Joe's Lounge

The Well Prepared Traveler

2013-08-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

If you are traveling anytime soon, I've put together some tips that may make your trip a little easier.

•Pack as light as possible. I'm still working on my wife with this one, it's always a battle. Soft luggage works best if you are going to stuff a bag in an overhead airline bin, it's amazing what people try to jam up there to avoid airline fees.

•Bring all similar color of clothes. It's less work to wash.

•Bring a small pair of binoculars, to view sites, wildlife, or even to look for exit signs when you are sitting in jammed city traffic, like my wife does.

•Load an app on the city you plan to visit. It will provide you with a lot of useful information about your destination.

•Ask a local. One time in New Orleans I turned and asked a business man where he ate. He gave me valuable info on some great local cuisine that really made my trip.

•Bring a Britta filter bottle, it is always easy to find a water fountain, and it will save you a fortune in bottled water, along with the convenience.

•Find a local farmers market. In San Francisco recently, we ate fresh fruit and a breakfast sandwich from an organic local vendor that was as good as any restaurant, we still talk about it at breakfast.

•Use apps to find food trucks. The food coming off these trucks have come a long way, and are relatively cheap. Again, ask the locals which ones they like!

•If you rent a car take a picture of it, your photos can be used for defense against excessive charges from rental agencies, be sure to take photos the day you received and dropped it off.

•Another good use of your smart phone is taking pictures of a dirty hotel room. They can be valuable when dealing with customer service, most places would rather rectify the matter than risk you blogging a bad review with pictures.

•Use a GPS. Anyone who has ever driven in a big city knows how frustrating it can be finding your way around. For example Boston, where the police even give you wrong directions due to changing work conditions. A GPS can reduce the arguing and frustration that comes along with being lost in a strange city. While it is true that smart phones come equipped with GPS’s, giving you one less thing to bring; I still like having one on my windshield for insurance.

•Contact your local visitors bureau. This is an old one that is not utilized as much now days with the Internet. But they can be helpful, and often offer free maps and coupons on the city you are visiting.

•Remember to slow down and enjoy. Sometimes on vacation we try to jam so much in and want to see everything that we forget to slow down and take it all in.

Have fun!

If you have any tips you'd like to share with me, please let me know.

I Escaped Alcatraz!

2013-06-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

I was ready to conquer the famous Alcatraz swim. Everyone knows about the ice cold water, how 3 convicts escaped one night - made famous by movies - and the mystique that it was impossible to survive.

The first day in San Francisco was cold and extremely windy, and the water was rough. Staring out at Alcatraz I thought, what did I get myself into? It looked cold and a lot farther than I'd imagined! My wife tried to reassure me, but I could tell she thought it was nuts.

Though it's true that there are no great white sharks in the bay, it has something to do with the fresh water run-off from the Sierra Nevada Mountains, I was surprised by the harbor seals. They hang around the aquatic park. I thought they were cute and cuddly, until I realized that they like to nip at you as you swim. The water is so cold it gives you an ice cream head ache in the first ten minutes, although a lot of locals swim without a wetsuit, crazy!

We really lucked out the morning of the swim. The water was calm and the skies where beautiful. It was not the typical windy and fog filled summer morning that you usually see in San Francisco, but I was really apprehensive about the ice cold bay. Swimming in open water is always a challenge, due to the current and your ability to use land marks to swim where you need to.

The race starts off with a parade down the wharf to the boat that takes you out to Alcatraz; it felt like a funeral procession, almost everyone was pretty subdued. It doesn't take long to get out to the island, but when your nerves are working it feels a lot longer. After months of preparation the time had come, there were 800 of us, including a guy in a wheel chair and an amputee with one leg. It was really amazing! There was no way to chicken out now.

I took my time getting off the boat, and was one of the last one's off. I was like a kid in school daring everyone else to go first. Even with a full wet suit and cap, it still was a shock to my system which is used to the warm Florida water. Most people tend to hyperventilate the moment their face hits ice cold water, but by blowing bubbles when you land, it really helps prevent the rapid breathing and drop of heart rate. I'm glad my wife pushed me not to back out, it ended up being a really cool endeavor, once I took the plunge.

I will never forget the prospective from the water level looking back at Alcatraz and then turning to see the San Francisco skyline, I stopped a few times to take in the amazing scenery. The act of 800 people all swimming together was really a unique one. All in all, after months of training it only took 33 min to complete, and it left me wondering if the three convicts really did make it? We will never know!

Anyone interested in doing the swim, feel free to email me. If I can give you any pointers, or alleviate any fears. It really was a lot of fun. Thanks everyone for your support!

Sharkfest Swim 2013, San Francisco

2013-05-20T17:29:00.004-07:00

33 minutes to swim from Alcatraz Island to the Pier!

The water was so cold it was an ice cream head ache the 1st 10 minutes. I was nervous. You don't have to worry about sharks, but the sea lions are a pain, they nip at you when you swim.

Tomorrow I break out of Alcatraz Island!

2013-05-18T17:25:00.001-07:00

   Tomorrow is the Sharkfest Swim from Alcatraz Island off San Francisco.
   Joe has been training for weeks to face the frigid waters. Good Luck Joe! We're all cheering for you in Florida!

   "The water is so cold it's an ice cream head ache the 1st 10 minutes, swim is tomorrow ,
   a little nervous, by the way you don't have to worry about sharks, but the sea lions are
a pain, they nip at you when you swim!

