Pokémon: Little Angels or Little Devils?
My younger sisters are victims of the Pokémon craze. On the weekends when I go home for a brief break from college life, Claire and Natalie are drawn to the television to catch the latest episode of Pokémon on Saturday morning. Catching a glimpse of the illuminated screen, I walk into the kitchen and sit down with them as they blindly spoon cereal into their mouths, not missing one millisecond of the cartoon. Watching them absorb the show makes me laugh and, when I do, they turn to me and tell me, "Shut up! We’re trying to watch the show!" I give them a funny look and proceed to watch the show with them. I find that I also am in love with the little yellow Pikachu and can’t get enough of this darling cartoon series. Our addiction to Pokémon is just as benevolent as the individual Pokémon themselves.
"Pokémon started as the brainchild of Japanese creator Satoshi Tajiri, 34, who combined his two childhood passions: monster movies and the study of insects to invent Pokémon in 1991" ("Poka" 2/3). There are over 155 Pokémon to learn about and collect. There are Pokémon trading cards, video games (several different versions), and a cartoon series on the Kids’ WB television network. The name Pokémon actually means "pocket monsters" (Holmes 1/2). Pikachu, the most popular Pokémon and my personal favorite, is an electric Pokémon with special attacks such as "Thundershock" and "Lightningbolt." Other Pokémon and their attacks include Krabby, a water Pokémon, with a "vise grip" attack; Tauros a normal type Pokémon with a "tail whip" attack; and Squirtle, also a water type Pokémon, with a "hydro pump" attack (Walk 1/2).
In the video game story there are three main trainers that travel around to different islands to catch wild Pokémon that they train and become their own: Ash, Brock, and Misty. Ash wants to become a Pokémon master which means that he must travel to all the Pokémon gyms, defeat the gym leaders’ Pokémon, and collect "badges" so that he can compete in the Pokémon league and achieve his dream. In the video games, the person playing the game takes on the role of Ash and attempts to learn about all the different Pokémon as well as how and when to use their corresponding attacks. As the different Pokémon become more experienced, they may evolve into a new and more powerful Pokémon that the trainer can battle with.
Over the past years, there has been a nursing shortage which has led to the need of more registered nurses in the hospital setting. This is the result of higher acuity of patient care and a decrease in their length of hospital stay. In order for the patients to get safe and quality care, the staffing, education and experience of the nursing staff needs to be made a priority. Because of the lack of nurses, patient quality of care has suffered.
Many nurses face the issue of understaffing and having too much of a workload during one shift. When a unit is understaffed not only do the nurses get burnt out, but the patients also don’t receive the care they deserve. The nurse-patient ratio is an aspect that gets overlooked in many facilities that could lead to possible devastating errors. Nurse- patient ratio issues have been a widely studied topic and recently new changes have been made to improve the problem.
As the high school chapter is coming to a close, many students have to make a decision that will affect the rest of their lives. Hopefully, for many that decision is to enroll in a college and attain a higher education. However, as tuition costs rise, students have to take a second look at their options for a better future. A community college is that second look for many because it is the less expensive option. From 2007-2009, enrollment for community colleges has increased by 24 percent (“College costs and the CPI”). Students aren’t choosing a college for educational purposes because they are overwhelmed by financial issues. They are attending community colleges so they will be able to graduate with a lower debt. Some seniors have wanted to attend a certain university all their life and they work toward that goal through grade school; however, they are hindered by soaring tuition for that college. Students should be able to attend a private university if they mee...
Needleman, J., Buerhaus, P., PKankratz, V. S., Leibson, C. L., Stevens, S. R., & Harris, M. (2011). Nurse Staffing and Inpateint Hospital Mortality. The New England Journal of Medicine , 364, 1037-1045.
Elementary school, middle school, high school, college―that’s how we’re told our education careers should go. After college you go on and get a job based on the degree you received. Seems simple right? According to Erik Lowe in his Seattle Times article “Keep Washington’s College Tuition Affordable,” he informs that people in his generation are the first to be less educated than their parents, in the United States. He explains that this is due to the high cost of tuition followed by a huge amount of student loan debt. Lowe believes that there needs to be a significant change in the country’s higher education systems (in reference to the tuition costs) or the decline of college attendance will continue. There needs to be a decrease of college tuition because as it currently is, many people are unable to go to college due to the cost and if they do, they are loaded with debt and faced with the daunting task of finding a job.
In our modern age there is a constant need to point fingers and call something evil that was only made to better people’s lives. It happened with the television, it happened with the internet, and now this epidemic has set its sights on videogames. This media has been unfairly criticized, mainly by parents, since its release. They claim it causes violence and isolation but more over, in their arrogance, claim it is nothing more than a blatant waste of time. What these people don’t see is the true nature and potential for videogames and those who partake in the experiences they have to offer. Videogames provide a person with not only the opportunity to enhance their social and analytical skills, but also offer them the potential for tangential learning.
