This month’s Nursing Connections™ focuses on that all-important cardiac muscle. Find out more about an RN who devoted 50 years of her heart and soul to nursing, read about a new CPR study, and click over to a site on heart disease and women. As they sang in Damn Yankees: "You’ve gotta have heart. All you really need is heart."

Donna's Book Pix: Treasures of a Nurse’s Heart: My Mother’s Memoirs of Love and Wisdom for Everyday Life by Lisa S. Wagner and Martha M. Smith, RN Treasures of a Nurse’s Heart is a collection of 20 stories highlighting the 50-year nursing career of Martha Smith, RN. It’s evident that nursing was far more than simply a profession to this devoted nurse: She tells stories about developing a special care plan for a concentration camp survivor and hosting a pajama party for women in a long-term care facility. Each story ends with Life Lessons that remind readers to celebrate the small moments.

Cool Nursing Web Site:
The Heart Truth: Women and Heart Disease
The Heart Truth is a national awareness and prevention campaign about heart disease in women sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The website provides information for clinicians and educators about the prevention of heart disease in women, including links to consumer information and patient education materials; links to evidence-based references for clinical decision making; and educational materials suitable for medical and nursing students, physician assistant students, primary practice physicians and advanced practice nurses, and other healthcare providers.

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

Career Article:
Lean On Me
I’ll let you in on a trade secret that took me some time to learn. One of the best ways to be successful in the nursing profession is to learn to rely on your fellow nurses for information, support, guidance, and help. And contrary to what you may have heard, the great majority of nurses out there are very supportive of one another. Read more.

News You Can Use:
Chest Presses, Not Breaths, Better CPR
Chest compression — not mouth-to-mouth resuscitation — seems to be the key in helping someone recover from cardiac arrest, according to new research that further bolsters advice from heart experts.

A study in Japan showed that people were more likely to recover without brain damage if rescuers focused on chest compressions rather than rescue breaths, and some experts advised dropping the mouth-to-mouth part of CPR altogether. Another big advantage to dropping the rescue breaths: It could make bystanders more willing to provide CPR in the first place.

Quote of the Month:
What your heart thinks is great, is great. The soul’s emphasis is always right.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Donna’s Blog:
With spring just around the corner, we will be seeing an influx of new graduate nurses amongst our ranks. So much has changed in healthcare that new grads are more challenged than ever - higher acuity, shorter stays, staffing shortages, more technology, paperwork, and regulations! Read more at http://www.nurse-power.net/blog/

Entrepreneur Spotlight:
Susan Luck, RN, BS, MA, HNC, CCN, is a holistic health consultant and educator. In addition to being a certified holistic nurse (HNC) and a certified clinical nutritionist (CCN), Susan is also a medical anthropologist. Talk about versatile! She founded the Integrative Nursing Institute (www.integrativenursinginstitute.org) to bring holistic nursing modalities and education to the nursing community.

"I decided to become an independent practitioner over twenty years ago," says Susan. "My interest is in prevention, holistic health, and education. And as a nurse, I knew that I could be more effective and create my own private practice. My work is fulfilling and successful.”

In that vein, Susan has produced an interactive, innovative 3.5-hour DVD for nurses called At the Heart of Healing: Experiencing Holistic Nursing. This program teaches nurses new tools to bring to self-care and diverse healthcare settings and offers a path for nurses to become independent practitioners. The program is approved for 15.5 continuing education contact hours from AACN. For more information, e-mail holisticeducator@aol.com. Additionally, Susan offers an Integrative Nurse Educator Certificate Program through the NY Open Center (www.opencenter.org).

Susan also has a passion for Environmental Health and recently founded The EarthRose Institute (www.earthrose.org) to provide education on the environmental links to children’s and women’s health. It is a 501c3 (not for profit) organization that receives donations to create education programs to practitioners and to communities.

When asked what advice she would give to other nurses considering self-employment, Susan responds, "I believe that becoming independent is a freedom that we all deserve to know. Nurses have the ability and skills to explore many diverse career opportunities and to become successful." Amen.

Come Meet Donna:

Induction Ceremony Address
Omicron Pi Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International
April 15, 2007 - Woodbridge Hilton, Iselin, NJ

Nurse Power!™ - Keynote
Take Your Career to the Next Level
Nursing: The Next Generation
Nursing Symposium 2007
April 16, 2007 - Foxwoods Resort & Casino in CT

Nursing - The Next Generation
Hanover Hospital Recruitment Event
April 26, 2007 - Hanover, PA

Success is a Journey, Not a Destination
St. Joseph Health System
May 5, 2007 – Tawas City, MI

Nurse Power!™
Rhode Island Hospital Nurses Week Celebration
May 8, 2007 - Providence, RI

Nurse Power!™
Sinai Hospital of Baltimore Nurses Week Luncheon
May 9, 2007 - Baltimore, MD

Nurse Power!™
South Jersey Healthcare Nurses Week Celebration
May 16, 2007 - Vineland, NJ

Nurse Power!™
Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital - NYP
May 17, 2007 – Saddle Brook, NJ

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

Book Donna Today
Planning a convention, educational conference, or leadership training program? Looking for a speaker for a new graduate orientation program, student nurse luncheon, or recruitment event? Donna has a program to meet your needs. Don't miss the opportunity to bring the country's leading career management expert and motivational speaker for nurses to your event. Call 800-801-5796 or e-mail at donna@dcardillo.com for rates, availability, and program topics. Fill out an inquiry form if you prefer.

Your 1^st Year As A Nurse Ordering Information
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