Your Untapped Reservoirs of Brilliance
A few weeks ago, I was speaking with a nurse client who came to me forcareer coaching, and we were discussing a variety of issues pertaining to her nursing career. At some point in the conversation, I used the phrase, "your untapped reservoir of brilliance" , and it has stuck with me since. What untapped reservoirs of brilliance are you ready to mine for your highest good?Brilliance can mean many different things to different people; for me, it conjures a plethora of images and metaphors. Brilliance can manifest at many levels and in every aspect of life, and in terms of your nursing career, your brilliance---and the brill...
Source: Digital Doorway - June 13, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: healthcare careers nurse nurse career nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
Your Nursing Career Report Card
Remember the days when you ' d run home with your report card to show your parents how you did in school? Or were you the kid who hid it at the bottom of your bag so they wouldn ' t see it? Well, your nursing career deserves a report card, too. How ' ve you been doing and what grade do you think you deserve?Report cards can be a measurement of performance, communication, talent, intelligence, diligence, attention to detail, time management, relationships, and many other categories. In some schools, letter grades are the norm, while in some alternative schools, there aren ' t any grades at all. Sometimes, our report cards a...
Source: Digital Doorway - June 6, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: career career development career management careers healthcare careers nurse nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
Nursing Career Change and the Soul
When a nurse needs a career change, the reasons can be myriad and multifaceted. However, when we only reach for the money or for career " advancement " , we may miss a golden opportunity for a different kind of personal and professional blossoming to take place.We nurses change the course of our careers based on many factors, one of which may be money or advancement. This is all well and good, but based on my beliefs about the soul work of evolving as a nurse, money and career development are only parts of a much more intricate puzzle.The soul work of nursing is that which lies deep within you; it ' s the desire to se...
Source: Digital Doorway - May 30, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: career nurse nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
The Five Rights Of A Healthy Work Environment
I recently gave a presentation at a northern California nursing conference on the subject of healthy work environments for nurses. During my preparations, I spent a great deal of time pondering aloud about the scourge of nurse bullying and lateral violence, as well as why healthcare workplaces lend themselves so readily to unhealthy work conditions.There are many reasons that bullying and unhealthy workplaces have become so common, and I ’m sure that you, dear Reader, can rattle off a few without even thinking too hard.Stressful DynamicsThe level of stress in the healthcare milieu seems to have increased with the years. ...
Source: Digital Doorway - May 23, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: healthcare nurse nurses nursing Source Type: blogs
A Nurse, A Wall, And A Bloody Forehead
As a nurse career coach, I hear a lot of stories, and some of those stories revolve around the way that nursing has sucked the life out of a nurse ' s ambition and self-confidence. And what I see is that nurses who feel demoralized and beaten down sometimes stay in jobs that are killing them because they just don ' t see another way. A Wall and a Nurse ' s Bloody ForeheadWhen a nurse is hitting a wall, she or he needs to move away from the wall and find a door or window to slip through. But what I see over and over again is nurses banging their heads against the same wall over and over until their proverbial foreheads...
Source: Digital Doorway - May 1, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: burnout career career development career management careers healthcare careers nurse nurse burnout nurse career nurse careers nurses nursing Source Type: blogs
The 10,000-Foot View of Your Nursing Career
A few weeks ago, I was speaking with a career coaching client, and we were discussing how scary it can be to make a big change. In talking about the minutiae as well as the big picture, I encouraged her to always come back to the 10,000-foot view. "However, " I said, "while the 10,000-foot view is a great thing to keep in mind, it can also give you vertigo. " Clouds, thousands of feet over Santa Fe, NMThe DetailsWhen contemplating your career, there ' s a lot of detail to consider: your resume, cover letters, thank you letters, Linked In profile, interview skills, the employers you ' re interested in contacting, etc. ...
Source: Digital Doorway - April 22, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: career nurse nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
The Three R's of Nursing
This blog post about what nurses really need and want was published in 2013; it ' s been updated for nursing in 2017. Enjoy!There are some very basic things that nurses look for--and deserve--in the course of their nursing careers. It ' s clear that this list could probably be expanded to include many other ideas as well. I posited in that previous post that there are "Three R ' s" of nursing, and I identified them as respect, remuneration, and recognition.In the aforementioned post, named "The Nursing Class Hero" , I stated the following:Back in the day, nursing was a non-professional, relatively unskilled form of labor w...
Source: Digital Doorway - April 17, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: healthcare nurse nurse bullying nurse identity nurse professionalism nurses nursing nursing identity Source Type: blogs
The " Nursing Class Hero "
This post was originally published on June 24th, 2013. It has been slightly edited and updated for your edification and enjoyment. Fans of the late John Lennon might bristle at my adulteration of the title of a famous song by the iconic musician and peace activist, but a "nursing class hero" is certainly something to be.Listening to Lennon ' s "Working Class Hero " , I realized that, aside from being a great play on words, "Nursing Class Hero" could also be a fitting and interesting way to explore our profession from a novel perspective.Nursing and ClassBack in the day, nursing was a non-professional, relatively ...
