Mu Covid Variant & Abortions

Mu Covid Variant & Abortions

by | Sep 20, 2021 | Cup of News

Mu Covid Variant & Abortions

The World Health Organization has another variant in the sight and this time it is the Mu variant. Many people don’t know that there are different strains. Like certain types of bacteria, there are also different strains of a virus. Mu variant is another variant that has been seen and there can be many more that we do not know of [1]. 

What do we know about the variant so far?

  • First discovered in Colombia in January 2021. So far it has reached 39 countries. The good news is that so far it is not overtaking the delta strain [2].
  • Preliminary findings are showing that the Mu variant can potentially evade the antibodies created from the vaccine.
  • Vaccine manufacturers are turning their focus on the Delta and Mu variants. There is a potential for “escape variants” to come into existence. An escape variant is a variant that has different spike proteins and other components that would render our current vaccines useless. 
  • So far there are around 2,000 cases the most in California, Florida, Texas, and New York. 
  • Fauci stated that the Mu variant can evade certain antibodies, among them those associated with the vaccines. 

How do Viruses Mutate?

A virus’s goal is to enter a host and replicate. When the virus replicates there are instances that go through replication errors and those errors lead to mutations. Sometimes those mutations make the virus weaker but often times it strengthens it. 

The virus’s antigens can change and that’s when our immune system, specifically our antibodies, is not able to recognize the invading virus. 

  • Influenza is another RNA virus. When comparing Influenza and Covid, Covid replicates slower than influenza at a rate of about 4 times slower.
  • Scientists think that Covid has the ability to proofread newly-made RNA copies. 
  • Scientists also don’t see an “antigen shift” coming soon. Antigen shift is when the 2 different strains of the same virus infect a host and their genomes merge together to create another strain. This leads to the immune system’s inability to recognize or combat the virus. This usually leads to pandemics or worsening of pandemics. 

Antibody-dependent Enhancement

Antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), sometimes less precisely called immune enhancement or disease enhancement, is a phenomenon in which the binding of a virus to suboptimal antibodies enhances its entry into host cells, followed by its replication. Suboptimal antibodies can result from natural infection or from vaccination.

ADE may cause enhanced respiratory disease and acute lung injury after respiratory virus infection (ERD) with symptoms of monocytic infiltration and an excess of eosinophils in the respiratory tract. This along with type 2 T helper cell-dependent mechanisms may contribute to the development of the vaccine-associated disease enhancement (VADE), which is not limited to respiratory disease.

Some vaccine candidates that targeted coronaviruses, RSV virus, and Dengue virus elicited VADE and were terminated from further development or became approved for use only for patients who had those viruses before.

ADE was observed in animal studies during the development of coronavirus vaccines, but as of 14 December 2020 no incidents had been observed in human trials. “Overall, while ADE is a theoretical possibility with a COVID-19 vaccine, clinical trials in people so far have not shown that participants who received the vaccine have a higher rate of severe illness compared to participants who did not receive the vaccine.

Mechanism of ADE

ADE has been documented to occur through two distinct mechanisms in viral infections: by enhanced antibody-mediated virus uptake into Fc gamma receptor IIa (FcγRIIa)-expressing phagocytic cells leading to increased viral infection and replication, or by excessive antibody Fc-mediated effector functions or immune complex formation causing enhanced inflammation and immunopathology

Abortion

An abortion can also be called a “termination of pregnancy”. It is when a pregnancy does not end with a birth of a child. 

History of Abortion

By the 1900s abortion was a felony in every state with some acceptions in limited circumstances when the woman’s life was in danger, rape, or incest. Abortions did continue to occur and reached about 800,000 a year by the 1930s. American Birth Control League was founded in 1921 and then changed to Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942 [3].

