• Sharing Mayo Clinic

    Sharing nursing knowledge

Nurse publishing can significantly impact the quality of life for a patient. As registered nurses, we coordinate the care of our patients every day; however, we also impact patient care through collegial information sharing. The article, "Carnitine Deficiency: Implications for OR Nurses," is one such example of how registered nurses' scholarly activities and contributions to the nursing profession impact individual patient lives.

Chris Wolf, R.N., a registered staff nurse in Mayo's Pre-Operative/Outpatient/Perianesthesia Care Unit, and Elizabeth Pestka, R.N., a clinical nurse specialist in Mayo's Medical Psychiatric Program and a leader in nursing genomics at Mayo Clinic, published their article on carnitine deficiency in the July issue of OR Nurse 2009. The information in their article impacted a person's quality of life halfway across the country.

Chris Helner of Pennsylvania, was plagued with a variety of symptoms that made it difficult for him to lead a healthy life. As a direct result of his mother reading the Wolf and Pestka article, Helner has now visited Mayo Clinic's Rochester campus and has been able to reduce many of the symptoms caused by his carnitine deficiency diagnosis.

Elizabeth Thompson, R.N., editor-in chief of OR Nurse 2010 and nursing education specialist for orthopedic surgery at Saint Marys Hospital, believes this article is a testament to the power of publishing scholarly nursing knowledge.  Registered nurses often underestimate the breadth of their knowledge base and the impact their individual and collective expertise can have on their colleagues and patient outcomes.

Doreen Frusti, R.N., chair, Department of Nursing at Mayo Clinic's Rochester campus, champions and fully supports nursing research, scholarly activity, and the continued advancement of the professional nurse.

I recently had the opportunity to visit with Chris Wolf and Elizabeth Thompson and invite you to watch the video below.

You can learn more about nursing opportunities at Mayo Clinic here.

This article was submitted by Mark LaMaster, Nursing Placement Coordinator, Office of Nursing Placement and Career Development at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

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