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What Happens in the Brain During Transcendental Meditation: Nurse Meka Schurr on Alcoholism, Depression and ADHD
AMY: Thank you for speaking with us today. I know that, as a nurse, you are very busy and we appreciate your taking the time to answer a few important questions. You’ve mentioned that you have suffered from symptoms of ADHD, alcohol over-consumption, and depression in the past. I’d like to start with a few minutes to discuss alcoholism. Alcohol dependence is a chronic disease based in the brain. It has long-term effects that change the way the brain reacts to alcohol, making the need to drink as compelling as the need to eat. A comparison

What is a Nurse Worth?
According to a February 15th 2022 article in The New York Times, “Nurses have finally learned what they’re worth.” Both as an integral asset to our health system and as caring health professionals, nurses are

Avoid Burnout and Meet Your Challenges
Adapted by permission from the Canadian Women’s Wellness Foundation There are clear signposts that indicate the experience of burnout. When one feels overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted, and finds it hard to concentrate and remember things, those

Pandemic Front Lines: An Interview of Barbara Twombly RN BSN CWOCN
Barbara is a Certified Wound, Ostomy and Continence nurse at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla in California who received her nursing degree at Russell Sage College and her WOCN Specialty training at Emory University. She

Nurses Need Nourishing Too: New Research Shows TM Reduces Compassion Fatigue
I just learned a new term: “compassion fatigue.” This is what nurses, professional caregivers and first responders experience when they’re too tired, too sad and too stressed to feel normal compassion for their patients. It’s also known as secondary traumatic stress (STS) and

How Transcendental Meditation Makes Great Nurses Even Greater
An Interview with Beth Batcher, Scripps Nurse of the Year, 2017 You only have to exchange a few words with Beth Batcher—an Emergency Department (ED) nurse at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, CA—before you

Scripps Magnet Program Supports Self Care for Nurses: An ED Nurses Story
I have been an RN at Scripps for 33 years and I can’t think of working anywhere else now. But there was a time when the stress in the ED felt so overwhelming that I

Enlightened Risk Management in Every Institution of Society
On October 9th, we published a post on our blog titled Why Hospitals Should Pay for Nurses to Learn TM. It was a cogent piece showing there is no downside at all when hospitals pay

Why Hospitals Should Pay for Nurses to Learn TM
Nurses make life and death decisions almost daily, rotate shifts, and are under constant time pressure and staffing challenges. These can lead to stress and distress, burnout (30 – 49% of nurses report a level

Ready, Set, Go: A Mini Manual for Work Re-Entry
It can be tough to return to work or school after your summer vacation or after any leave. Switching gears can be difficult, especially when it is necessary to make up for “lost time.” And