If you pick up a can of soup and find that the sodium levels are lower than you expected, or that a food item advertises it has “less sugar” or “no MSG” ... then there may be cause for alarm.

A relatively young company, Senomyx, may be responsible for the sodium and sugar levels falling in various grocery store items. They may be putting chemicals into your food right now, without telling you and without you even realizing. Under the law, they don’t have to.

Senomyx...

Bear with me as I deliver another critical commentary on the latest
series starring TV RNs.

Nurse Jackie and HawthoRNe were bad enough, but at least they aired on cable to a limited audience. Mercy, a prime-time show that premiered Sept. 22, appears on NBC, a major network, free of charge.
The main character, Veronica, played by Taylor Schilling, carries enough personal baggage to warrant a separate series about her emotional life. An Iraqi War veteran with post traumatic...

Last night, I was a guest at the mosque I drive by every day on my way to and from work. Long shrouded in mystery, I was able to see and experience what goes on there and – yes – even become a part of it.

My Muslim friend, an RN, had invited me to the religious observance of Iftar, the communal evening meal that occurs after the sunup-to-sundown fast every day during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Gihan did not arrive right away and I was early. Swathed from the...

Representative Joe Wilson’s outburst during President Obama’s address to Congress, Serena William’s explosion of anger on the tennis courts at the US Open, and Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards have prompted lots of discussions about civility.

Those of us in healthcare have long experienced incivility and even bullying in the workplace. I have experienced my share of (a) being shut out of the clique, (b) being excluded from...

With a year of experience under our belts, a nurse colleague and I relocated to begin a new phase of our professional careers. The year was 1982, nurses were in demand, and we could set our own schedules. Several facilities offered us good positions but we turned them down thinking that we shouldn’t have to rotate shifts. After three months of unemployment we changed our minds.

Working as a staff nurse, I lost count of how many family dinners, holiday gatherings, and other events...

Nothing makes me feel more out of it than when it comes to trying to figure out what to get my 7 year old grandson for a present. Nerf ball? Hot Wheels? Legos? Not any more. It seems that this year, according to his mother, he wants something called Bakugan.

So what's Bakugan? I'm still trying to figure it out.

I went online to my usual sources to learn more. Despite the fact that it's being passionately embraced by the grade school set, Wikipedia has yet to discover...

The buses are coming! The buses are coming! And the porta potties are already here!

Because I live just 9 miles from the Capitol in Washington, DC, I thought I'd take a cruise downtown last night to see how things were shaping up for the presidential inauguration ceremonies that will take place this coming Tuesday.

At 9 o' clock at night, the city looked almost deserted...a far cry from what it will be in a few days when several million people are expected to descend...

It was exciting to hear President Obama addressing nursing concerns at his town hall discussion of domestic programs and health care reform at the White House on Thursday, March 26. Nurses had been invited to participate and give a "nurse's perspective" on what is needed in health care reform. Obama, who agreed, that nurses should be included in health reform negotiations because they have a unique perspective on patient needs. He also told how he liked nurses and was biased towards them....

Montel Williams loves his nurses. That’s why he came to New Orleans to speak to the chapter presidents of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses at their annual AACN conference last week.

Montel knows nurses. He has had more than average contact with the likes of us, both in and out of the hospital. He told AACN attendees stories about his ordeals and how nurses were there to ease the way. Emotions were flowing as he spoke to us from the heart.

We loved hearing...

When I think of Carolyn, I remember her smile and her courage. Hobbled by breast cancer for years, it could not suppress her spirit.

I think about her especially during October-- National Breast Cancer Awareness month—when we are reminded once again by the National Breast Cancer Foundation of how important early detection is.

Carolyn was my brother-in-law’s older sister. I had long admired her when I was growing up in our small town in Iowa. In my eyes, Carolyn had...