Pre Roe vs. Wade

  • In 1964, Gerri Santoro died trying to do an illegal abortion, and her photo became the symbol of an abortion-rights movement. Some women’s rights activist groups started developing their own skills in abortions. In Chicago, a group known as “Jane” operated a floating abortion clinic throughout much of the 1960s. Women seeking the procedure would call a designated number and be given instructions on how to find “Jane” [4].
  • In 1965 the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued a medical bulletin accepting a recommendation that clarified that “conception is the implantation of a fertilized ovum” and birth control methods that prevented implantation became classified as contraceptives, not abortifacients.
  • In 1967, Colorado became the first state to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, or if pregnancy would lead to permanent physical disability of the woman. Similar laws were passed in California, Oregon, and North Carolina. 
  • In 1970, Hawaii became the first state to legalize abortions on the request of the woman, and New York repealed its 1830 law and allowed abortions up to the 24th week of pregnancy. Similar laws were soon passed in Alaska and Washington. 
  • In 1970, Washington held a referendum on legalizing early pregnancy abortions, becoming the first state to legalize abortion through a vote of the people. 
  • A law in Washington, D.C., which allowed abortion to protect the life or health of the woman, was challenged in the Supreme Court in 1971 in the United States v. Vuitch. The court upheld the law, deeming that “health” meant “psychological and physical well-being”, essentially allowing abortion in Washington, D.C. 
  • By the end of 1972, 13 states had a law similar to that of Colorado, while Mississippi allowed abortion in cases of rape or incest only and Alabama and Massachusetts allowed abortions only in cases where the woman’s physical health was endangered. In order to obtain abortions during this period, women would often travel from a state where abortion was illegal to one where it was legal. 
  • The legal position prior to Roe v. Wade was that abortion was illegal in 30 states and legal under certain circumstances in 20 states.

Roe vs. Wade

  • Roe vs. Wade was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction. It struck down many U.S. federal and state abortion laws and prompted an ongoing national debate in the United States about whether and to what extent abortion should be legal, who should decide the legality of abortion, what methods the Supreme Court should use in constitutional adjudication, and what the role of religious and moral views in the political sphere should be.
  • The decision involved the case of Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) who in 1969 became pregnant with her third child. McCorvey wanted an abortion, but she lived in Texas, where abortion was illegal except when necessary to save the mother’s life. She was referred to lawyers Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, who filed a lawsuit on her behalf in U.S. federal court against her local district attorney, Henry Wade, alleging that Texas’s abortion laws were unconstitutional. A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas heard the case and ruled in her favor. Texas then appealed this ruling directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • In January 1973, the Supreme Court issued a 7–2 decision ruling that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides a “right to privacy” that protects a pregnant woman’s right to choose whether or not to have an abortion. 
    • But it also ruled that this right is not absolute, and must be balanced against the government’s interests in protecting women’s health and protecting prenatal life. The Court resolved this balancing test by tying state regulation of abortion to the three trimesters of pregnancy: 
      • During the first trimester, governments could not prohibit abortions at all
      • In the second trimester, governments could require reasonable health regulations 
      • During the third trimester, abortions could be prohibited entirely so long as the laws contained exceptions for cases when they were necessary to save the life or health of the mother.
    • The Court classified the right to choose to have an abortion as “fundamental”, which required courts to evaluate challenged abortion laws under the “strict scrutiny” standard, the highest level of judicial review in the United States.

What’s Going on in Texas?

There is a new anti-abortion law that went into effect in Texas. It’s named the Heartbeat Act, which bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Many women don’t even know they are pregnant before then.
 
The law allows private citizens to sue abortion providers and those who help a woman get an abortion. It includes those who give a woman a ride to a clinic or provide financial help to get an abortion. Private citizens who bring these suits don’t need to show any connection to those they are suing.
 
The law bans abortions as soon as cardiac activity is detected. This is interesting because when we have brain-dead patients their heart is still beating but we still don’t consider them “dead”.
 
Groups that pushed for this law are hoping to make it hard for the federal courts to knock it down. Instead of having public officials enforce this law, it allows individuals to bring civil lawsuits against providers or anyone who aids abortions. 
 
Anyone that would sue can win $10,000 or more and there is even a whistleblower page being created. It feels like they are placing a bounty on people that seek help with abortions [5].

Know more about this law by watching the full video here 👇👇

SHOW NOTES

0:00 Introduction
1:31 Episode Introduction
2:38 What is Mu Covid Variant?
8:20 Antibody-Dependent Enhancement
20:25 Abortion History
29:32 Texas Abortion Law

 

Petrodollar and What Affects Gas Prices

Petrodollar and What Affects Gas Prices

by | Sep 19, 2021 | Cup of News

Petrodollar and Gas Prices

Not many people have heard of the petrodollar, and many people don’t know what affects gas prices. Gas is one of the only necessities we allow for such drastic price fluctuations. 

The petrodollar is a system that most of the world uses to buy crude oil. Gas prices are determined by many factors, including supply and demand and crude oil prices. 

Petrodollar History

Before we understand petrodollar, we must first understand its history in terms of currencies and economics [1]. 

