The Mental Health Benefits Of Meditation: It’ll Alter Your Brain’s Grey Matter, And Improve Memory, Sense Of Self

It appears that scientific evidence of meditation’s powers continues to add up. Meditation, in a way, is like exercise for our brains: it’s been shown to assist in mental health maintenance, improve our memory, empathy, and sense of self — similar to how exercise boosts our resilience, muscle strength, cardiovascular health, and blood pressure/cholesterol.
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There are many situations when darkness seems to win over hope

It’s the time when you’re tired from doing too much. It’s the moment when you feel defeated, rejected and isolated. It’s when you feel least like trying and most like giving up.

But I’ve found that during those dark moments, there is always, always, hope. It could come from a friend who calls out of nowhere, or from a blog post. It could come while taking a walk, watching a funny youtube video or reading an email with just the thing you needed most. It could come from a song, a single realization that you matter, and a reminder of how much you are loved.

Read more from Best of our Blogs : World of Psychology

Are you interested in Orthopaedic Nursing?

What is Orthopaedic Nursing?

Orthopaedic Nursing is a speciality of nursing that focuses on the treatment as well as the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders. Orthopaedic issues can range from acute problems such as fractures to chronic disorders such as loss of bone density to arthritis. 

How do I become an Orthopaedic Nurse?

To become an Orthopaedic Nurse you must first obtain a Degree in Nursing. A lot of Nurses can progress to specialise in Orthopaedics by completing a Postgrad course, there is also the possibility of moving on and completing a Masters in Orthopaedics. The course can usually be completed full time or part time over a course of 1 to 2 years. 

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The 12 Days of Career Tips for Nurses P1

Day 1: I am ready for my new career move. It is time to move from your current Nurse Job and this will mean a new location, new nursing colleagues as well as a new boss. Start by looking at jobs in nursing in your area that are suitable to you.

Day 2: Ask yourself am I looking for nursing jobs in Ireland or do I want to travel? There are plenty of jobs in nursing for nurses throughout Ireland in Psychiatric roles, Intellectual Disabilites roles or the Nursing Home sector to name a few. 

Day 3: Is my CV ready to send out? Is your CV up-to-date? Have you got all of your latest training and experience from your current nurse job? If you are unsure of where to start with your CV, send it into us at Nurse Jobs Ireland. Our consultants can help profile your CV and make sure it is perfect before sending it out. Remember when searching for nursing jobs in Ireland you should match your CV to the nurse job you are applying for to reflect what the employer is looking for. 

Day 4: Do some Research. Finding the right company for you works both ways. Employers want nurses who will fit into their daily processes and become a valued member of their team. A quick Google search can supply you with a wave of information. Knowledge is power.

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Top 5 Most Stressful Times in a Nursing Career

A nursing career isn’t easy. Some days, we may wonder what we were thinking when we decided to become a nurse. Thankfully, for most of us, these days are not the norm. One advantage of being a nurse is the opportunity to learn something new every day and the good days far outweigh the not-so-good ones. That’s why stress is sometimes just seen as part of the job. Yet no matter where we practice or how long we have been in nursing, we can ALL identify with these 5 stressful times in our career:
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How I learned to stop worrying and stopped giving a s*** and became a better nurse

It's the classic nursing moment: after you've spent uncounted minutes putting a gorgeously neat, clean dressing on a wound, a doctor walks in, takes the dressing down, and wanders off without a word.

(Which makes me wonder about the nurses who reference this moment: are their doctors that unpredictable? I always catch mine in the morning and ask when they plan to round; it's easier to work in a dressing change after six neurosurgery residents have looked at it. Maybe they don't have easily-cowed residents.)

That, at the very least, prompts an eye-roll and the exhalation of breath through gritted teeth. That's the bottom of the nurse-exasperation scale: the top is the shouted "What the F*** do you think you're doing??" Somewhere in the middle is the terse conversation, either with a doctor or a family member, in the hallway, with a candlestick and Colonel Mustard.

Y'know what? I no longer have those conversations. Or, rather, I do, but they're not nearly as terse.