Source: Digital Doorway - April 10, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: health care healthcare delivery medical care medicine nurse nurse careers nurse education nurse identity nurse practitioners nurse professionalism nurses ' image nursing nursing practice Source Type: blogs
5 Ways to Build Your Network of Nursing Career Allies
In the course of your nursing career, you need allies who can help you elevate and advance your journey as a professional nurse. Allies are easier to come by than you think, but so many nurses don ' t think strategically about this important aspect of nursing career development.Since such a large number of nurses seem averse to consciously and purposefully building a professional network, here are five ways to build your network of nursing career allies. 1. Find A MentorA mentor is an ally who has your best interests in mind. During your nursing career, you can always hire a mentor for a short period of time and a spe...
Source: Digital Doorway - March 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: career career development career management careers healthcare careers networking nurse nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers professional networking Source Type: blogs
Is Your Nursing Career on Autopilot?
Nurses, do you ever feel that your nursing career is on autopilot? Are you coasting, resting on your laurels, or otherwise sitting in the back seat of your career? This can work for a while, but it can eventually lead to boredom, ennui, and even burnout and an abandoned career. If you ' re on autopilot right now, would you like to get back in the pilot ' s seat?Autopilot And YouWhen your nursing career is on autopilot, you may be staying at a job you don ' t really like because you don ' t have the gumption or fortitude to think clearly about what you want. In this scenario, you ' re stuck, but you may actually be kind of ...
Source: Digital Doorway - March 13, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: career career development career management careers healthcare careers nurse nurse career nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
The New LinkedIn: Pay Attention, Nurses!
LinkedIn is an important networking tool for nurses and healthcare professionals, and there are changes afoot on the LinkedIn user interface (UI) that the savvy and prudent nurse needs to be cognizant of.Some readers may be aware that LinkedIn was purchased by Microsoft in 2016, and the changes are now rolling out. If you haven ' t looked at your profile for a while, you may now be surprised when you log in. As of this writing in early March of 2017, most every user should be switched over to the new UI, so be prepared for some frustration as you adjust.Praise and ComplaintsLinkedIn experts around the world have been diggi...
Source: Digital Doorway - March 6, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: career career development career management careers healthcare careers LinkedIn nurse nurse career nurse careers nurses nursing social media Source Type: blogs
The " Shoulds " and " Coulds " of Your Nursing Career
In the world of nurses and nursing, it can feel like we are told what we “should” do with our careers much more often than what we “could” do. While the difference can seem subtle, it is actually something that can have a serious impact on the career path we choose and the subsequent satisfaction that we derive from our choices.The “Shoulds” of NursingWhen we ’re in nursing school or just starting our nursing careers, it can sometimes feel like everyone is just “shoulding” all over us: “You should work in the hospital for at least two years or you won ’t ever be a real nurse. ...
Source: Digital Doorway - February 27, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: career development career management careers healthcare careers nurse nurse career nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
Lions, Gazelles, and Nurses
Nursing has a hierarchy of power and experience just like any other profession; in fact, it also has a hierarchy that sometimes feels akin to the laws of survival on the savanna or in the jungle.Have you ever observed that the less experienced and more vulnerable nurses frequently get left on the outside, often falling prey to bullies and " predators " ? This is the herd mentality at its worst, and many novice nurses are taken down by bullies and power-hungry colleagues who eat them alive when they ' re demonstrating the slightest weakness.Protection and PredationOut on the African savanna, herds of gazelles keep watch for...
Source: Digital Doorway - February 20, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: career healthcare nurse nurses nursing Source Type: blogs
A Nursing Valentine
On this occasion of Valentine ' s Day, I want to take a pause for the cause of singing the praises of nurses; you are true heroes of healthcare and humanity.There ' s no shortage of mentions of theannual Gallup pollthat shows us nurses as being the most trusted professionals in the United States year after year. It ' s really no surprise that the public holds us in high esteem (Members of Congress and those who sell used cars are at the bottom of the list), and many of us likely wonder why our all-important and crucial work isn ' t more well paid. Yet like teachers, another group who are widely appreciated yet not compensa...
Source: Digital Doorway - February 13, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: career careers healthcare nurse nurse career nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs
Your Nursing Career Mitochondria
We all know that mitochondria are the energy-producing powerhouses within each cell of our bodies, synthesizing ATP (adenosine triphosphate) for us around the clock. In terms of your nursing career, what are the mitochondria that power your engine? What impetus, desires, goals, or motivations drive you forward? If you need to stoke the fire of your nursing career, the spark cannot be created in a vacuum.A nursing career needs a great deal of feeding and watering; there are so many moving parts, and there ' s a lot to do in order to keep them all happy and flourishing. In the course of your career, you will need personal an...
Source: Digital Doorway - February 8, 2017 Category: Nursing Tags: career career development career management careers healthcare careers nurse nurse career nurse careers nurses nursing Source Type: blogs
