Archive for August, 2009

Bob Andres, bandres@ajc.com

Have you been unemployed for an extended amount of time and have exhausted all of the unemployment benefit extensions?

We are working on a story about people who have exhausted their unemployment benefits and would like to talk to people in that position.

There have been a number of government extensions, but the depth of the recession has meant that many laid-off workers go an awfully long time without landing another job. A rising number of them have run out — or are about to.

If you are losing your benefits and are willing to speak about it on the record — we’d want your name and the town you live in — call economics writer Michael Kanell (404-526-7044) or drop him an email message. His address is mkanell@ajc.com.

Continue reading Exhausted? Your benefits, that is …. »

By Laura Raines, for the AJC

“In today’s market, networking is more critical than ever to your career success,” said Mike Seagraves, vice president and director of marketing at Integrity Wealth Management Inc., a financial management firm in Roswell. “About 90 percent of all jobs are found through networking.”

Mike Seagraves (left) Karen Hayllar and Bob Hayllar are the co-creators of a Web site that connects job seekers with career networking events and tips. Photo by Leita Cowart, for the AJC.

Your network is your ticket to the hidden job market — those opportunities that don’t get posted because they are filled internally, by recruiters or through employee referrals. Seagraves advises workers to develop their networks through nonprofit groups, professional associations and business or social contacts, in his free, bi-monthly workshop, “Mastering Executive Job Change.”

He created the crash course in career transitions in 2001, and has helped more than …

Continue reading Plugging in to the job search network »

I am not a psychiatrist, psychologist or medical professional of any stripe. So I’m careful to “stick to my knitting” — job search strategies, that is — when my clients describe their treatments for anxiety, depression or any of a host of mood disorders.

In nearly all cases, my clients speak positively about the drugs they take to help them cope with the illness. Still, I worry sometimes about the impact of the drugs on job search, so I’ve compiled a list of tips.

Working Strategies by Amy Lindgren

● DO practice interviewing, possibly with a video recorder. You may not be completely aware of how you appear to others.
● DO be aware of what your meds take away from you, including short-term memory or spontaneous humor. For example, people with short-term memory issues (especially under the stress of an interview) can use note-taking during the meeting to present the appearance of being organized, rather than forgetful.
● DO target your next job to suit …

Continue reading Working Strategies: Mental health issues no obstacle to search »

About Pulse, Atlanta’s monthly publication for health care professionals

Editor’s Notes

Quiet strength

Why I Love My Job: Stacy Jaskwhich, BSN, MSN, NP-BC

“Georgias” on her mind

News Briefs: VHA Georgia honors DeKalb Medical

Second time around

Spotlight on a Leader: Laura Kimble, Ph.D., RN, FNP-C, FAHA

My Style: Karen Kubik, RT-R

Robot will be Rx for Grady’s long prescription waits

Pregnant Women, Health-Care Workers Top Swine Flu Vaccine Candidates

Continuing education

Pulse August 2009 edition

Read past issues of Pulse

Continue reading PULSE: September 2009 edition »

By Pulse staff

Sept. 8-9
A medical-surgical nursing review for practice enhancement and a certification course will be offered at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta. The course is for nurses preparing to take certification exams as well as those who want to improve their knowledge. The event will be in classroom 7 on the sixth floor of the 77 building. The cost is $225 and includes course materials, light breakfast, light lunch and Georgia Nurses Association contact hours. For registration and information, send e-mail to delores.carter-butler@piedmont.org or call 404-605-4741. For credit card registrations, call 1-866-900-4321.

Sept. 11
Leading Edge Conference: Advances in Cardiovascular Care will be offered in the Carroll Conference Center at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta. Robotic surgeon Dr. Sudhir Srivastava and other St. Joseph’s Hospital physicians will explore the most recent advances in cardiology and diagnostic treatments. Topics will include hypothermia post …

Continue reading PULSE: Continuing education »

By Laura Raines, Pulse editor

Current job: Professor of nursing at Georgia Baptist College of Nursing of Mercer University in Atlanta

Laura Kimble is a professor at the Georgia Baptist College of Nursing of Mercer University in Atlanta. Photo by Barry Williams, for the AJC.

