Wednesday, March 7, 2007

A Poem: Physics and Nursing by: Raymond D. Lopez

Where are you, oh physics?
You are a powerful force
But when I look up in every corner
I can't see you, of course.

Even though big long equations are getting me down
Schrödinger, Bose-Einstein making me frown
Still, I want to understand Physics that much

In my field you contributed a lot
Temperature, laser, radiation, heat, sounds and light
These made my patients recover fast

Physics can be knotty
And have dynamic interiors
Its evolution is known to some
But in this I am inferior

And yet it is wondrous to hear Stories of your existence
You are mysterious and strange
And deep in your consistence.

Physics is Not Just All About Numbers…

“It would be better for the true physics if there were no mathematicians on earth.”- Daniel Bernoulli
They say that Physics belongs to engineers and mathematicians for Physics uses a lot of numbers in its principles and theories but Bernoulli who was a mathematician himself denied that physics was for mathematicians like him. Physics is not just for mathematicians and engineers but also for nurses and other professions involved in medicine.

The use of physics principles in the practice of medicine is called Medical physics. It is most often used to describe physics applications related to the use of radiation in medicine—for example, the physics of diagnostic radiology, radiation oncology, and nuclear medicine. More broadly defined, medical physics may include the physics of other electromagnetic waveforms used in medical procedures such as electrocardiography (the study of electrical impulses in the heart) and laser surgery.

A nurse like me specializes in issues related to radiation safety in medical procedures. It is always require to us nurses to have some safety safeguards, to protect patients, to health care workers, and to the general public; to conducts risk assessment of procedures and protective equipment used in radiological and nuclear medicine; acts as consultant on issues related to radiation safety in a medical context; and evaluates and monitors compliance with regulatory radiation guidelines.

Well, all the things I mentioned above are just part of Physics that was and continuously imparted to us nurses but there are still specialists in the field of medicine who are more knowledgeable enough in the use of physics principles particularly radiation like the doctors and the physicists. But t is necessary that we nurses must posses enough information and knowledge regarding these things because we, nurses, assist the doctors in taking care of our patients.

Physics Works Like Magic in The Nursing Industry

Many say that nursing is the most in demand course nowadays. As a result, besides the fact that it is their dream to be a nurse, many students took up nursing because of this reason. Many believed that if you took up nursing it is easier to earn money and it might be the key for you to go and work abroad.

You want to know how true it is? This is possible because “nursing” uses “Physics” in its practice.Physics makes nurses earn money.A nurse simply show up one morning, read the thermometer, and mail in a bill in his or her patient. It works like magic. And most patients recover.

Truly, the way Physics works in every field especially in Nursing is unexplainable. Its principles, its theories, its ideas have made an enormous contribution to the medical (Nursing) industry.

Me, Being a Science (Physics) Addict

“When I was in high school, I knew that if I was going to become a nurse, I was definitely going to have to go to college. I'd been a science fan since I was a young kid. I picked physics because out of all the different scientific fields, I think physics is probably the broadest.”- Raymond D. Lopez
Is it weird to have my own quotation? Am I really a science addict? And what’s more, a Physics addict?
Ever since I was a kid, I questioned the way how science works in the society, and now that I am a nursing student I understand it better. It was in my fourth year high school when I first encounter the word Physics.
After that I find it more interesting because it I know after college it will be the most used branch of science in the field I chose to pursue. Of course, it was nursing.
It was physics, the study of energy and matter that made me asked so many things. One example where I, being a nurse use physics is the heat and temperature, we nurses get the temperature of our patients to know whether they are sick or not. We also use machines to detect what is the health problem of our patients. We nurses, must be knowledgeable enough to know the right amount of electricity, dosage, heat etc. that we must provide to our patients.
Through Physics, we nurses also understand the nature of the body like the blood, DNA and understanding how DNA transmits all it knows about cancer, physics, dreaming and love will keep man searching for some time.
Truly Physics is a great help to my profession, it was physics who taught me from formulating theories, being logical, assessing, calculating, to the usage of machines in treating diseases, and also to the understanding of the nature of the body.
So, it’s not bad to be a science or a physics addict because physics helps me to reach my dream, a dream of becoming a nurse.

Nursing and Physics: Words not just with Definition but with Relation: An Introduction

Nursing and Physics? Are these two different words can be related with each other? Let’s see if we can find a connection…hmm…Let’s start with defining “Physics” first, well it is the scientific study of matter and energy and how they interact with each other. This energy can take the form of motion, light, electricity, radiation, gravity . . . just about anything, honestly. Physics deals with matter on scales ranging from sub-atomic particles (i.e. the particles that make up the atom and the particles that make up those particles) to stars and even entire galaxies. That’s what I’ve learned during my high school days, but now that I’m into a more serious field which is the field of medicine, the field of “Nursing”, therefore it also requires a more serious definition. I’ve learned that nurses save and improve lives as front line members of the health care delivery team. They independently assess and monitor patients, and taking a holistic approach, determine what patients need to attain and preserve their health. Nurses then provide care and, if needed, alert other health care professionals to assist. For instance, emergency department nurses triage all incoming patients, deciding which are the sickest and in what order they require the attention of other health care professionals. Thus, nurses coordinate care delivery by physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, physical therapists and others. Nurses assess whether care is successful. If not, they create a different plan of action.
Being a nurse is not easy right? That’s why we nurses need help, we nurses need information, we nurses need back up, we nurses need guide, we nurses need SCIENCE, we nurses need PHYSICS. According to this website:
http://eduserv.ku.ac.th/organization/curriculum/data/catalog/eng/description/18_affililated.htm
The relationship between physics and nursing is very obvious, the basic concepts, principles and rules in physics regarding measurement, mass, force, movement, and energy can be use in the practice of nursing for example the principles of machine and the use of machines, in nursing these principles are used in curing. Properties of substances, pressure of fluid, heat, light, sound, magnetic, electric, and electronic nuclear physics, and biographic system, changes resulted from advance in physics, relationship of physics and other branches of knowledge, application of physics are also very useful in nursing practice. In nursing, the principles of physics are very essential because in our practice, we measure, we cure, we assess, we quantify, we gauge, we compute, we determine.
So these two different words, Nursing and Physics are not just words with definition but also words with relation.

