New Grad Nurse Confidence: Stoking the Flame
Graduating from nursing school and becoming a new nurse is a remarkable accomplishment that can generate excitement, fear and loathing, anxiety, joy, and all manner of both positive and negative emotions.With new nurses abandoning their nursing careers within the first 1-3 years at alarming rates, the nursing profession itself needs to wake up and smell the coffee regarding how crucial it is to support, nurture, and grow our new nurses into seasoned and confident professionals.New grads need to pass the NCLEX, of course, and when that hurdle is accomplished, landing and starting a first nursing job is the order of the day....
Source: Digital Doorway - May 28, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: career career development healthcare nurse nurse career nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
Build a Firewall Against Negative Nurse Syndrome
As nurses, we see the good, the bad, and the ugly of life, society, and humanity. In the course of our nursing careers, we can encounter belligerent patients, impatient families, nurse bullies, arrogant surgeons, uncaring managers, and generally miserable nurse peers. So how do we stay positive amidst such negativity? How do we protect ourselves against those who would prefer to drag us down with them -- including other nurses?Photo by Makhmutova Dina on UnsplashNegative Nurse SyndromeNegative Nurse Syndrome (NNS) is a widespread condition that infects a large number of nurses and nursing students. No matter...
Source: Digital Doorway - May 22, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: career career development career management careers healthcare careers nurse nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
Your Nursing Career: Attention and Intention
As a career coach for nurses, I frequently hear from nurses who feel they ' ve been ignoring their own nursing career development for far too long and they ' re ready to give it the attention it deserves. Do you regularly give your nursing career focused intention and attention? If not, how can you begin?Photo by Olloweb Solutions on UnsplashEnergy Flows Where Attention GoesIt ' s kind of a cliche to say that energy flows where attention goes, but sometimes cliches are undeniably true and simply overused to the point where they lose some of their power and meaning.If you spend your working hours focused on h...
Source: Digital Doorway - May 14, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: career career development career management careers healthcare careers nurse nurse career nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
Change, Personal Agency, and Wellness -- Celebrating Nurses Week 2018
As Nurses Week begins, what does the idea of nurses and nursing conjure for the majority of people when they think about nurses? Obviously, the public trusts us immensely (the Gallup Poll confirms that every year), so there ' s a lot behind who we nurses are and why we ' re so special.Photo by Aditya Romansa on UnsplashThe Heroism of NursingClinical nursing may be largely task-based, but I ' ll add that it ' s very much touch-based. From the care of premature newborns to the midwifery of the dying in hospice, nurses ' ability to physically touch their patients is central to both nursing identity, nursing pra...
Source: Digital Doorway - May 7, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: career healthcare National Nurses Week nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
Nurses Take DC 2018: Nurses' Voices Matter
This articlefrom January 2018 on AllNurses lays it all out, and Bethexplains moreover on her website, NurseCode, including what actions you can take to support the movement by lobby for the legislation that we believe is most promising.California is the only state in the U.S. that has legislatively mandated ratios, and reports from that state are demonstrating that it ' s working. Although far from perfect, California nurses ' experience seems to show us that having a mandated limit on the number of patients a nurse can care for on various units allows nurses to do their jobs more efficiently and safely.Unfortunately, the ...
Source: Digital Doorway - April 30, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: healthcare nurse nurses nursing Source Type: blogs
Your Nursing Career's Differential Diagnosis
In medicine, nursing, and healthcare, a differential diagnosis refers to the process of differentiating between two or more conditions sharing similar signs and symptoms. In the context of your nursing career, this process can be equally elucidating. Is there a careful career examination in your future? If so, what would your differential diagnosis be?Photo by rawpixel.com on UnsplashIt All Begins With AssessmentWhether you ' re examining a patient or dissecting the state of your own nursing career, you always begin with an assessment. The gathering of data is the first step in the nursing process, of course...
Source: Digital Doorway - April 16, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: career career development careers healthcare careers nurse nurse career nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
Nurses: Moving at the Speed of Trust
Seeking a career in nursing could be characterized as an exercise in trust. We nurses willingly endure a grueling educational experience; place ourselves in the hands of nursing professors and professional nurse preceptors; and otherwise trust that the blood, sweat, tears, and expense of pursuing our goal is worthwhile. In essence, we move at the speed of trust as we enter the universe of a nursing career.Photo by Alternate Skate on UnsplashTrusting OurselvesThe first act of trust intrinsic to our nursing journey is trust in the self. Even while our peers, colleagues, friends, or family may caution us agains...
Source: Digital Doorway - April 9, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: career career development career management careers healthcare healthcare careers nurse nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
Nurse Innovators and Trailblazers: An Embarrassment of Riches
I recently spoke with a nurse career coaching client who ' s thoughtfully searching for what she should do next with her nursing career in order to more fully reach her potential as a healthcare professional. As I ' ve previously discussed on both this blog andmy podcast, the sky ' s the limit in terms of what nurses are capable of, even though nursing schools (and by extension many of your nursing colleagues) will lead you to believe that acute care is the only place where " real " nurses choose to make their professional nest.Photo by Riccardo Annandale on UnsplashSeeing the PossibilitiesWhen I speak with ...
