Friday, May 12, 2023

HSE Marks International Nurses’ Day


Today, ( 12th May), the HSE marks International Nurses’ Day 2022 (#IND2022), the theme is Nurses: A Voice to Lead - Invest in Nursing and Respect Rights to Secure Global Health. This theme focuses on the need to invest in nursing in order to build resilient, high quality health systems to meet the needs of individuals and communities now and into the future.

In Ireland, the event will be celebrated throughout the HSE and the critical role of nurses is being marked with a live webinar from the Office of Nursing and Midwifery Services Director (HSE), the Office of the Chief Nursing Officer (Department of Health) and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland. Key senior leaders will present their messages for nurses and a panel of representatives from all disciplines of nursing will discuss their roles and how they contribute to the care of service users as health care professionals. It will be a wonderful opportunity to hear from front line nursing professionals as they share their experiences


Read more from HSE

Monday, November 7, 2022

Library Positive living links and resources

 Some  resources and links from the library 'Positive living collection and library guide:

Depression







Anxiety








Addictions








Grief



Courage and difficult times:

 



Courage and difficult times:

TUS : Midlands Library ‘Positive living’ outreach: Bibliotherapy extracts /quotes 



“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Winston Churchill

 “If you’re going through hell, keep going”

Winston Churchill

 

“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”

― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

 

“Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.”

William Shakespeare

 

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us and when we bring what lies within us.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”

― Lao Tzu

 

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

The Holy Bible: Joshua 1:9; Isaiah 41:10)

 

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”

― E.E. Cummings

 

“Bran thought about it. 'Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?'

'That is the only time a man can be brave,' his father told him.”

― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones


Galadriel: “Mithrandir... why the Halfling?” Gandalf: ..”.I don't know. Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. I've found it is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps it is because I am afraid... and he gives me courage.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

 “Wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

 

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”

 Helen Keller

 

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”

Randy Pausch

 

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

The Talmud

 

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

 Haruki Murakami

 

“I will breathe. I will think of solutions. I will not let my worry control me. I will not let my stress level break me. I will simply breathe. And it will be okay. Because I don’t quit.”

Shayne McClendon

 

Kahlil Gibran on Good & Evil

“Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil.

For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?

Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark caves, and when it thirsts it drinks even of dead waters.

You are good when you are one with yourself.

Yet when you are not one with yourself you are not evil.

For a divided house is not a den of thieves; it is only a divided house.

And a ship without rudder may wander aimlessly among perilous isles yet sink not to the bottom.”

From ‘The prophet’ by Kahlil Gibran

 

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”

Khalil Gibran

 

Andy Dufresne: [in letter to Red] Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

The Shawshank Redemption

Friday, November 4, 2022

Monday, June 13, 2022

Bibliotherapy Extracts on the "MEANING OF LIFE" for reflection, consideration

 

Meaning and purpose in life,


 “The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe to it.

Being alive is the meaning”

Joseph Campbell,  

 _______________

“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”The Dalai Lama

 ________________

“There is not one single big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life. An individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.”Anais Nin 

All available at: https://medium.com/@successmagazine/the-meaning-of-life-in-15-wise-quotes-a4e0db4b4e64

 _______________________

“My dog doesn't worry about the meaning of life. She may worry if she doesn't get her breakfast, but she doesn't sit around worrying about whether she will get fulfilled or liberated or enlightened. As long as she gets some food and a little affection, her life is fine”

Joko Beck. Available at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/joko_beck_538152?src=t_meaning_of_life

  ______________________________

“There is an internal landscape, a geography of the soul: we search for its outlines all our lives. Those who are lucky enough to find it ease like water over stone, onto its fluid contours, and are home.
Some find it in a place of their birth; others may leave a seaside town, parched, and find themselves refreshed in the desert. There are those born in rolling countryside who are really only at ease in the intense and busy loneliness of the city.
For some, the search is for the imprint of another; a child or a mother, a grandfather or a brother, a lover, a husband, a wife, or a foe.
We may go through our lives happy or unhappy, successful or unfulfilled, loved, or unloved, without ever standing cold with the shock of recognition, without ever feeling the agony as the twisted iron in our soul unlocks itself and we slip at last into place.”

Fiction Book: Damage by Josephine Hart: J. Hart (2003) Damage. Vintage books: London, 1-2p

 ________________________________

“He knocks at all doors, strays and roams,

Nay, hath not so much wit as some stones have,

Which in the darkest nights point to their homes,

        By some hid sense their Maker gave ;

Man is the shuttle, to whose winding quest

              And passage through these looms

God order'd motion, but ordain'd no rest”.

