Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Words of wisdom: my life in help help books

Health&Living columnist Katie Byrne has read hundreds of self-help books - some good, many bad. So which are the indispensible titles in the Katie canon?


You should never ask a woman her age, how many lovers she's had or how many self-help books she has read.
That's the answer I tend to give when the latter question is broached, although I'll concede that I've read quite a few. If you read the Breathing Space column in this magazine, you'll know that I try to glean insights from many self-development sources. Some are current, some are classics, but they're all, to my mind, worthy of being shared. But it's a huge market, and not everything you see on the shelves is worth reading. So how do you know which ones to try? As a general rule, I stay away from books that were panic-written in time for the January self-improvement market. I also avoid books that piggyback current trends, whether it's mindfulness, morning rituals or the latest Scandinavian lifestyle import.
And I have no truck with books that promise to "change your life!". If you really think you need to conclusively overhaul every aspect of your being, well then you're going to need more than a book. Self-development books work best when there's a specific challenge to overcome. If you want to deal with grief, break a habit or stop procrastinating, you'll find no shortage of excellent books by experts in the field. But if you walk into a bookshop hoping to change your life, you'd be better off reading your horoscope.

Achieving happiness: 20 of the wisest tips from self-help books

When your spirits are low, a little piece of wisdom can go a long way. Here we condense some of the best self-development books ever written into 20 essential life lessons, writes Katie Byrne


Every so often you come across a book - or even just a quote - that changes your perspective, reframes your thoughts and empowers you to overcome the mental hurdles that have been holding you back.
Sometimes it's a profound sentence that helps you transcend your darker hours; sometimes it's a practical coping skill you can put in your toolbox for the next time life gets the better of you.
Bibliotherapy, as it is known, is proven to promote good mental health, but where to start? The selection in the 'Mind, Body, Spirit' section of your local bookshop can look overwhelming and it should be noted that some of these books are considerably more therapeutic than others. With this in mind, we've read through dozens of self-development classics and gleaned the most enduring and empowering advice the authors have imparted.

Friday, April 13, 2018

What Do NICU Nurses Do?

Welcome to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit! We take care of the tiniest, and sometimes, sickest humans in the hospital. It is important to understand that premature infants are not only small, their entire body is premature and underdeveloped- their brain, their heart, their lungs, the GI system, their skin.
Ninety-eight percent of our days are great, but the 2% that are bad are really bad. Some days are feeding and cuddling babies that are close to going home, some days are holding a new mom’s hand as the team explains that it’s time for her to hold her baby while he dies. I love my specialty and wouldn’t trade it for anything.

What If Mistakes Are Actually Awesome?!


I didn’t know you can’t microwave metal until I did it. I didn’t know internet lines run underground until I cut one with a shovel. I didn’t know high heels sink in dirt until I wore a pair to an outdoor wedding. And while all of these caused inconvenient experiences in my life, I learned from them. So how can mistakes really be all that bad? What if mistakes are actually awesome?
Read More at Positively Positive

NINR and MedlinePlus® Launch a Palliative Care Text Campaign

NINR and the National Library of Medicine’s MedlinePlus® have teamed up to offer a text message campaign for those living with serious illnesses and their families. The campaign launched on February 5, 2018 and offers weekly messages about palliative care in English and Spanish.
Read More at NINH

Are you a 'night owl' or a 'morning lark'? Research reveals who will live longer

'Night owls' - people who stay up late and struggle to get out of bed in the morning - are more likely to die younger than 'morning larks'.
New research by the University of Surrey and Northwestern University in the US found that people who naturally stay up late were 10pc more likely to die within the six-and-a-half-year study period compared to those who preferred the morning.
Researchers say that the ongoing stress of operating in a 9-5 society was having a huge impact on millions and could be shortening their lives. "This is a public health issue that can no longer be ignored," said Malcolm von Schantz, a professor of chronobiology at the University of Surrey.

Could apprenticeships offer a way round the loss of the bursary?

Despite the increasing complexity of nursing practice, there is still a significant number of people who think nursing degrees are unnecessary. 
After all, who needs a degree – or even a diploma – to make beds with hospital corners and do what the doctor tells you? And that’s all nurses do, isn’t it? It must be true because Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail keeps on telling us it is.
The value of academic nurse education has been demonstrated time and again, in particular by the long-running international RN4Cast study. One key finding is that for every 10% increase in graduate nurses, there is a 7% reduction in the likelihood of an inpatient dying within 30 days of admission

Athlone IT Nursing & Health Science Building