  • In current society, there is no gold backing of the US dollar. We have a fiat currency, money without any support by any reserves. 
  • Post-WWI, with a war-torn Europe, the US had the most gold and a strong currency. It was before WWII money was backed by gold. In 1944 a conference of 44 countries was held in New Hampshire to discuss currencies. 
  • The decision was then made to back currencies by the stable US dollar and then have the US dollar be backed by gold.
  • Imports and exports worldwide were bought and sold using the US dollar, which gives the US a lot of power through sanctions. In 1971 Nixon proclaimed that the US dollar would not be backed by gold. 
  • The Vietnam war was financed entirely and funded by debt. When Nixon broke away from the gold as the reserve, the dollar dropped in value, making it hard to pay off debt, and shooting crude oil prices from $2 a barrel to $12 over two years. 
  • To save the US, Nixon and his Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger came up with a plan. Treasury Secretary William Simon was sent to Saudi Arabia. 
  • Their idea was the petrodollar. 
  • It was the concept of having the US dollar be used in exchange for oil. With that agreement, Saudi Arabia would get military and economic support. 

The petrodollar is the agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia to sell its oil in dollars. The most valuable resource is oil. It allowed the USD to be the most dominant currency and a hedge for other countries [2].  

What Determines Gas Prices

The first thing that affects oil cost is crude oil. Starting with the quality, there are different types of oil depending on where it comes from. There is a grading system for oil. OPEC regulates oil supply by their largest manufacturers [3]. 

  • Crude oil has the most significant influence on price. The cost is determined by supply and demand. It includes the resources it takes for exploration, to remove it from the ground, and transport it to where it needs to go. Demand is higher in the summer months and lowers in the winter; the price follows the market. Some countries also store gasoline to drive demand. 
  • Tax is another influencer on gas prices; federal and state taxes are also pushed on consumers. In July 2019, the federal, state, and local taxes on a gallon of gasoline totaled an average of 18% of the total price. Federal tax made up 18.4 cents, while state tax made 29.66 cents. Marketing and distribution costs are also pushed on the consumer. You’re not only paying for the gas but also the cost of advertisements and everything in between [4].

The top five sources of U.S. total petroleum (including crude oil) imports by share of total petroleum imports in 2020 were

  1. Canada 52%
  2. Mexico 11%
  3. Russia 7%
  4. Saudi Arabia 7%
  5. Colombia 4%

Want to know more about how Petrodollar works? Check out the full episode here 👇

SHOW NOTES:

0:09 Introduction with the Hosts/Affiliates/Updates
0:21 Petrodollar
16:11 What determines gas prices
17:45 Crude oil
19:43 Tax
31:15 Marketing distribution costs

EP 123: How to Improve Nurse-Physician Relationships

EP 123: How to Improve Nurse-Physician Relationships

by | Sep 8, 2021 | Podcast

EP 123: How to Improve Nurse-Physician Relationships

It is a fact that sometimes, nurse-physician relationships are strained. In this episode, we will talk about how to strengthen your relationship with your doctor as a nurse.

Developing a dynamic and grounded relationship with your physician will have an enormously positive impact on patient safety, quality of care, and overall job satisfaction.

Nurses have often seen themselves as a secondary provider who takes orders from the medical staff, even outside of healthcare. Strong nurse-physician relationships can help nursing professionals regain their identity.

By working closely with your physician, you will feel more confident about nursing in general. Nurses need to gain more authority and knowledge to achieve mastery-level nursing (Urden et al., 2011).

How to Improve Nurse-Physician Relationships

Take pride in being a nurse

I know nursing is not as high in status as physicians, but you should take pride and be very proud of your nursing career. You are an essential part of the healthcare team. You save lives, promote health and prevent disease through your nursing practice.

 If you are serious about your career, show up on time, pay attention to details, and do your best every shift. Are you aware of your patient’s medical condition? What is the trajectory of the patient’s status?

Take time to learn and read progress notes.

Be confident

As advocates, we want our patients to receive the best care possible, which means being assertive and speaking up for them. If you have concerns about your patient, don’t be afraid to address those with the physician.

Don’t let the physician’s status intimidate you. You are in control of your nursing practice, and you have the right to address any concern you may have about a physician or colleague.

Ask questions if needed

If there is something that you do not understand or cannot remember, ask. If you are unsure of a medication order, clarify it with the physician before giving it to the patient. Always double-check.

Even if you disagree with the physicians’ decision, you’ll notice physicians appreciate you taking the initiative and will respect your opinion more in the future.

