Maggie visits the National Library of Medicine

Maggie accompanies Julie Smith, Library Manager, who recently visited the mecca of medical librarians, the National Library of Medicine. Although they missed the Cherry Blossom season, they enjoyed exploring the vast offerings of the National Library of Medicine including PubMed which indexes more than 5,400 medical, nursing and allied health journals.
"The National Library of Medicine (NLM), in Bethesda, Maryland, is a part of the National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Since its founding in 1836, NLM has played a pivotal role in translating biomedical research into practice. It is the world's largest biomedical library and the developer of electronic information services that deliver trillions of bytes of data to millions of users every day. Scientists, health professionals, and the public in the US and around the globe search the Library's online information resources more than one billion times each year.
The Library is open to all and has many services and resources--for scientists, health professionals, historians, and the general public. NLM has nearly 12 million books, journals, manuscripts, audiovisuals, and other forms of medical information on its shelves, making it the largest health-science library in the world." (NLM website quote)

Critical Care: Maggie was there!

What an amazing crew in ICU! Staff in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) and the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) warmly welcomed me to their area. Among those I hung out with were, at top left, Cardiothoracic Nurse Practitioner Megan Liego, RN, MSN, ACNP, and a patient; above right, Critical Care Nurse Manager Gemma Seidl, RN, MSN, PHN, MPH, and Critical Care Outcomes /Magnet Project Coordinator Soudi Bogert, RN, BSN. I also had the chance to make rounds with the team!

Observing in Outpatient Surgery

Outpatient Surgery rocks! Even though the crew here performs more surgeries than any other hospital in Orange County and the third most in all of California, they're making time to volunteer their surgical expertise. On April 17 surgeons and staff will welcome indigent patients who will receive free procedures that they need, through the AccessOC Super Surgery Saturday program.

A dose of Emergency Medicine

Whew! St. Joseph Hospital's Emergency Department is one active place! On the day I came in, I was one of about 300 patients. Last year more than 101,000 patients were seen in this ER and so far this year the volume is higher than ever. Not only is this the busiest ER in Orange County, it is the third busiest ER in the entire state of California.

Even more impressive than their high volumes is the high level of competency I observed. The board-certified Emergency Medicine physician, advanced nurse practitioner, Chest Pain Center staff, clinical educator, child life specialist, and myriad other members of the ER team made me confident I was in capable and caring hands.

Where should Maggie go on her next vacation? The Grand Canyon?

Maggie takes at peek at Julie Smith's (Library Manager) photos from a trip she took to the Grand Canyon in January 2009. What an awesome sight!!