Catching up with Karyn

Hi Tom!

First of all - I love your work. Over the years, your appearances have amazed me. You've made my heart ache, you've made me think, and most of all, you've made me laugh. In the wake of your announcement that you have been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, it's the laughter I want to talk to you about.

As a talented comic actor, you know how humor can be used to accomplish many things. Laughter brings people together, creating bonds between people who might otherwise have nothing in common. Humor can make communication easier, by lowering the barriers raised by class or socio-economic status: we are all the same when we laugh.

Humor is powerful. Ridicule can topple the powerful, comfort the downtrodden, and cause the comfortable and complacent to reconsider everything they thought they knew about the world.

You knew this, of course. But did you know that humor can make managing your diabetes easier?  It's true. For many years now - just about as long as you've been making...

Women are the world's best multi-taskers. We have to be. Look at our schedules. If we took the typical woman's day - especially if she's a member of the Sandwich Generation, caring for her children and her parents - and calculated how long it would take to complete every item on the to-do list, one item at a time, the total would be something close to 647 hours!

There's no way to cram 647 hours worth of activity into a 24 hour day. But boy, do we try. So we multi-task.

No matter what we're doing, we're also doing something else.

While we're driving the kids to school, we're also putting together a grocery list and phoning in the prescription refills we'll have to pick up at the end of the day. And coordinating who's getting picked up after soccer practice and who needs a ride to clarinet class.

While we're in the office, we're doing our jobs - and also some freelance HR, smoothing over a conflict between two cranky colleagues who have to work together; fielding a call from the...

"The minute this LOL walked into our ER, I knew she was going to be trouble. She arrived with 6 relatives, each of whom was being continually, loudly reminded of their responsibilities. One had to hold the purse, another was to call everyone - she listed them by name - and let them know the LOL was in the ICU and about to die any moment, another one had to run out to the car to make sure the lights were out, the fourth was supposed to make the doctor see her at the triage desk because she didn't have the strength to go any further, the fifth had to take the purse because the first one wasn't holding it right, and the sixth was responsible for everything else."

"I don't think Queen Elizabeth has this many attendants. I knew right then we had a candidate for our Hall of Fame."

Reframing: Seeing the World Through the Lens of Humor

Some patients are more difficult than others. That's no secret - just ask any nurse! Humor provides a way to keep calm, cool, and collected while managing...

"How hot is it? Well, I just saw two trees fighting over a dog!"

Temperatures throughout the Western part of the United States are exceptionally high right now. These near-record temperatures are enough to ground small aircraft! As a nurse, I can't stress strongly enough how important it is to take special care of yourself and your loved ones - especially the elderly and small children - during this heat wave. Make sure that everyone takes in plenty of liquids, avoids exerting themselves, and stays as cool as possible. If you don't have air conditioning or your A/C isn't working properly, take advantage of community cooling stations.

It's also important to keep your spirits up during this heat wave. Being exposed to excessive temperatures puts stress on your body's systems. Luckily, laughter is an all-natural, drug-free way to reduce the impact of that stress. When we laugh, we lower our blood pressure, improve blood sugar control, and improve circulation.

"It's so hot I just saw a...

We spend a lot of time in healthcare focused on patient outcomes, and that's how it should be. After all, we all got into this gig to help people cope with illness, injury, or incredibly bad luck. If we're not helping our patients out, we're doing it wrong.

But sometimes the focus on patient outcomes overshadows other important stories. If you're a physician, a nurse, a therapist, an aide, or otherwise involved in the front-line delivery of healthcare, your chances of being injured or becoming ill on the job are more than 4 times higher than if you worked in manufacturing.

Isn't that an incredible statistic? I couldn't believe it when I first heard it. Then I remembered all of the slips, trips, falls, scrapes, and yes, assaults from patients and disgruntled visitors, that I experienced or witnessed during my nursing career, and I thought that number suddenly seemed a little low.

There are twice as many healthcare workers as there are construction workers in this country, but...

