MARIA TORTILLA

Elsik H S, Attended 1999 - 2003, Class of 2003

what school?

i'm a chief executive of A Bum Comp.

yo momma

Daniel Marshall Tudder II

wait.. i read?

those movies that i would say "0o0o0h... ya i would consider that as one of my faves"

tribal music from africa

i have FT.V.CS: FlippingT.V. Channels Syndrome; must be hard for me to consider a favorite, ay?

Libra

I am not sure if Daniel deserves to have a bigger, faster bike just to have his certificate from speed racing.. but from the way he rides his bike, it gives me anxiety attack! see for your self, this is really nothing compared to his usual riding.



People should open their hearts



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hell do i know. i could care less yo.



Texas Woman's University nursing students Kandie Johnson, Maria Aguilos and Karen Kier learn about surgical tools at Houston Community College's surgical lab. Nursing schools are finding it hard to handle all the qualified applicants who want to work in medicine.
MAYRA BELTRÁN: CHRONICLE

June 27, 2008, 11:24PM
Schools struggling to keep up
Many find they cannot accept all the qualified applicants


By LYNN COOK
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

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Getting skilled nurses to staff critical roles in operating rooms is tough.

The shortage of OR nurses prompted Texas Woman's University to team up with Houston Community College and The Methodist Hospital to offer a special summer elective course for nursing students, focusing on operating room procedures.

Response was so great that not all interested students were able to enroll, so TWU is repeating the course in the fall. The hope is to steer new registered nurses into the surgery suite.

But the oversubscribed elective points to a troubling chokepoint aggravating a nursing shortage that's existed for years: Nursing schools cannot accommodate all the qualified applicants who want to work in medicine.

In 2007, nursing schools in the Gulf Coast region turned down 2,290 qualified applicants, said Dr. Betty Adams, dean of Prairie View A&M College of Nursing. That's up from 492 qualified applicants turned down in 1998 when nursing schools started tracking the data.

Adams said there aren't enough teachers to keep up with the demand for nurses.

"It creates an ongoing challenge because many of those in practice can draw a salary almost double what they can make in academics," Adams said.

Dr. Kathryn Tart, an associate professor of nursing at TWU, said the Denton university's Houston nursing program turned down around 300 qualified applicants for nursing school this spring.

"The quality of students is increasing because the number of slots we have to fill is so small. It's extremely competitive," she said.

The average age of Houston nurses is around 50, and many plan to retire early from the physically intense job, Tart said. Expansion in the health care system only aggravates the problem, she says.

Michelle Brentz, who recently graduated with a master's degree in nursing from TWU, works as an operating room nurse at The Methodist Hospital and teaches for TWU.

Brentz recently helped run an OR simulation lab at HCC's Coleman College campus in the Texas Medical Center. Students worked in small groups with Methodist OR nurses to learn how to properly scrub in, transfer patients from gurneys to beds and prepare patients to go under the knife.

After hours of lab time, the student nurses will work under close supervision in real operating rooms at Methodist and LBJ hospitals.

TWU's Tart said a student can go through four years of nursing school without ever seeing the inside of an operating room.

Brentz said she wishes more students knew about the crucial role of the surgical nurse.

"The OR's an exciting place. The nurses in there are really the patient's true advocate, the glue between the surgeon and anesthesiologist and the chief person responsible for cleanliness," she says.

"Nurses are not background players. They are front and center."

lynn.cook@chron.com



some quotes i love and agree:

"light travels faster than sound, that is why some people seem bright until you hear them speak"

"wipe your mouth, there's a tiny bit of bullsh*t around your lips"

"why don't you slip in something more comfortable.... like a coma"

"if you have something to say, raise your hand and place it over your mouth"

"don't let your mind wander, its too small to let out on its own"

"if a man's home is a castle, he can LEARN TO CLEAN IT!"

"everyone seems normal until you get to know them"

"if you woke up breathing.. congratulations! you still have another chance"

"never ask a barber to get your hair cut"




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