Neumatikos

29July2008

Job Hunting Frustrations and Irritations

Posted by Convallaria under: Health; Irony; News.

So, I’m applying for CNA jobs at local hospitals and such in Knoxville and I start to thinking about how I might be able to transfer my certification registry from NC to TN. I go hunting on the TN Nurse Aide Registry site and start reading. About halfway down I come across this:

An individual who is currently listed as active with no derogatory or abuse information on another State’s list of certified individuals can apply for reciprocity.

Okay, that sounds like me:

Tennessee accepts reciprocity from all States except Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and North Carolina.

Uh Oh. So what do I need to do?

An individual living in Alabama, Georgia or Illinois must provide verification of their status and apply to challenge the test. An individual living in Florida or North Carolina must retrain and retest in Tennessee in order to become certified as a CNA in this State.

That’s right folks I have to retake a class in common sense and retake a skills test on hand washing. Apparently people in NC and FL don’t know how to wash their hands right.

22July2008

On Immunizations

Posted by Convallaria under: Health; Science; Younguns.

What’s the deal with immunizations? One side is dogmatic about giving them and the other is dogmatic about refusing them. I’ve been recently looking at the controversy trying to decide whether to continue with the normal schedule of shots, to slow it down a bit (i.e. space out the shots over a longer period of time), or to discontinue them all together.

On one end of the spectrum I have my SiL who is staunchly against immunizations and has not immunized my two youngest nephews at all. She’s not alone as several young mothers in my church have made the same decision. On the other end of the spectrum is all my training in Public Health most of which can be boiled down into a single statement: an ounce of prevention goes a long way.

But it’s one thing to sit in a classroom and listen to lectures on preventative medicine and quite another to try and make informed decisions that could affect your baby’s whole life.
Read on, MacDuff!

30June2008

A Reflection on Parenting (Part 1)

Posted by Convallaria under: Health; Younguns.

I have found responses to this to be very frustrating. Ever since the Time article came out, there have been a lot of media sources jumping on it and railing about the horrors of teen pregnancy. Most of the topics that have cropped up in response to the initial article have been centered around access to birth control and better sex-ed. Both of which are missing the mark as usual.
Read on, MacDuff!

22May2008

Google Health

Posted by Convallaria under: Health.

This afternoon I was reading an article about yet another expasion of the google universe: Google Health. According to the terms of service, google states that they are not under obligation to follow HIPPA regulations like other healthcare facilities since they are not considered a ‘covered entity.’ In plain English this means that whatever you share can be accessed by third parties because it’s up to you what info you put up. Currently, the service does not have advertising, but I see this as shaky at best as more and more people use the app. and companies want to target specific groups of illnesses. This bit from the terms of service is of particular note:

Google may make third-party services available through Google Health. In order to use a specific service, you may choose to allow the third-party service provider to retrieve, provide, and/or modify health and other information in your account or otherwise share your information with the service provider. Once you enable a specific third-party service provider to access your account, the service provider may continue to access your account until you affirmatively disable access. Third-party service providers include both health care providers and other entities. It is your sole responsibility to review and approve each such third-party service before sharing your information through or otherwise accessing it.

I’m going to sign up and see what it’s like, but I do caution everyone that if they do choose to use this service to be careful what you share.

20May2008

Fabulous Feet

Posted by Convallaria under: Health.

Sandal season is here, are you’re feet ready for it? I just read an interesting article on prepping your toeses.