The other day at a shopping mall, I unexpectedly caught site of my backside in a reflection. When I came to, I couldn’t bring myself to tell the nice paramedic what had really caused my fainting spell.

Once home, I gazed in the mirror and uttered my daily prayer: “Dear lord: Grant me world peace, thin thighs, and hips without hail damage (not in any particular order).”

World peace seemed much more likely than thin thighs.

However, seeing forty in my rearview mirror has had its advantages. My thirst for knowledge has made me smarter than I was as a twenty-something (if nothing else, I recognize how much I don’t know). Funny how at that age I thought I knew it all—that I was wise beyond my years. I knew about life. I knew about love. My mother had assured me I could be anything I wanted to be when I grew up, and I believed her. (Note: My interpretation was that I could do everything I wanted to do—big difference).

With years has come...

From my point of view, Nurses Week and Hospital Week absolutely rocked! I had the good fortune to speak to the nursing staff at dozens of healthcare systems – always a thrill for me, because it’s a privilege to recognize, entertain, and inspire the awesome nurses from coast to coast.

But how did Nurses Week look to other nurses around the country?

When I ask nurse managers and healthcare systems administrators what their biggest challenge is, the word ‘engagement’ comes up a lot: “We need nurses who are engaged, actively focused on the best in patient care – especially now that reimbursement rates are directly tied to patient satisfaction.” Nurses Week and Hospital Week celebrations are the time to recognize and celebrate the vital role nurses play (and hopefully inspire them to want to keep up their incredible performance!).

Are we doing a good job of letting nurses know how important they are?

Yes and no. When asked, many nurses are quick...

Truth is, I don't watch TV much. Mostly it's bad for your health. And honestly most of us don't watch TV as much as we let it drone on in the background until something manages to cut through the clatter.

My stress level begins to climb after just a few minutes of listening to Natalie Morales telling me about the war raging in (name-your-location-here), or Norah O'Donnell telling me about the effects of global warming, or Jean Chatsky telling me I've invested poorly and am going to have to let my favorite child pick out my nursing home. I'll admit it, my chest feels a little tighter, my anxiety is a little higher, and I'm wondering if a glass of Merlot for breakfast would count as a fruit on my Weight Watcher points.

But yesterday something different cut through the clatter. I'm thinking, "Did I hear that right?!"  I stopped what I was doing and looked up. The commercial for Kmart’s gas savings was quick—and by the time I got to where I could see the TV, the ad was...

Some of my favorite people in the world are oncology nurses. If you ever want to meet a group of smart, skilled, and passionate healthcare providers, look to the oncology nurses. They’re there day in and day out on the front lines, providing exceptional care and essential emotional support, to people with cancer. And if you ever want to meet a group of nurses who know the value of a well-timed laugh – oncology nurses can help you with that as well.

Faced with the stark and bleak side of healthcare, oncology nurses have a finely tuned appreciation for the silly and bizarre. To this day, I remember the reaction of the oncology nurse who was treating my college-aged son David when he introduced one of his best buds as Tonto.

“If he’s Tonto,” the nurse asked Adam, “then who are you?”

With a great big grin, my son rubbed his balding head and announced, “I’m his Chemo-sabi!”

Sometimes those laughs come exactly when you need them....

Happy Nurses Week!

If you've ever cleared out an entire Pizza Hut just by talking shop with your co-workers, this week is for you!

If you've ever complimented a stranger on their lovely veins (or merely ogled from afar!) this week is for you!

If you've ever proven your ability C-diff at a distance, using only your nose, this week is for you!

If you've ever defined 'medication error' as "I should have taken the Ativan myself!" this week is for you!

If you've ever had your scrubs seized by the CDC as the most terrifying thing they've ever seen, this week is for you!

Nurses are amazing people, and this is the week we celebrate our profession. Whether you're a nurse in the hospital setting, health clinic, school, nursing home or long term care setting, corrections facility, military, or beyond, the fact is that you're the front lines of health care in this country. You are the number one source of caring, compassionate patient care. The work you do makes a real difference in the lives...