Physics Creates Changes…

Wikipedia.com defines the field of nursing as a profession focused on assisting individuals, families, and communities in attaining, re-attaining, and maintaining optimal health and functioning. Modern definitions of nursing define it as a science and an art that focuses on promoting quality of life as defined by persons and families, throughout their life experiences from birth to care at the end of life. Pretty tough huh? But you know what? We can’t do it alone. We can’t perform all our duties by our selves. Though Many nurses argue that nursing existed well before the inception of the concept of nursing theory and continues to exist despite many nurses knowing little about nursing theory. I believed that no one became a nurse in an instant, we still need to study all the principles and theories conncted to it and one of those are the principles of physics, this has a connection from my previous article. In my first article I defined Physics and Nursing and find a connection with these two words. I mentioned in my previous article that one thing that makes Physics and Nursing connected were the principles right? Now, let’s focus on these principles:
Archimede’s Principle(States that): The buoyant force on an object is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.Aufbau's Principle(Is): The electronic struture of atoms that follow the pattern of subshells (see Chemistry).Bernoulli’s Principle(States that): The pressure of a moving fluid or gas is inversely proportional to rate of flow or the velocity of the fluid or gas.Huygens’ Principle(States that): Every point on a propagating wavefront serves as the source of spherical secondary wavelets.Le Chatelier's Principle(If): A chemical system at equilibrium is disturbed, the system would adjust itself to minimize the effect of the disturbance. Mach's Principle:(Is): The idea that the inertia of an object depends on its relationship with all of the other mass in the universe.Pascal’s Principle(States that): A change in pressure at any point in an enclosed fluid under equilibrium conditions will be transmitted equally to all parts of the fluid.
Aahhh…too much for principles, those above, are just few of those many principles of physics, but you see these principles are very important in the field of nursing. Since physics is the understanding of the world around you and how it works. It is the most basic science. Physics allows you to think in a different way (out of the box), which in return makes you a better student and perhaps Nurse.
Physics apply to all aspects of life--any educated person should understand forces and the basics of how electricity flows and stuff like that. Perhaps most important, taking physics (or any applied or theoretical math course) teaches your brain to think in a certain logical manner. That kind of mental discipline is useful for all sorts of things from expressing logical arguments to diagnosing illnesses from diverse symptoms. In medicine, radiology and nuclear magnetic resonance are direct applications of more advanced physics. In experimental science, physics utilizes the scientific method to test hypotheses that are based on observation of the natural world. The goal of physics is to use the results of these experiments to formulate natural laws, usually expressed in the language of mathematics, which can then be used to predict other phenomena. And because physics predict other phenomena, it is very important for in the field of nursing, in medicine everything is unpredictable, we nurses also doctors cannot just anticipate what will happen next. New diseases just continue on developing and coming and without Physics who aims to seek for new things these new diseases will not be able to find it’s cure. Through Physics we are able to invent new machines in the field of medicine which are now used to cure the patients. Physics creates changes in the world of medicine and we nurses are very thankful for it.

New Phenomena

As I mentioned in my previous article, physics creates changes, it starts everything, and leads to a new phenomena. One of these phenomena is the creation and invention of machines used in the world of medicine. X-rays, PET, CT, MRI, IMRT and gamma-knife, radiation therapy, arthroscopy, ultrasound, and laser surgery are well known techniques employed in today's medical practice. We even use in today’s practice nanotechnologies, intravascular robotics, cryoablation, laser scalpel, computer diagnostics, and molecular medicine. Perhaps not surprisingly, all originate from physics! Physics and its discoveries have been at the forefront of medical diagnosis and treatment since the discovery of X-rays in 1895 as stated in www. google.com, citing the discovery of x-ray. This close fit is a natural consequence of the wide-ranging implications of the discoveries of physics, the fundamental science. With medical practice and biology becoming more quantitative as our understanding of life's molecular processes grows, the myriad experimental and theoretical techniques of physics will be increasingly prominent on the leading edge of medicine and health care. In today's world, careers in medicine and health care abound, covering a wide range of possibilities from clinical practice as a physician to clinical research as an MD/PhD scientist and non-clinical investigations as a PhD researcher, as well as numerous professions especially us NURSES, in support of medicine.
Physics is very important in the field of nursing as well as medicine, some importance of Physics are as follows: Health Physics is concerned with radiation safety, Medical Physics is concerned with the application of the concepts and methods of physics to help diagnose and treat human disease Radiological Physics, concerned with the use of radiation for therapy and diagnosis Biological Physics, concerned with the application of the concepts and methods of physics to the solution of biological problems and the understanding of biological processes. Whether through research, medical support, or medical practice, physics serves important roles in all aspects of the great humanitarian effort for health care.