Past jobs: She started her career as a cardiovascular nurse in 1980. While working at King’s Daughters Hospital in Ashland, Ky., Kimble treated a patient who worked in a steel mill and came to her with chest pains.

“He wanted to be able to walk the half-mile from the parking lot to the time clock so that he could do his job as a crane operator,” Kimble said. “That’s what led me to want to do cardiovascular research.”

A nurse educator and researcher for 25 years, she has taught at Indiana Wesleyan University, Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and Georgia State University’s Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing.

Recent accomplishments: Kimble was named the first …

Continue reading PULSE: Spotlight on a Leader: Laura Kimble, Ph.D., RN, FNP-C, FAHA »

By Laura Raines, for the AJC

How far would you go to find a career that fits your passion? When do you give up the excuses, ignore the odds and surmount the obstacles to begin a career where you can make a difference?

“Now!” is the advice of three professionals who decided to make nursing their second — and last — careers.

Robert Angstadt, BSN, RN

With an MBA, Robert Angstadt, 47, had worked his way up to regional sales manager in the automotive industry. He was working six days a week, traveling constantly and not enjoying it, when a serious car crash in 2000 made him rethink his priorities.

“I wanted to do something positive and work in some kind of helping profession,” Angstadt said.

Robert Angstadt, who once was a sales manager in the automotive industry, is a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at Northside Hospital in Atlanta. Photo by Nick Arroyo, for the AJC

He had several family members who were teachers, but Angstadt kept remembering the nurses …

Continue reading PULSE: Second time around »

VHA Georgia awarded DeKalb Medical two leadership awards at its leadership conference earlier this month at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park.

A VHA Operational Excellence award went to the emergency room staff at the North Decatur campus for initiating processes that have decreased wait time, improved patient satisfaction and generated $11.5 million in new revenue through increased efficiency. The award was the result of a initiative begun two years ago that implemented 50 process changes to improve patient flow and satisfaction. ER waits dropped to an average of 30 minutes.

Innovations in the prevention of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers earned the North Decatur hospital a Clinical Excellence Award. New protocols have helped the hospital decrease its pressure ulcer rate from 15 percent last year to less than 1 percent (.74) this year. The national average incidence rate is 7 percent.

Brainy certification: Tracey Rogers, a physical therapist at …

Continue reading PULSE: VHA Georgia honors DeKalb Medical »

By Laura Raines, Pulse editor

In 1988, Leanne Johnston stood in the middle of a labor and delivery nursing station and declared, “I don’t need a computer; I’m a nurse.”

Now, as clinical lead senior trainer instructional designer for Kaiser Permanente of Georgia, it’s Johnston who rolls out new electronic medical records systems and trains staff how to use them.

Beth Singleton (left), manager of clinical informatics at DeKalb Medical, and clinical coordinator Rhonda Slade examine data using a mobile computer charting cart. Photo by Barry Williams, for the AJC.

With a talent for teaching, she gradually became more involved with computers and information technology, and was working in nursing informatics by 2005.

“I get tickled when I can show nurses and doctors how these systems can make their jobs easier,” said Johnston, RNC, MSN-Ed. “Since I still type with two fingers and didn’t grow up with computers, I have instant credibility with others. I tell them, …

Continue reading PULSE: High-tech health care »

By Laura Raines, Pulse editor

When Laura Hurt became a nurse in 1969, she’d never even heard of Uzbekistan or Georgia, both former republics of the Soviet Union. Little did she know how integral those countries would become to her life.

This fall, Hurt, director of nursing operations at Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta, will serve as co-principal investigator for an almost $2 million grant to develop nurses in the nation of Georgia.

It won’t be the first time her itinerary reads from Georgia to Georgia.

Nurse Laura Hurt has collected many items during her travels overseas, including a ceremonial hat and earrings from Uzbekistan, a necklace from Tiblisi, a scarf from Uzbekistan, a utility knife and ceremonial sword from Georgia. Photo by Barry Williams, for the AJC

“I was working as chief medical-surgical nurse at Grady [Memorial] Hospital in 1991 when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agreed to help former U.S.S.R. countries like Georgia …

Continue reading PULSE: Georgias
on her mind »