In my quest to add good blogs to the Blog Cast Monitor directory by hand, I've developed a system.  I'm moving alphabetically through each of the main categories and selecting a subcategory from each to which I'll add blogs.  So far I've covered photography, customer service, artificial intelligence, and video games.  Not a bad assortment of topics if I do say so myself.

Today I moved into the "Health" category.  It didn't take me long to decide to the start with the "Nursing" section of the health category.  For one, there are a lot of good blogs out there dedicated to the nursing profession.  And second, nursing is a critical, but often over-looked and under-appreciated, aspect of the healthcare system.  This is especially true in our televised society in which prime time medical programming depicts doctors doing the jobs of nurses on a daily basis.  Half the things you've seen the doctors on E.R. or similar television shows do are not actually done by doctors in real hospitals.  They're done by nurses.  So to do my little part in helping to enlighten the masses about what it's really like to be a nurse, I've decided to cover that group of blogs today.

The following sites were added to the directory today, January 23, 2007:

Today's Category:  Health -> Nursing

Emergiblog:  I was immediately impressed with the look of Emergiblog - professional, modern, and very content-oriented.  And boy does this site have content.  I spent a large amount of time before I'd even realized that time had passed.  And Emergiblog seems like an excellent starting point for healthcare-related content on the Internet with one of the most extensive blogrolls I've ever seen, links to contests, scholarships, and everything in between, and a separate section for a blog about nurses for nurses.  This is one of the best blogs I've run across on any topic.

About a Nurse:  The first thing that drew me in to this site was its stated purpose:  "finding sense or humor in life and in a medical-surgical telemetry unit".  That's certainly a different approach to medial blogging!  The writing at About a Nurse is different as well.  Different in a good way, though.  A lot of the blog is written in blocks of thought and conversation that can be read together to tell a story or stand on their own as each "block" makes a point or has a message behind it.

Third Degree Nurse:  The author of Third Degree Nurse is just that - a nursing student working on her third degree.  From publicists to nursing student, the author details the trials and tribulations of going to class, studying, and working her way through nursing school.  Her writing is very conversational and easy to read.  Her dedication to school and to her newest career endeavor shows through in her excellent writing.

Mediblogopathy:  This site has another extensive blogroll that I actually used to find sites for addition today.  It also covers everything from daily life events to reviews of professional literature on the subject of nursing.  The writing is clear, concise, and very easy to follow.  And that writing goes back to 2004, so there's a lot to read about at Mediblogopathy.

Head Nurse:  Head covers a wide variety of topics in a very conversational, laid-back dialog.  It's extremely easy to read and the author even provides some explanations for the non-medically-included readers.  They also chronicle their own dealings with the healthcare industry from the perspective of a patient.  This was another one that I got lost in and read for much longer than I realized when it was all said and done.

Needless to say, there are a lot of great nursing blogs out there.  The one thing I noticed was that many of them are not regularly updated.  I can only assume that the hecticness that is a nurse's schedule is to blame.  I enjoyed reading every one of these blogs, though.  If I had another day to dedicate solely to the Blog Cast Monitor I probably could have added a dozen nursing blogs.

If your site was added to the directory today, and you'd like to change the description or any other aspect of your listing, please feel free to contact us with any corrections.  If you weren't added, and you'd like to submit your blog to the Nursing category, start by filling out this simple form.

If you'd like to submit your blog for inclusion in the Blog Cast Monitor, regardless of the subject, head on over to the "Add a Listing" page, choose the best category for your blog, and submit away.  We're currently accepting submissions in all categories and reviewing sites daily.  Don't delay!