Poem: Man by Henry Vaughan Verse 4Source: Vaughan, Henry. The Poems of Henry Vaughan, Silurist. vol I. E. K. Chambers, Ed. London, Lawrence & Bullen Ltd., 1896. 169-170

 ______________________________

 “………But often, in the world's most crowded streets,   

But often, in the din of strife, 

There rises an unspeakable desire 

After the knowledge of our buried life,  ...

…And we have been on many thousand lines, 

And we have shown, on each, spirit and power, 

But hardly have we, for one little hour, 

Been on our own line, have we been ourselves;     

Hardly had skill to utter one of all 

The nameless feelings that course through our breast, 

But they course on for ever unexpress'd. 

And long we try in vain to speak and act 

Our hidden self, and what we say and do      

Is eloquent, is well—but 'tis not true! “…………..

 Only—but this is rare—  …………..

 …..   A bolt is shot back somewhere in our breast 

And a lost pulse of feeling stirs again!      

The eye sinks inward, and the heart lies plain, 

And what we mean, we say, and what we would, we know, 

A man becomes aware of his life's flow, 

And hears its winding murmur, and he sees 

The meadows where it glides, the sun, the breeze………….

 

Extracts from Poem: The buried life by Mathhew Arnold :

M. Arnold (1852) The buried life Available at: https://poets.org/poem/buried-life

  _______________________

“An aged man is but a paltry thing,

A tattered coat upon a stick, unless

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing

For every tatter in its mortal dress,………..”

 Extract from poem Sailing to Byzantium:  Yeats, W.B (1989)  The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats Available at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43291/sailing-to-byzantium

 _____________________________

 One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice --

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voice behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do --

determined to save

the only life that you could save.

 Oliver, M. (1963) The journey, In: No voyage and other poems. Available at: https://maryoliver.beacon.org/2009/11/new-and-selected-one/index.html

 


Tuesday, March 15, 2022

This Nurse of the Week Will Never Say Your Companion Animal is “Only a ____”

 This Nurse of the Week clearly understands the value of companion animals in healing.

Jennifer Smith is an RN at the Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Rome, New York. She works in the Center’s adult day health care program, where adults in need of supervision can enjoy socializing while receiving medical care while living at home instead of being isolated in a facility.

While Smith enjoys all of her patients, she formed a special bond with 60-year-old John Burley. When her patient shared photos of Boomer, his amazing dog (of course he was amazing!), Smith, who has a 13-year-old dog of her own, was an attentive audience. Burley and Boomer had lived together for most of Boomer’s 12 years, and when Burley had to move from Arkansas to Rome, New York, leaving the rest of his family behind, his furry housemate became his go-to for warmth, joy, and emotional support. Man, dog, and nurse all jogged along together for a while, and all was well.

Then, one day, dog and man were parted.

Burley came down with pneumonia and was hospitalized for that and other lung problems. As he lived alone and had no one nearby to look after Boomer, the city stepped in. With Boomer’s person unavailable for an indefinite time, the good boy – a good, 12-year-old boy-dog – was sent to a shelter. Burley, isolated in the hospital and sick with worry as well as pneumonia, turned to another vital source of support, his nurse. And his nurse came through for him.


Read more at Daily Nurse

Natural Heavy Metal Detox With Chlorella and Spirulina

From aluminum in deodorant to mercury in dental fillings, metal toxicity comes at us from every angle these Chlorella Spirulina Tablet Mix Photodays. The presence of these heavy metals (and others such as arsenic, cadmium and lead) has increased as industrialization and its waste products spread.

We can work to avoid these substances as much as possible, but some exposure is still bound to occur.

Since even small amounts of heavy metals in the body can cause negative side effects like fatigue, headaches, digestive problems and skin conditions, it’s important to use natural methods to cleanse your body of these toxins.

WHY SPIRULINA AND CHLORELLA ARE EFFECTIVE FOR HEAVY METAL DETOX

The answer to natural heavy metal detoxification is as simple as a single-celled organism. Spirulina and chlorella are two separate micro-algae organisms which have existed on earth since the dawn of time.

Both were revered as powerful superfoods in many traditional societies, and today are more relevant than ever for achieving overall health and well-being.

Read more at livingthenourishedlife

5 Benefits of Deep Breathing Exercises


Deep breathing exercises just might save your sanity. Check out your breathing the next time you feel angry, stressed or anxious. Chances are when negative emotions run high, your breaths become short and shallow.