"It looks much further than I thought, and it's cold."

Happy Nurses Week

2013-05-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Portrayal of Male Nurses in the Media

2013-01-24T07:57:00.004-08:00

Have you ever seen the Johnson & Johnson commercial with a male pediatric nurse singing a song to a little girl, it is one of the first times I have ever seen a male nurses portrayed in a good light in the media. In general nurses as a whole are rarely ever seen on medical shows. Shows like House and Grey's Anatomy give the public the perception that we only carry out orders and the MD is always available. Some shows have a male nurse such as Malik on ER, but he had a minor role and you rarely see a male nurse portrayed on TV. Why is that? I believe it is because shows like Marcus Welby in the 60's made the general public believe that there were only female nurses, and their role was minor in the care of the patient. I realize that TV story lines are written to entertain, but the screen role that nurses portray on TV is insulting and unrealistic. The greater problem is that the general public believes the TV stereotypes and treats nurses the way they are portrayed on TV and the media. Coupled with the public’s perception of nurse’s in the media is that it's just not considered manly to be a nurse. I believe a lot of young men are still not drawn to this profession because of the media’s negative portrayal. I once had a little kid tell me I couldn’t be a nurse because I was a man.

Male nurses are up against many of the same things that female cops, firefighters, and military women put up with. How do we change the perception of nurse’s and especially male nurses in the media? It is important to let the public know exactly what we do, that we have a very skilled set of knowledge that is vital to their health and well-being. I’ve had patients who where surprised when I would explain what tests where being ordered, what their plan of care was going to be, and what they should expect of their stay at the hospital. Many would tell me that they were surprised at how much we know and do. They thought that only the doctor knew what was going on. Second, I think the nursing organizations should do more to recruit men and educate the public that this profession is for everyone, male or female. Lastly, I think it is important that each male nurse take pride in our profession, and let the younger generation of men know that you don’t have to be feminine to be a nurse, just look at the male military nurses that served our country in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is important to remember that the first nurses where actually men, the Knights Hospitaller, our signature shield for this site. Who knows, maybe there will be a male nurse portrayed on a TV show or movie that actually shows what we do.

Why Do Nurses Eat Their Young ?

2012-12-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

You always hear that nurses eat their young, but I've got to tell you this profession takes its toll on the veterans. Has anyone ever stopped to wonder why there are always openings in healthcare? Besides the fact that this can be a very taxing job on your body, there is a lot of biased towards older nurses - they cost too much, not that their experience is important.

Doctors are generally looked at for their experience, and the older more experienced MD's are the ones the patients seek out, but older experienced nurses are not valued for their years of knowledge. In Malcolm Gladwell's Book "Outliers" said it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world class expert in anything ,so why isn't it considered important in our profession? Since the economy has taken a downfall, I've seen a lot of the veterans leave the profession or at the very least, the hospital environment and replaced with inexperienced new grads, or by cheaper foreign nurses. My friends who are firefighters or cops would never think of putting the new guy or rookie in charge, but I've seen nurses with one year of experience running an ICU.

Partly to blame for this is the nursing profession itself, as a whole this profession has never stood up and tackled the problems facing nurse’s important role in healthcare. What the answer is I'm not quite sure. Does it matter if you serve on the nursing counsels at work? If you join and participate in you professional nursing associations? I hope so, but that remains to be seen.

"It's Getting Hard Out Here for a (Male) Nurse"

2012-10-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

     Nursing can be a challenging profession, especially for male nurses. Only 6% of the total nursing population in the U.S. is male. There are a lot of old fashioned, die hard attitudes when it comes to how men are perceived by the public. It's bad enough that nurses are generally perceived as hand maidens to doctors, being a male nurse has an added stigma attached to it.

     You hardly ever hear, "You're a female police officer or female firefighter", but men consistently hear, "You're a male nurse?" or "didn't you want to be a doctor?" When asked if professional nurses would recommend that their own children become nurses, I don't think many would say yes. Why is this? A revealing survey by Forbes of the most unhappiest jobs rated nursing #2 on the list. Poor compensation relative to responsibility, limited growth opportunities and work place culture were the top 3 things that nurses were most dissatisfied with. Add to those things the fact that you're a man. How many times have you had a co-worker tell you they want to use your "muscles"? Or, better yet, see someone walk past several female co-workers, who are not busy, to ask you for assistance to move or reposition their patients! When you're the only guy on a unit, this gets old quick, not to mention how behind you can get in your own work when you're helping everyone else.

     I feel that male nurses are able to better act as members of a team better than most women. My wife, who is also a RN, and others have told me it's because men are socialized differently. I feel that men in nursing are, on the whole, very perceptive to the needs of their patients. I think it comes from us interacting with our mothers, sisters, wives, girlfriends. We treat our patients with the same respect we want our families to get.

    Men also tend to take alot less shit from doctors, but it's not always true that male doctors treat men better. I've known a few that felt threatened by male nurses, or they don't like the idea that they couldn't intimidate us as easily. Same with female doctors, some like the power they have over you, or maybe they have issues related to going into a "man's" profession.

    So guys, I want to here what you have to say about how we can influence, change or just be better represented in this profession. I think if we stick together we can be a real force for change.

   Joe Trenga, RN