My Quest for Patience and Calm

My mind runs constantly. Nothing too important really; all that gets lost in the minutiae that litters my mind. I’m endlessly fascinated by fascinating things. What do I find fascinating? Quantum physics, nursing, health, nature, photography, religion, puns, spirituality, psychology, rhetoric, ethics, history, science, the universe, compassion, anger, emotions, people, art, plants, words, animals, rain, beaches, oceans….well you get the picture. There is so much in this big beautiful world to see and experience that it makes me sad and reluctant to have to go to sleep at night. In fact, it makes it a downright chore. Like most modern people I want things yesterday. I expect to sit down and read about the Crimean War or astrophysics and come away able to discuss the various aspects of each with perfect clarity.

Resource Spotlight: Interactive Meal Planner

The National Heart and Lung Institute's Obesity Education Initiative has available online an interactive meal planner. According to the institute, the meal planner is designed to help guide users in their meal choices based on calorie guidelines.

Using the planner is easy:

1. Choose your total number of calories for the day, and then choose a meal. For each meal you are provided options of food choices according to the foods groups included in the American Dietetic Association (ADA) exchange list. 

2. Once you select a specific food item, you will also need to choose the number of servings consumed. The servings are based on the ADA exchange list. For example, if you consumed 3 oz. lean beef, you would enter 3 servings. 

- From About the Menu Planner


You can access the Interactive Meal Planner here

Resource Spotlight: Find a Provider who Accepts Medicaid

One of the most time consuming and frustrating parts of a nurse's job (particularly in a family practice or urgent care setting) is attempting to locate a specialty provider who will accept Medicaid or accept new patients with Medicaid when the time comes that a patient may need to be referred. If you're a patient, I imagine the frustrating part is locating primary care that is not an emergency room.

Well, Medicaid in Mississippi has a delightful provider search web tool that users can use to locate providers in Mississippi who accept Medicaid. They thoughtfully hid it deep on their "Envision" website for providers.

You may visit it directly here