In the news and helpful hints

VA halts 45 IT projects (from www.healthcareitnews.com)

SSO provides relief for password headaches (also www.healthcareitnews.com)
SSO, or Single Sign On, is one, long overdue piece that is left out of many network authentication systems. Signing on to multiple information systems (mainframe, PC, etc.) during the course of a day can be mind-boggling, considering security and logging issues in hospital systems.

HINT: Do yourself a favor--rotate your passwords in a scheme you can remember. Don't write them down, but do write down any hints that may help you remember your scheme. If you rotate them regularly, based on your network rules (every 30, 60, 90 days, etc.), it's easier to remember, too. There are some password keeper programs (such as this one from SplashData) you may be able to use on a personal device (i.e. PDA, smartphone). Whatever you do...don't write your passwords down anywhere they can be used to access your account.

Ask your system administrator (if they'll tell you) how many unique passwords you need to have in a year. Many system administrators require xx amount of unique passwords per year or per system. In one of my former lives, our system kept a record of your last 6 passwords; another system only four.

News items of note

Yes, I'm still here but busy working and prepping for every kind of test you can imagine.

Here are a few news items I've culled of interest in IT. Note: not all of them pertain directly to your life on the floor as an RN, but they tell the background story of the world of IT right now.

Think they can't outsource health care? Think again. Infosys, one of the largest IT outsourcing shops in the world is looking at taking on the US health care market (from the WSJ Health Blog.)
President Obama discusses the importance of IT in health care yet again.

Emerging Technologies in Nurse Education is a seminar sponsored by Reed Elsevier, primarily for nursing educators. It brings up some very interesting topics, particularly use of simulator tools for nursing students.

GeekDoctor brings up another hot IT topic: Green IT. Green IT discusses ways of saving energy in the use of IT equipment by powering down servers and workstations when they are not in use. This can be better said than done in a 24/7/365 health care environment, and GeekDoctor highlights some interesting solutions.

One RN describes a weekend without technology on her unit in this article. End of Shift: Nurses get Back to Basics. (from http://www.nurse.com/)

And finally, in the cool toys section, http://www.medgadget.com/ discusses the latest and greatest pulse oximeter. I'd really love to have one of these on the floor!

Where to look -- information on the web

My first inclination when looking for technology articles of interest to me as a nurse is to turn the web and poke around in the search engines. My personal favorite is Google (also the parent company of blogger.com) Google, like many other search engines, uses proprietary algorithms to find articles based on your searches. This is quick and easy, but depending on the search term, it can be a bit overwhelming. The University of Berkeley offers this page called Googling to the Max with information on how to get the most out of your Google searches.


From my university days not so long ago, we learned about the subscription databases, such as Medline and the greatest nursing database ever, CINAHL. These tend to be very expensive, and unless you're enrolled in a class with library access or your facility provides this access to you, you may have to seek alternative resources.


Searching the web for cogent articles for you as a nurse can be challenging, but there are a variety of free resources that are decent and referenced to quality research. Here are some of my favorites below:

Medscape Nursing
This section of the http://www.medscape.com/ site discusses news, industry information and has sections on specialty areas of nursing, as well as opportunities for continuing education.



eMedicine
This site's entry paragraph says it all:


The original open access comprehensive medical textbook for all clinical fields
10,000 Contributors 6,500 Articles


I have found it to be very useful for a quick study on a disease process and its treatments. It was invaluable for me as a student because it allowed me to learn information quickly about a disease or disorder. I still use it today. I found it most helpful recently when I had a patient with Fournier's gangrene.



Finally, the National Institutes of Health also has a wide variety of information for both nurses and patients, as well as links to research topics, grant information, and links to specialty centers of the NIH such as National Cancer Institute and other centers.

Drug information abounds on the web. It is available from specific manufacturers or from sites such as NIH at MedlinePlus drug information, http://www.rxlist.com/, or at http://www.drugs.com/. Please note that some sites may require purchasing a subscription to access further data.