Speak up when you notice a problem or a potential error

Be assertive, calm, and, most importantly, speak up. If the physician is trying to order an unneeded test, recommend a better medication or is being too aggressive about treating pain, speak up and suggest a different approach.

It might take some time for the physician to get used to nursing input.

Communicate effectively

Communication with your doctor is vital for a successful partnership. Research has shown that some physicians expressed frustration with unorganized nurses who did not communicate clearly or concisely.

Learn to communicate information clearly and efficiently, without a lot of extraneous detail, especially in emergency situations. Yes, the SBAR works, but doctors like it when you’re concise and direct. What do you need? Be prepared to read the chart when speaking with a physician.

It’s a physician’s pet peeve calling and asking for something without having the background information.

Rounds with the Physician

For this to work, it takes effort from both parties to tango. Regardless of your setting, find a way to stay involved on the floor and in communication with physicians and other coworkers.

Ensure the physician grabs you into the room or comes in during the consultation with the patient. It is important to make sure the physician is made aware of the most recent events and update the plan of care.

Think Like a Team

Everyone on your team, not just the physician, has an important role to play. Think of the nurse-physician relationship as patient care as a collaboration, one in which you are just as responsible for the patient as the physician.

Instead of “your patient,” say “our patient.” This can help new graduate nurses, most younger nurses feel intimidated interacting with older adults.

Show Respect for the Physician’s Time

If you are in a hurry or have things to do, say so when asking a question. If you’re short on time, ask if it is possible to speak over the phone (this shows your nursing professionalism).

Always be respectful and polite with physicians. We want to present nursing as a mature practice that takes nursing seriously and is worthy of respect.

Avoid Negative Behavior

If you want to be respected, you must act worthy of that respect. Avoid nursing behaviors that are frowned upon, such as nursing gossiping, nursing violations, or nursing rudeness.

Avoid nursing drama; don’t take your frustrations out on your physician colleagues. Acting like an oppressed professional will not encourage others to respect the “trusted nurse.”

Organizational Response

The nurse-physician relationship should be strengthened on an individual level and by healthcare organization’s leaders. Organizations should encourage nurses to speak up about potential errors or problems if the culture allows physicians to react however they want.

We advise working for a hospital that will back you up. 

Concluding thoughts

Whether you’re working on a one-to-one relationship or part of a larger team, the first step is to get to know your work colleagues and begin to cultivate strong relationships.

You are an essential part of the healthcare team. You save lives, promote health and prevent disease through your nursing practice. Never forget you are just as important as the physician. 

We can improve our nurse-physician relationships; here’s how we can do that 👇👇

TIME STAMPS:

0:00 Introduction of Hosts
0:12 AFFILIATES/UPDATES
0:58 Nurse and Physician relationship
1:53 Take pride in being a nurse
4:19 Be confident
7:52 Communicate effectively
10:41 Round with the physician
12:56 Think like a team
17:34 Avoid negative behavior
20:05 Organizational Response
22:05 Concluding thoughts

EP 126: Why Isn’t Nursing in STEM With Tina Vinsant

EP 126: Why Isn’t Nursing in STEM With Tina Vinsant

by | Sep 2, 2021 | Podcast

EP 126: Why Isn’t Nursing in STEM With Tina Vinsant

In this episode, we would like to introduce the host of The Good Nurse, Bad Nurse Podcast. This podcast uses storytelling and conversation to encourage and unite nurses and other medical professionals.

Tina Vinsant is a CVICU nurse that has turned to travel nursing. She is currently pursuing her MSN with an Emphasis on care coordination. 

Podcast: Anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Website: goodnursebadnurse.com

IG: @goodnursebadnurse

FB and Twitter: GNBNPodcast

The nursing degree not being considered “STEM” in academic institutions by the Federal Government.

“STEM” is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

The term STEM describes education policy, teaching and learning strategies, and curriculum choices from preschool to post-doctorate that drive a pedagogy of an integrated curriculum.

This approach is intended to foster innovation and promote competitiveness in science and technology. Being designated as a STEM discipline has implications for workforce development, funding, and immigration policy.

Defining nursing as a STEM discipline is important if it determines the validation of our profession as a scientific discipline, attracts the brightest and best students, and ensures the flow of resources to advance the role of nurses in policy, practice, education, and research.

Research shows that Nursing should be included in the STEM curriculum https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31800109/

https://mentornet.org/service/stem_fields.html

https://www.excelsior.edu/article/nursing-as-a-stem-field/ 

Why is nursing still not considered STEM?