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The Unnamed Frustration, Fatigue, and Anxiety (1) : Post from ER Nurses BLOG

Consider these medical situations that nurses have been involved in:

A child is admitted to ER with possible symptoms of abuse. A doctor allows the patient to be discharged despite the nurse’s intuition about the situation. The child returns to the ER 2 days later dead on arrival.

A patient was in severe enough pain to be crying out. Increased ammonia levels

caused him mental confusion. The doctors wanted to monitor his mental state and ordered that pain medication be withheld. Twelve hours later he died.

Readers could list many more situations like this in the various settings where nurses practice. These situations involve peers, patients, caregivers, and administration. The resultant feelings of frustration and helplessness have given rise to the term moral distress. Factors included in this phrase are cognitive dissonance, and psychological disequilibrium. But behind those fancy scientific terms lie the real crux of the matter. The nurse feels helpless, angry, and dissatisfied. Moral distress occurs when a nurse reaches a moral decision but is unable to execute her values, training, and knowledge. In other words the nursing goal is stymied and now a less than ideal outcome must be accepted. The nurse is impacted because she/he is the most involved in care, sees the consequences first hand, and because ethics are the basis of the nursing profession.

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Mental health charities welcome HSE service extensions

Mental Health Reform director Dr Shari McDaid has welcomed the HSE’s decision to introduce full-time supports for those experiencing mental health difficulties. Photograph: Alan Betson

An umbrella group representing mental health charities in Ireland has welcomed the HSE’s decision to introduce full-time supports for those experiencing mental health difficulties.

Under the HSE Mental Health Division Operational Plan 2015, support services for people who have undergone treatment for mental health difficulties in the past will be extended to include Saturdays and Sundays.

The plan also included a commitment to equip emergency departments so they can deal with people experiencing a crisis on a 24/7 basis, a move which has been welcomed byMental Health Reform director Dr Shari McDaid.

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Nurses at Limerick A&E ‘completely distressed’

Warnings over unsafe conditions at the Emergency Department of University Hospital Limerick have been repeated, as the latest Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation trolley and ward watch report shows 41 people waiting on a bed today.

Nursing unions are meeting with HSE management this afternoon to discuss measures to ease the current bed crises at UHL, which is the only acute hospital in the mid west region.

When asked about morale among nurses at the hospital today INMO spokesperson Mary Fogarty said her colleagues were “completely distressed”. “Nurses are distressed by the fact that they cannot give proper care. They can’t come in and do proper days work and go home and say I did my job today. It’s firefighting that’s what they’ll tell you.”

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The Role of Self-Care on Compassion Satisfaction, Burnout and Secondary Trauma among Child Welfare Workers

Child welfare workers are routinely exposed to multiple traumatic events when working with children and families, and are at an increased risk of experiencing burnout and secondary trauma. Self-care is often recommended as a restorative or protective activity against the negative effects of working with traumatized individuals, although few studies have examined the benefit of self-care empirically. Trauma-informed self-care (TISC) includes being aware of one’s own emotional experience in response to exposure to traumatized clients and planning/engaging in positive coping strategies, such as seeking supervision, attending trainings on secondary trauma, working within a team, balancing caseloads, and work-life balance. Compared with generic personal care activities, TISC is likely to be especially relevant for child welfare workers. This study examined the role of TISC on compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary trauma which was assessed by administering surveys to a sample of 104 child welfare case managers and supervisors. Almost one third of the sample reported high levels of burnout (29.8%) and secondary trauma (28.8%), and low levels of compassion satisfaction (31.7%). Results suggested that workers who engaged in higher levels of TISC experienced higher levels of compassion satisfaction and lower levels of burnout, although there was no relationship with secondary trauma. Findings provide preliminary evidence that TISC may be a beneficial practice to reduce risk of burnout and preserve workers’ positive experience of their job, however workers experiencing secondary trauma are likely to need additional specialized intervention to assist them with their recovery.
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Alternative Health Spot: Dr. Simoncini Baking Soda Treatment For Cancer (NaHCO3)

Disclaimer: Alternative Corner is posted for interest only; this blog does not advocate any particular treatment.

