The BirchTree Center for Healthcare Transformation

The BirchTree Center for Healthcare Transformation The BirchTree Center for Healthcare Transformation presents professional development programs for nurses and consultative services for healthcare organizations

11/03/2025

November is Native American Heritage Month. This year's theme is "Storytelling," focusing on what stories go untold and what stories need to be told.

We celebrate the culture and heritage of these remarkable Americans who deeply enrich the quality and character of our Nation. We celebrate Indian Country with its remarkable diversity of American Indian and Alaska Native cultures and peoples.





11/02/2025

Enjoy an extra hour of sleep and rest! ⏰





Day of the Dead (Dia De Los Mu***os) is a two day holiday that reunites the living and dead. Families create ofrendas (O...
11/01/2025

Day of the Dead (Dia De Los Mu***os) is a two day holiday that reunites the living and dead. Families create ofrendas (Offerings) to honor their departed family members that have passed. These altars are decorated with bright yellow marigold flowers, photos of the departed, and the favorite foods and drinks of the one being honored.

The offerings are believed to encourage visits from the land of the dead as the departed souls hear their prayers, smell their foods and join in the celebrations! 🌼

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Diwali is known as the festival of lights. Over time, it has become a national holiday, and communities in addition to H...
10/31/2025

Diwali is known as the festival of lights. Over time, it has become a national holiday, and communities in addition to Hinduism, including Jainism and Sikhism, have their
own way of celebrating it.

The word Diwali is derived from the Sanskrit word Deepavali, which means row of lights. This refers to the row (avali) of clay lamps (deepa) that observers light
outside their homes during Diwali to represent the light that guards against spiritual darkness.

Happy Diwali to all! 🕯🕯🕯






Trick or Treat? We all deserve treats - so treat yourself well and have FUN! 🎃🦇🌙
10/31/2025

Trick or Treat? We all deserve treats - so treat yourself well and have FUN! 🎃🦇🌙


It's Wednesday Wellness again! Another great article for you to read: Daily Step Count Should Be the Fifth Vital SignMe...
10/29/2025

It's Wednesday Wellness again! Another great article for you to read:

Daily Step Count Should Be the Fifth Vital Sign

Medscape - October 14, 2025
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/daily-step-count-should-be-fifth-vital-sign-2025a1000r63?ecd=WNL_trdalrt_pos1_251016_etid7804139&uac=445044EN&impID=7804139

Pulse and breathing rates have been acknowledged as “vital signs” for many centuries. Clinical temperature monitoring gained widespread acceptance in the mid-17th century, and blood pressure was added around 1900 when stethoscopes and sphygmomanometers came into common use. And although pain was promoted as the fifth vital sign for a few decades, it never fit — not least because pain is a subjective symptom, not an objectively measurable sign.

The four traditional vital signs are universally accepted as valuable for monitoring health. Recognizing aberrations in these vital signs provides helpful sensitivity for detecting some underlying malady, but on their own, these signs are inherently low in specificity. Now, with the accuracy and widespread use of "wearable” monitors, the daily step count meets the standard to be considered as the fifth vital sign.

Measuring daily step count can help track the functionality of:

1. The spinal cord and sensory and motor lower-extremity peripheral nerves
2. The bones, joints, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, and even bursae from the waist down
3. Cardiac output and the patency of the coronary and peripheral arteries
4. Vestibular apparatus and proprioception for balance

What do you think? Should walking become the 5th vital sign? 🚶🏿‍♀️🚶🏽👣







Wishing you abundance, optimism, and peace-in-your-heart 💜
10/27/2025

Wishing you abundance, optimism, and peace-in-your-heart 💜







Plant-Heavy Diets’ Link to Reduced Cancer Risk StrengthenedMedScape - August 26, 2025https://www.medscape.com/viewarticl...
10/22/2025

Plant-Heavy Diets’ Link to Reduced Cancer Risk Strengthened

MedScape - August 26, 2025
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/plant-heavy-diets-link-reduced-cancer-risk-strengthened-2025a1000mhu

Here we are again with Wednesday Wellness! Enjoy this study - and consider if a vegetarian lifestyle will work for your well-being.

People who ate a primarily vegetarian diet had a reduced risk for overall cancer and for several specific cancers compared with people who were nonvegetarian, according to a study.