Nurses are being treated like professionals rather than hourly labor.

Hourly Pros

Hourly employees can significantly increase their weekly pay by lobbying for extra hours. Employers naturally wish to give additional hours to staffers that want them.

Furthermore, some hourly employees have the fortune of working for companies that will pay them double time.

Hourly Cons

On the downside, some companies keep costs down by disallowing hourly employees from working overtime.

Hourly employees can sometimes fall short of their traditional 40-hour work weeks if the medical centers are slow and they are sent home early or even called off.

This means that although these workers receive a steady paycheck for each hour in which they work.

It’s also possible for them to come up on the wrong side with the hours necessary to live comfortably, as most salaried professionals do.

Because there aren’t any set limits on how many hours one may put in per week or month.

What you would find among other types of employment agreements such as pensions and benefits packages.

These things just don’t exist when an employee is paid only based on time spent rather than actual wages earned.

Salary Pros

Salaried employees have many benefits that make them a better option than hourly workers. Salaried workers often enjoy greater security in their paychecks and higher overall income because of the steady paycheck.

They are able to pull in more money when given bonuses or vacation time. All of which are unavailable for an hourly worker.

Salary Cons

Salaried employees will not receive overtime pay, so this is why many people are wary about taking salaried positions because there may always be that pressure from bosses to put forth all effort without receiving a paycheck bump in addition to higher wages for anything over 40 hours worked per week.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on average American workers receive 10 days of paid time off per year, after they’ve completed one year of service. 

https://www.zenefits.com/workest/check-out-the-average-vacation-days-by-industry/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Bureau%20of,10%20is%20the%20national%20average. 

The survey reports that salary employees receive an average of 12 days of vacation after one year of service.

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-much-vacation-time-and-pay-do-employees-get-2064018

Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants – Scope of practice…scope creep. Name change for PAs from Physician Assistant to Physician Associate. Using the term ‘mid-level when referring to NPs and PAs).

Learn why Nursing is not part of STEM in this full episode. Click here for more 👇👇👇

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 A quick word for American Nurse Association
0:55 Introduction with the hosts/affiliates/updates
14:25 The nursing degree is not considered “STEM” in academic institutions by the Federal Government. 23:16 Nurses are being treated as professionals rather than hourly labor.
24:09 Hourly Pros
30:36 Salary Pros / Salary Cons
40:57 Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants
51:28 Concluding Statement and Thoughts

EP 125: Memorable Patient Experiences

EP 125: Memorable Patient Experiences

by | Sep 2, 2021 | Podcast

EP 125: Memorable Patient Experiences

Do you have any memorable patient experiences? It can be something you witnessed or that you were directly involved in.

How did this event affect you? What changes, if any, did you make in your actions or thinking?

What is one of the most memorable patient experiences in your nursing career?

As nurses, we have so many memorable nursing experiences that we will never forget. Some of them are hilarious moments. Others often involve life-long lessons. All the same, these memories and experiences gave our nursing life more meaning.

Your nursing career involves a wide variety of experiences and memorable patient experiences.

We have had some great ones; stories, events, and even advice from our patients

  • Lesson Learned/People Just Don’t Learn
  • Panthenol
  • Absence Based Recovery
  • Benzos
  • Bad Habits
  • Always Be Courageous
  • How People Who Pursue Their Phase Outside of Nursing 
  • The Ugly Part of Nursing 
  • The thing that Nursing Taught Me
  • Special Thing in Nursing
  • What’s also Cool about Nursing
  • A Shoutout for Nurses
  • Hosts’ Concluding Statement

What’s a travel nurse experience you’ll never forget? Here’s ours 👇👇👇

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Summer Sale Offer for Nursing Students and Nurses
1:03 Introduction of Hosts
1:39 AFFILIATES/UPDATES
1:46 Most Memorable Nursing Moments
9:17 Lesson Learned/People Just Don’t Learn
11:10 Panthenol
11:37 Absence-Based Recovery
11:58 Benzos
12:13 Bad Habits
14:03 Always Be Courageous
15:42 How People Who Pursue their Phase Outside of Nursing
17:16 The Ugly Part of Nursing
19:10 Thing that Nursing Taught Me
23:07 Special Thing in Nursing
23:56 What’s also Cool about Nursing
28:33 A Shoutout for Nurses
31:58 Hosts’ Concluding Statement