The purpose of this paper is to address the issue of nursing staffing ratios in the healthcare industry. This has always been a primary issue, and it continues to grow as the population rate increases throughout the years. According to Shakelle (2013), in an early study of 232,432 surgical discharges from several Pennsylvania hospitals, 4,535 patients (2%) died within 30 days of hospitalization. Shakelle (2014) also noted that during the study, there was a difference between 4:1 and 8:1 patient to nurse ratios which translates to approximately 1000 deaths for a group of that size. This issue can be significantly affected in a positive manner by increasing the nurse to patient ratio, which would result in more nurses to spread the work load of the nurses more evenly to provide better coverage and in turn result in better care of patients and a decrease in the mortality rates.
The gaming industry is a leading company when it comes to entertainment, especially among young children and teens. Technology has become an enormous necessity in everyday life and many, whether young or old, always seem to have some form of it on their person at all times. It may be something as simple as car keys with an electronic lock system or even more common, the cell phone, but majority of the devices we have today have become, in a sense to some, basic necessities, objects that they cannot go a single day without. So why does everyone question why children are so glued to technology; parents provide it, encourage it, but when is it “too much?”. Then it comes down to television and video games. The vast majority of the youth of today are increasingly sucked in...
The prolonged shortage of skilled nursing personnel has been a serious concern to the healthcare industry, and this shortage has impacted the quality of care delivery. In addition, nursing turnover has also exacerbated the problem of nursing shortage. Nursing shortage has been blamed on many nurses retiring and less younger nurses joining the occupation. There is also an increase in life expectancy (baby boomers) leading an increase in both physical and mental ailment with subsequent demand in nursing care. Nurses are also leaving nursing profession because of inadequate staffing, tense work environment, negative press about the profession, and inflexible work schedules. Even though nursing is a promising career and offers job security, the
These articles have many similarities when discussing the issue of staffing shortages. For patients, their loved ones and the general population, they don’t understand the ramifications and strain that staffing shortages have on nurses. People expect and deserve complete, competent and safe care when they are patients. These articles bring to light all the struggles that nurses have to deal with. Nurses are fearful that they will make mistakes, will harm patients, and will harm themselves. (Bae, 2012; Erlen, 2001; Martin, 2015) Overtime can be overwhelming and exhausting, which can lead to errors being made. (Bae, 2012; Erlen, 2001) These articles perceive that it may be beneficial for nurses, patients, and healthcare facilities to decrease the nurse-to-patient ratio, however, this option is not always
Thousands of nurses throughout the nation are exhausted and overwhelmed due to their heavy workload. The administrators do not staff the units properly; therefore, they give each nurse more patients to care for to compensate for the lack of staff. There are several reasons to why
Factors such as, heavy workloads, stress, job dissatisfaction, frequent medical errors, and intention of leaving the job are all common for nurses to experience, especially during the nursing shortage crisis. Not only do the nurses suffer during a shortage, but the patients ' health outcomes suffer even more. For instance, there are higher rates of infectious diseases and adverse patient outcomes, such as urinary tract infections (UTIs), upper gastrointestinal bleeding, shock, pneumonia, prolonged hospital stays, failure to rescue, and mortality. As a result, this leads to higher re-admission rates for patients. Furthermore, high patient-to-nurse ratios cause heavy workloads due to an inadequate supply of nurses, an increased demand for nurses, a reduction in staffing and an increase in overtime, and a shortened length of stay for patients. Without the heavy workloads that nurses have to endure on a daily basis, there would more time for nurses to communicate more effectively with physicians, insurance companies, and patients and their families. Those heavy workloads are the result of hospitals reducing the nursing staff and implementing mandatory overtime policies just to meet unexpectedly high demands. Unfortunately, the nursing shortage has affected nurses ' mental and physical health. For example, the most common health concerns for nurses include cardiovascular health, occupational injuries and illnesses, and emotional and physical exhaustion. Therefore, safe-staffing ratios/levels have to become the main
Death, and people's perception of it are a major part of many philosophies. It could be argued that the questions surrounding death and the afterlife form the basis of many philosophic concepts. To some philosophers, not only is the concept of death itself important, but also how people perceive it, and why they perceive it the way they do. Epicurus's claim that the soul is mortal, is an excellent explanation for why we should not fear death.
Today’s culture views the media as a necessity. One class of media entertainment is television. Television is often exchanged for play among children. Marie Winn wrote “The End of Play” commenting on how children have replaced “fantasy and make-believe games” for television. (Winn 76) A research study in USA Today showed results of a survey indicating “14% of parents said TV is always on.”(Par 4) Their findings point out “TV decreased play’s intensity to given toy”. (Par 3...
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Community Health Resources. Retrieved March 4, 2011, from http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/DACH_CHAPS/Default/LinksHealthTopic.aspx?topic=4#7