Source: Digital Doorway - April 2, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: consulting entrepreneurship National Nurses in Business Association nurse entrepreneurs nurse entrepreneurship nursing Source Type: blogs
Nurse Bullies: A Plague On Our House
Sadly, there appears to be a desperate need for a continued conversation about bullying within the nursing profession. One would hope that the dawning of the 21st century would have seen a decline in such old school behaviors, but there are obviously those among us who haven ' t yet learned the lesson that collaboration and cooperation are the true keys to success.When bullying occurs between colleagues who are more or less within the same level of the professional hierarchy, it is also referred to as " horizontal violence " or " lateral violence " . For example, one nurse bullying another is considered lateral violence, a...
Source: Digital Doorway - March 26, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: bullying nurse nurse bullying nurse-nurse relationships nurses nursing Source Type: blogs
A Shot of Nursing Self-Esteem
Do you hold yourself and your nursing skills in high esteem? Do you internalize and embody your value as a nurse? If not, it ' s high time that you did.Most of us have voices in our heads that attempt to derail our self esteem or throw us off our game. Those voices may harken back to a parent, grandparent, teacher, or other individual who devalued us or threw a wrench into our self-worth.As nurses, there are plenty of signs that we ' re valued by society, the Gallup poll being one such measure of how the public trusts and honors us. However, nurses are also demeaned in media, treated as sex objects, and frequently portraye...
Source: Digital Doorway - March 19, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: nurse nurses nursing Source Type: blogs
Escape Velocity
There are many of us who desire change during the course of our nursing careers, but change can be hard to manifest for a variety of reasons: boredom, ennui, limiting beliefs, lack of imagination, low self-esteem, difficult life circumstances, finances, burnout, or perhaps a rut so deep that we can ' t dig ourselves out.In order to break free of the earth ' s gravitational field, a rocket must reach 25,020 miles per hour. Is your needed escape velocity equally daunting? If you were to gain the momentum needed to make a change, what is the escape velocity you would need to actually make it happen?My Lonely, Embittered Plane...
Source: Digital Doorway - March 12, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: career career development career management careers nurse nurse career nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
A Soft Landing for New Nurses
In speaking with large numbers of new nurses over the years, I consistently hear that novice nurses are not often given the guidance, nurturing, and mentoring that they truly need to move from surviving to thriving in their new nursing careers. New nurses need a " soft landing " as they enter the field, and it ' s up to us seasoned nurses to make sure they get it.Photo by Alex Lehner on UnsplashIf you ' re a nurse, take yourself back to when you were new to the profession. What was it like when you began your first job? Did you feel properly prepared? Were you scared to death? Did you feel like an imposter? ...
Source: Digital Doorway - March 5, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: career career development healthcare careers new nurses nurse career nurse careers nurse wellness nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
A Message to the Nurse's Future Self
So nurse, it ' s twenty years in the future, and you have two more decades of nursing under your belt. You ' ve cared for thousands of patients, held thousands of hands, and looked into thousands of pairs of eyes. What do you remember, and what do your patients recall? What stands out for you? How does your career compare to your expectations, dreams and aspirations? How would you like that 20 years to live in your mind and heart? You can create it now.Patients RememberNurse, what do your patients remember about you? First, they probably don ' t remember your name, and that ' s almost a certainty. Maybe a special one or tw...
Source: Digital Doorway - February 26, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: career career development career management careers healthcare careers nurse nurse careers nurses nursing Source Type: blogs
Common Questions About Nurse Entrepreneurship
Nurse entrepreneurship is exploding in the 21st century, and many nurses ask me for advice about nursing-based business. So, let ' s dig into some of the most common questions that nurses have about potentially launching a business or entrepreneurial endeavor.Photo by Josefa nDiaz on Unsplash.comWhat ' s a Business?One of the main tenets of business hasn ' t changed since the days of cave people, and that ' s this: business is about people being willing to pay you for your solution to the problem that they ' re having.In the case of a caveman or cavewoman, let ' s visualize a caveman who knows how to sharpen a bone to a ve...
Source: Digital Doorway - February 19, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: business career career management entrepreneurship National Nurses in Business Association nurse careers nurse entrepreneurs nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
Nursing Trends and the ANA, Part 2 of 2
One of the premier nursing organizations gathering information about nurses is theAmerican Nurses Association (ANA). Inmy previous post, we delved into the results of a 2017 ANA survey based on responses from approximately 6,000 nurses. Today we ' re going to dive back in for part 2 of our 2-part series.The second partof the ANA ' s survey involving 6,000 nurses focused on self-care, incivility, and how their employers support them in the workplace. These are issues that are written about constantly, yet here is data that gives us a snapshot -- somewhat representative, but certainly not scientifically so -- of how nurses a...
Source: Digital Doorway - February 12, 2018 Category: Nursing Tags: careers healthcare careers nurse nurse career nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
