in two villages, and has worked as Diversity Network Director at the Washington Center for Nursing, Nurse Planner at UW Continuing Nursing Education, and community health nursing instructor at UW Bothell, Seattle University, and now Western Washington University.
For additional information and to register, click here. The deadline is Thursday, February 16.
Immigration 101 Training for Service Providers
Following recent election results, it is clear that this is a pivotal time for the immigrant rights movement. There will be a FREE training for service providers who are interested in learning more about immigration and how to help immigrants -- Wednesday, December 7, 1-4:30 p.m. at the Mountaineers Program Center in northeast Seattle. The 3.5-hour training will include immigration status, work permits, unaccompanied youth, detention and deportation, and deferred action. The training is aimed at people working closely with the immigrant community. Click
here
to register.
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Nursing News and Clinical Issues
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Time to prepare for return of pox?
Smallpox killed upwards of 500 million people in the 20th century, before the virus was eradicated by large-scale vaccination campaigns. Close relatives in the poxvirus family, including cowpox and monkeypox, are less virulent in humans. Unfortunately,
this doesn't mean smallpox will never return, or that other poxvirus infections will not become a greater concern in future. Now researchers have found that the main neutralizing antibodies that work against one poxvirus are cross-reactive and may confer
protection against others. To read the findings, published in the current issue of Cell, click here.
New mammogram "hotspots" predict future breast cancers
Melbourne researchers have discovered a new way to interpret mammograms, using a new technique that makes it possible to
predict with 30 per cent more accuracy which women will develop breast cancer in the future. The findings, published in International Journal of Epidemiology, switch the focus away from white areas on the mammogram screen to bright areas (not previously viewed as significant) and open up possibilities for personalized prevention of breast cancer through screening. Read more here.
N
ews? Nurses scrubs transmit bacteria
Nurses' clothing, especially sleeves and pockets, can play a role in the transmission of bacteria in hospitals, according to recent research. The study involved a total of 120 individual shifts, with cultures taken twice daily. Findings included 22 transmissions of the same bacteria, including MRSA. More detail on these findings, and how nurses can help prevent transmission, is available
here
.
Washington Center for Nurses promotes roles beyond hospital
Last month, the WCN teamed up with The Seattle Times Newspapers in Education Program to highlight opportunities in nursing to K-12 students. Print and electronic newspapers, lesson plans and interactive worksheets were distributed to 30,000 students. For this feature piece, WCN interviewed several nurses working in non-acute care settings. The resulting print piece, entitled "The Nursing Profession: Roles beyond the hospital," is available here.
Scientists develop game-changing blood test for concussions
Scientists at Children's Health Research Institute, a program of Lawson Health Research Institute, and Western University have developed a new blood test that identifies with greater than 90 per cent certainty whether or not an adolescent athlete has suffered a concussion.
In the new study, researchers have demonstrated that a blood test can now accurately diagnose a concussion using a form of blood profiling known as metabolomics. More information here.
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Number of pregnant U.S. women with Zika continues to grow
Zika virus is especially concerning for pregnant women, as it can cause birth defects like microcephaly in infants. In the U.S., the number of pregnant women with the virus continues to grow: 953
pregnant
women
had the virus as of October 20, up from 899 reported a week earlier.
Additionally, 23 infants have been born here with
Zika-related birth defects, and five pregnancies with birth defects have been lost, according to the CDC. Click here for more statistical information.
"Staying power" of Zika greater than previously thought
Tom Frieden, MD, the director of the CDC, has sobering news regarding the staying power of Zika.
According to the
Miami Herald
, Dr. Frieden has said, "Here's the plain truth: that Zika and other diseases spread by Aedes aegypti [mosquito species] are really not controllable with current technologies. So we will see this become endemic."
While aerial spraying campaigns successfully eliminated Zika-carrying mosquitoes from the Miami neighborhood of Wynwood, where local transmission of the virus was first detected, transmission has persisted in other of the city's neighborhoods. The Aedes aegypti is a difficult mosquito to kill because it has been living in close proximity to people for centuries, hiding where pesticide spraying campaigns do not reach.
Ending local transmission is further complicated by the fact that the virus can be spread sexually.
The Florida Department of Health
has reported more than 1,000 Zika infections in the state, 200 of which stem from local transmission, although the actual number of local infections is likely much higher.
Read more
here
.
Human antibody safeguards fetuses from Zika in mice
Researchers have
pinpointed a human antibody that prevents Zika from infecting fetuses in mice. The antibody was discovered by screening 29 anti-Zika antibodies from people who recovered from a Zika infection. The antibody neutralized five Zika strains in the laboratory, and was then tested in mice. Read more here.
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| National Health Observances |
The Great American Smokeout is November 17
This Thursday, encourage patients, friends and family to make a plan to quit, or plan in advance to quit smoking that day. By quitting, even for a day, smokers take an important step toward healthier lives.
About 40 million Americans still smoke cigarettes, and tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the world.
Quitting smoking has immediate and long-term benefits at any age. But quitting is hard. The chances of success are increased by finding support, counseling or medications to help. Talk to your patients about quitting; information and links to resources are available
here.
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Matt Harding Has a New Dance Video
Matt is from Seattle and travels the world as "Where the Heck is Matt?" Matt says traveling the world reminds him how much safer, friendlier, and more open it is than we're sometimes led to believe. Click
here for video.
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4649 Sunnyside Avenue North Room 352 Seattle, WA 98103
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