Did you know that the AVERAGE orthodox cancer treatment costs $350,000? This treatment costs about $3 and in most cases is far more effective than the $350,000 treatments!

This treatment was developed in Italy by an oncologist and uses baking soda or sodium bicarbonate.

This treatment is primarily used for cancer of the digestive tract, including cancers of the throat, colon, intestines, rectal area, and other cancers in between.

Cancers outside of the digestive tract generally need a health practitioner to inject the baking soda solution.

This web page is an interesting interview with Dr. Simoncini himself:
http://candida-international.blogspot.com/2007/03/is-cancer-caused-by-candida-fungus.html

Also, see this video of an interview with Dr. Simoncini (high speed internet required):
Dr. Simoncini Interview

For more details about his treatment see this website:
Simoncini Protocol (Baking Soda)

Read Morehttp://www.cancertutor.com/simoncini/
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See also 

Alternative Corner: The Cancer Cure That Worked, Fifty Years of Suppression

Disclaimer: Alternative Corner is posted for interest only; this blog does not advocate any particular treatment.

In 1934, Mr. Royal Rife and his associates opened 2 small clinic in Ca1ifornia and cured sixteen cases of cancer. Sworn affidavits and medical experts testified to the complete remission of "hopeless" cases within four to six weeks. Virtually every patient treated by Rife's -Frequency Instrument.- as he called it. was cured with no adverse side affects. Since that time. millions of people have died from viruses that Mr. Rife convincingly destroyed over 50 years ago. Who was this man? What can his work teach us today, as we face the worldwide spread of AIDS? And why is this information being suppressed?
Read More &
See Book

Alternative Corner: A link to possible future cancer treatments ?

Disclaimer: Alternative Corner is posted for interest only; this blog does not advocate any particular treatment.

Cancer Treatments You Have Never Heard About Could Save Your Life!

Let us start with three facts about cancer you have probably never heard before:

1. Cancer cells can bereverted into normal cells(more than 20 treatments which do this are described on this website),
2. Depending on the treatment that is chosen, 5-year survival rates (i.e. “cure rates”) for thesame kind of cancercan range from 3% to 90% (almost all patients use the 3% cure rate treatments because they don’t know about the 90% cure rate treatments),
3. Inexpensive, safe and gentle cancer treatments (with 90% cure rates) have existed for decades, but very, very few people know these treatments even exist,

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Measuring and valuing Health; Open access Web course in February '15

Learn how Patient Reported Outcome Measures and Quality Adjusted Life Years can compare treatments and inform healthcare spending.
Healthcare systems around the world are increasingly under pressure to fund drugs, treatments and other healthcare interventions. No-one has the money or resources to provide them all, so how do we decide which ones to fund?
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Above is a new MOOC (Massive Open Online course) “Starting on February 16 2015 it is entitled "Measuring and Valuing Health". This  course looks at health outcomes and asks how can they help us to make more informed decisions about health care spending. The course takes place over 3hrs per week for three weeks. To find out more about this new MOOC and sign up visit the course homepage: 

Effects of yogic exercises on life stress and blood glucose levels in nursing students.

This study was performed to investigate the effects of yogic exercises on life stress and blood glucose levels in nursing students. [Subjects and Methods] The study was a randomized controlled trial. Twenty-seven undergraduate nursing students were randomly selected, with 12 assigned to an exercise group and 15 assigned to a control group. The yogic exercises intervention was undertaken for 60 minutes one day a week for 12 weeks. It consisted of physical exercise (surya namaskara) combined with relaxation and meditation (shavasana and yoga nidra). Life stress was measured by the Life Stress Scale for College Students, and postprandial blood glucose levels were measured with a digital glucometer. [Results] The exercise group measurements were significantly decreased in both life stress and postprandial blood glucose levels compared with the control group. [Conclusion] These findings indicate that yogic exercises would reduce life stress and lower postprandial blood glucose levels in nursing students.
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