Related: Caregivers, Communication, Confidentiality, New Grad, New Nurse, New Nurse Tips, Non-Verbal Language, Patient Advocate, Patients, Professionalism

You can’t meet each patient’s emotional needs. You’d never be able to leave your work behind. Or get anything done. But there are times when some patients need a little extra support and will drop hints to get you to respond.

What are those hints and how do you sensibly help? Read this interview with RealityRN Senior Advisor CeCe Grindel, PhD, RN, CMSRN, FAAN, to learn [...]

Related: Addiction, Balance, Caregivers, Drug Addiction, Fear, Healthy Living, Nurse Support

“I thought having knowledge of addiction protected me from developing an addiction.

“I thought I was immune,” says Patricia Holloran, RN.

But she was wrong. A recovering drug addict, Holloran has become a strong advocate for other nurses facing the same struggle.

Most nurses think they will never fall into addiction, but, according to Holloran, even as healthcare professionals, nurses are vulnerable.

Look around your unit: You may [...]

Related: Abuse, Addiction, Anger, Caregivers, Compassion Fatigue, Drug Addiction, DUI, Education, Emotions, Failure, Felony, Management, Mistake, Nurse Support, Perfect Nurse, Stereotypes, Stress, Success, Support, Weaknesses

Addiction: it’s a moral issue, right? Whoever starts abusing a drug is a bad person, making a bad choice, and should be punished. At the very least, they should be able to quit on the spot.

But it’s not that simple. According to Dr. Linda Barile, APRN, and advocate for nurses who are addicts, we need to stop blaming them and instead support them through recovery.

Here [...]

Related: Balance, Caregivers, Compassion Fatigue, Emotions, Energy, Feelings, Goals, Mindset, Spirituality

Tony Schwartz, founder and president of The Energy Project (theenergyproject.com), an organization currently launching a project to improve the nursing work environment, and co-author of The Power of Full Engagement, says that nurses are by nature better at caring about others than they are at caring for themselves.

Isn’t it time to start caring about your own health? In this exclusive RealityRN interview, Schwartz discusses how [...]

Related: Caregivers, Caring, Communication, Embarrassing Moment, Humor, Morale, New Nurse Tips, Patient Advocate, Patients

Leslie Gibson’s patient had gotten the boot from her nursing home. The 96-year-old crotchety woman commonly assailed nurses with bare-knuckled blows. Once home, neighbors witnessed the elderly woman’s emotional crash—and called in Leslie, a visiting nurse at the time, for support.

When Leslie first met her cranky patient, she saw that pain, anger, and confusion shrouded any vivacity that might have once been present.

Leslie had a [...]

Related: Balance, Caregivers, Caring, Charting, Communication, Delegation, Expectations, New Nurse, New Nurse Tips, Patient Advocate, Patients, Prioritizing, Teamwork

Reports, charting, administering drugs, assessments, tidying up, more charting, and more reports—and no meaningful interaction with the patient.

Suzanna’s first year was a nightmare.

Suzanna, a new nurse on a pediatric ward, didn’t like having to live by the laundry list of to-dos. She was most fulfilled spending time with patients, making sure both their emotional and physical needs were met.

The bottom line: You can’t be a [...]

Related: Boundaries, Caregivers, Caring, Communication, Compassion, Confidentiality, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, New Nurse Tips, Patient Advocate, Patients, Prioritizing

“I don’t think we should continue heroic measures.”
“I want a third opinion!”
“That’s not the way the last nurse did it.”
“My sister needs more water, more pain medication, and clean sheets…now!”
“How long does my son have to live?”

Questions. Capricious emotions. Absurd demands. More questions. And plain cold criticism. Often serving families of patients is more taxing than treating the patients. Kathy Quan, a veteran nurse [...]

Related: Attitude, Caregivers, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Mindset, Patient Advocate, Teamwork

Why, as caregivers, do we often assume we are the only ones doing the caring, and the rest of the medical staff shows up only to collect a paycheck?

We nurses often see ourselves as the only patient's advocate and turn advocacy into an "us vs. them" tug-of-war. What happened to the team approach to patient care? Don't think it's only "them" that are responsible for [...]

Related: Addiction, Anxiety, Balance, Caregivers, Compassion Fatigue, Drug Addiction, Energy, Healthy Living, Mindset, Prioritizing, Spirituality, Stress, Support

Extreme tiredness, negative feelings, weight gain, and marital problems.

One moment, Kayla thought she was depressed and that medication would help. Another moment, she thought her husband was the problem and that she should quit her marriage.

But Kayla wasn’t depressed. She suffered from something that affects many professional caregivers.

In recent years, Mary Jo Barrett, author and social worker from the Center for Contextual Change, in Elmhurst, [...]

Related: Attitude, Caregivers, Caring, Communication, Compassion, Complaints, New Nurse Tips, Non-Verbal Language, Patient Advocate, Patients, Professionalism

On the day of his surgery, Mr. Grumpafagus, the quintessential grouchy old man, was wickedly crabby. He griped about the cold food, the stiff bed, the spin on television, government conspiracies, and the overpaid doctors.

Most nurses avoided him, busying themselves with pre-op. Even the anesthesiologist warned Mallory, a second year surgical nurse, “Watch out for this one.”

Earlier, Mallory had picked up that he was in [...]