This is your body’s natural response to stress, but paying more attention to your breathing patterns can help you “cushion” that stress response and help you process stressful emotions more quickly.

Let’s talk about some important deep breathing benefits, as well as some tips on how to do deep breathing exercises and develop a daily routine.

I would bet that many of us rarely more than a couple deep breaths during an entire day, even when we’re not feeling stressed (and when is that?). And if you’re not taking deep breaths, you could be missing out on one of the simplest ways to drastically improve your health.

10 Key Nursing Trends in 2022

1. COVID-19 takes a
 toll

Nurses are feeling exhausted and overwhelmed as wave after wave of COVID-19 patients have flowed onto their units. Many have become burned out and ready to leave their nursing jobs in 2022.

“Nurses have literally given their lives to take care of patients, and it has a profound effect,” said Bonnie Fuller, PhD, MSN, RN, CNE, CTN-A, a professor at the Purdue University Global School of Nursing based in West Lafayette, Indiana. “The pandemic has highlighted the critical role nurses play. We are the backbone of the healthcare profession.”

Many healthcare professionals consider recent COVID-19 surges avoidable, with no end in sight, due to people refusing vaccinations and mask wearing, according to an Association of American Medical Colleges article.

2. Focus on behavioral health

Elaine Smith, EdD, MS, MBA, dean of the College of Nursing and Public Health at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, expects in the coming year to see a tremendous focus on behavioral and mental health concerns.

Nurses, other healthcare workers and people, in general, have experienced depression and anxiety. Long-term effects in children are not known, Smith added.

“Psychiatric nurse practitioners will be incredibly valuable moving forward in the care of people post-pandemic,” Smith said. 

3. More nurses traveling


Read More at Nursing News

A Call for a More Balanced Approach to Family Presence During a Public Health Emergency

 What would you want for your family?

Nine years ago, AJN published a Viewpoint article asserting the essential role of family caregivers. The article featured an elderly woman recuperating in a hospital, her daughter at her bedside planning for discharge with the care team. The authors argued that family engagement creates the foundation for safer care, better patient outcomes, and greater efficiency for nurses.

The same patient’s experience would likely have been very different during the Covid pandemic, especially during the intermittent surges over the past two years. The patient would be alone in the hospital, her daughter’s assurances communicated through a digital tablet. Overstretched nurses would provide updates to the family over the phone. Discharge education would occur through a car window moments before the patient’s daughter drove her home, feeling unprepared for what came next.

COVID-19’s highly transmissible properties have complicated the family engagement equation. Over the past two years, hospitals and nursing homes have enacted, eased up on, and then reinstated visitation bans, at times leaving questions as to whether restrictions implemented to reduce disease spread may be more detrimental than beneficial.

Read more at Off the Charts

Friday, December 10, 2021

9 Habits That The World's Healthiest & Longest-Lived People Share


About 20 years ago, working for National Geographic, and with a grant from the National Institute on Aging, I started identifying and studying the longest-lived people, those who are in what we called the world's Blue Zones. These are people who have eluded heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and several types of cancer. 


My goal, in a sense, was to reverse-engineer longevity. Since only about 20% of the average person's life span is dictated by genes, I reasoned that if I could find the common denominators among people who've achieved the health outcomes we want, I might distill some pretty good lessons for the rest of us to follow. I discovered nine powerful lessons—the power nine—that underpin all five Blue Zones. Here they are: 


1. Move naturally.

2. Find purpose.

3. Downshift.

4. Follow the 80% rule.

5. Eat mostly plants.

6. Drink wine at 5.

7. Find belonging.

8. Put loved ones first.

9. Find the right community.


Read More from MGB Health

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Effects of meditation therapy on fear of disease progress and mental health among acute myocardial infarction patients



Abstract

Objective: To investigate the effects of meditation therapy on fear of disease progress and mental health among acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. Methods: Totally, 120 cases of acute myocardial infarction patients admitted to Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University were divided into experimental group and control group according to the enrolled time. 60 patients with AMI treated from June to November 2018 served as the control group and 60 patients with AMI treated from January to May 2019 served as the experimental group. The patients in the control group received routine nursing, the experimental group carried out 4-week meditation therapy based on the routine nursing. Before and after intervention, the effect was assessed by Fear of Progression Questionnaire- ................................

 Conclusion: Meditation therapy can effectively decrease disease progress and promote mental health in patients with acute myocardial infarction. 


Read more at DOI 10.3760/cma.j.cn211501-20200929-04054

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