The new findings, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, lend more credence to the existing evidence base suggesting that a heavily plant-based diet may reduce cancer risk.

A 2012 meta-analysis of seven studies found that vegetarians had an 18% lower risk for cancer than nonvegetarians. Similarly, a 2017 meta-analysis of 10 prospective cohort studies revealed an 8% reduced risk for cancer among vegans and vegetarians compared with omnivores. Another meta-analysis of eight studies with 686,691 participants published in 2023 showed vegetarian diets lowered the risk for gastrointestinal cancers, specifically, by 23%.

This study focused mainly on those with a pure vegetarian diet, but it included analysis of subcategories of vegans, those who ate fish (pesco-vegetarians) and those who ate dairy and egg products (lacto-ovo-vegetarians), all of which also showed reduced cancer risk. It further found reduced risks in some cancers that are less common, such as stomach cancer in all vegetarians and in lacto-ovo-vegetarians. 🍆🥕🌽🍅


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"Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you." - Ruth Bader GinsburgW...
10/20/2025

"Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you." - Ruth Bader Ginsburg

What matters enough to you where you become a role model to lead others?






Tips to Help Patients Get More Omega 3 in Their DietsMedScape - September 30, 2025https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/t...
10/16/2025

Tips to Help Patients Get More Omega 3 in Their Diets

MedScape - September 30, 2025
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/tips-help-patients-get-more-omega-3-their-diets-2025a1000q6y?ecd=WNL_mdpls_251003_mscpedit_wir_etid7769270&uac=445044EN&spon=17&impID=7769270

Omega-3 FAs are polyunsaturated fats that are needed to help the cells in the body function properly.

“Our bodies cannot produce the amount we need to survive, so they are essential nutrients that we need to obtain from the food we eat,” said Ashli Greenwald, MS, a registered dietician nutritionist at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore.

The best way to obtain omega-3 FAs in the diet is through fish, particularly fatty fish such as mackerel, salmon, herring, anchovies, trout, and sardines. “All types of fish contain omega-3 FAs and are beneficial to overall health. It’s good to try and eat at least 8 oz of fish per week; this might mean eating fish two to three times a week,” said Greenwald. 🎏

If your patient does not like fish, omega-3 FAs in the ALA form are also high in other plant sources. These foods include chia seeds, walnuts, ground flaxseeds, and flaxseed oils, and many other foods are fortified with omega-3 FAs such as eggs, Greenwald said. Suggest your patients to add these seeds or nuts to yogurt, oatmeal, or a salad as a good way to get some omega-3 FAs without eating fish.

Fish oil or flax oil capsules are readily available and can be an option for specific patients. Patients on anticoagulants and those who have bleeding disorders should be monitored closely if they are taking omega-3 FAs, especially at high doses. 💊



It's Wednesday Wellness - and here's an article that reminds us of the importance (and power of) sleep. 😴Too Little Slee...
10/15/2025

It's Wednesday Wellness - and here's an article that reminds us of the importance (and power of) sleep. 😴

Too Little Sleep Can Lead to Too Much Weight: What To Do?

MedScape - September 25, 2025
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/too-little-sleep-can-lead-too-much-weight-what-do-2025a1000pp9?ecd=WNL_trdalrt_pos1_250926_etid7753992&uac=445044EN&impID=7753992

A healthy diet, regular exercise, and stress management — these are well-established factors that promote weight control. But emerging evidence suggests that sleep also plays a powerful role in obesity and related conditions, which is one reason the American Heart Association added sleep to its list of “life’s essentials,” and most recently published a scientific statement on sleep health and its implications for cardiometabolic health.

Getting insufficient sleep, in particular, has been associated with obesity in epidemiological studies for more than two decades. The connection was highlighted in an article several years ago that noted, “The detrimental effects of inadequate sleep on health and public safety drive an explosion of sleep research.” That research has confirmed the relationship between inadequate sleep and obesity, as well as a range of related disorders including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension.

A recent cross-sectional study found a sleep duration of less than 7 hours increased the overweight and obesity rate nearly twofold compared with sleeping 7-9 hours. “I strongly believe that getting enough sleep could help tackle our society’s obesity epidemic,” Esra Tasali, MD, director, UChicago Sleep Center, Chicago, told Medscape Medical News. “Remarkably more than one third of US adults are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis, which strongly increases their risk for chronic conditions,” including obesity. 💤






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01062

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