A journey of a thousand miles begins with … a personal assessment. Are you happy with the life you’re leading? If not, do you know why? Nursing Connections™ is here to inspire and motivate you to get started. In this e-zine you’ll find information on finding your ideal life and communicating with others. Learn where to read illuminating stories about nurses who are improving the health of the environment and about an RN who segued her need for flexibility into her own pediatric telephone triage business. Ready to take the first step?

Donna's Book Pix: Finding Your Own North Star by Martha Beck Explorers use the North Star to navigate when there are no other landmarks in sight. In Finding Your Own North Star, Beck encourages you to make the exciting and sometimes scary journey to your own ideal life. The book, filled with O: The Oprah Magazine columnist Beck’s trademark humor, features case studies, questionnaires, and exercises to guide you every step of the way. You’ll learn to evaluate your pleasures and pains, listen to your body for directional cues, and extract "soul shrapnel" (healing emotional wounds). Point your compass to the nearest bookstore and start your journey today.

Cool Nursing Web Site:
The Luminary Project: Nurses Lighting the Way to Environmental Health
The web-based Luminary Project showcases stories of nurses’ activities to improve human health by improving the health of the environment. The stories featured on this website show how nurses are addressing environmental problems and illuminating the way towards safe hospitals, communities with clean air, land, and water, and children born without toxic chemicals in their bodies.

If you have a cool nursing web site you’d like to share, please send it to me at editor@dcardillo.com.

Career Article:
Pack More Punch into Daily Communication
Some say that we spend as much as 80% of our waking day conversing. That’s an awful lot of talking. But unfortunately, talking is not the same as communicating. If what you’re saying isn't clear to the intended recipient, or if you lose his or her attention mid-stream, then your efforts to make a point will likely be in vain. This means that important personal and workplace conversations could be going astray. So how can you pack more of a punch in your daily communication and be sure to get your message across? Read more.

News You Can Use:
The Citizens' Health Care Working Group is into its first round of hosting community meetings, asking nurses, health professionals, and the public "what needs to happen and what tough choices [are you] willing to make so that the [health care] system works for all Americans?" The group of 14 citizens and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt is particularly concerned with rising costs, unreliable health care quality, and inconsistent access to care, Randall L. Johnson, a Motorola Corp. executive leading the meetings, said in a statement. Opportunities to provide feedback to the group are listed under the calendar section on the organization’s website.

Quote of the Month:
The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind.
— Wayne Dyer

Entrepreneur Spotlight:
Christie Camizzi, RN, BSN, provides parents with reassurance, information and peace of mind. She is founder and owner of Kids First Triage, a professional, community-based telephone triage and advice service that works with pediatricians to provide their patients with the best after-hour triage and advice possible.

Christie, who worked on hospital pediatric units and as a telephone triage nurse for physicians' offices, started the business five years ago. After having kids, she wanted to work from home and have more flexibility.

Today, she has that flexibility, which is both a blessing and a curse: "I can participate in all of my kids' activities," she says. "I also can have a strong voice in how telephone triage is performed and promote the specialty and help to legitimize it." But, "there is never a time I’m not working. It’s a big responsibility."

Kids First Triage serves 30 pediatric offices and two clinics. Christie focuses on the administrative side and has six RN independent contractors who handle the telephone triage from home offices. In addition, one nurse does quality assurance.

She recently obtained a Unified Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC) allowing her to offer franchise opportunities to others. "The benefits of buying into a franchise [for the franchisee] are that you are buying into a proven business plan and you get training and support. You don’t have to start from scratch and reinvent the wheel." Christie says this is a great opportunity for nurses to own their own business and work remotely from home.

Learn more about Christie and her company at http://www.kidsfirsttriage.com.

Come Meet Donna:
Recruitment Event
Communicate with Confidence
April 3, 2006 – Sheraton Parsippany, Parsippany, NJ
Atlantic Health System – Spring Hiring Event

Nurse Power!™
April 27, 2006 – Miami Beach, FL
Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs (NOVA) – 26th Annual Meeting

For additional program info visit http://www.dcardillo.com/events.html.

Your 1^st Year As A Nurse Ordering Information
Order a personalized, autographed copy of Your 1^st Year as a Nurse directly from Cardillo & Associates. It makes a great personal or professional gift.

For colleges and healthcare facilities, Your 1^st Year as a Nurse can be purchased at a bulk discount from online booksellers and directly from the publisher. Contact us for more information at 800-801-5796.

Career Alternatives for Nurses™ Product Specials
The audiocassette and VHS versions of Career Alternatives for Nurses™ are being phased out, so we are offering you special close-out prices on those. Hurry — this offer is valid while current supplies last!

Video Cassette (VHS) – 2 tape set originally $149.95 now $105.99 plus shipping and handling
Audio Cassette – 4 tape set originally $99.95 now $69.99 plus shipping and handling
Order your copy today.

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