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RealityRN
Posts Tagged ‘Healthy Living’
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Visitor Topics

I stopped nursing due to a latex allergy and now am frightened to continue becoming a nurse practitioner.

Reading how progressive a latex can become with continued exposure has steered me away from the medical profession, even though I miss it. Latex gloves should be removed from healthcare an alternative in place to ensure safety of patients and staff. If latex is removed from healthcare settings [...]
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Rookie Wit & Wisdom

I am a nurse on a cardiovascular floor. I have been there for a couple of years and can't help but notice the increasing acuity of the patients.

Our nurse/patient ratio is 1:5/6. I know that doesn't sound like a lot to some people, but most of the patients we take care of have a list 20 miles long of medical conditions, which only adds to [...]
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Rookie Wit & Wisdom

It started with the aches. I thought, what did I do to my back? Did I pull it or something? Quickly I discovered I had a low grade fever, adequately controlled by Tylenol.

Next day, same thing, not nearly as well controlled. I thought I had some kind of weird vague virus that would pass.

Three days later I sit here in my bed after having to [...]
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Reality Unscripted

My husband got back a couple weeks ago from a 5-day fly fishing adventure in Montana. For him, this is as close to heaven as this earth offers. Standing in a cold mountain stream. Watching the snow falling. Catching Brook Trout (I have no idea what he actually catches, but that's the only fish name I could think of). Letting [...]
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Handling Stress
A new nurse self-care survey can help you identify your blind-spots.

“Take care of yourself!” - Wouldn’t it be nice if your job description included this directive?

Unfortunately, nurses, who pour themselves into caring for others, are notorious for self-neglect. There’s no one around to make sure you make “you” a priority.

It’s a conundrum—you know you ought to take better care of yourself, but you don’t. Maybe you’re too tired to care. Maybe you don’t know [...]
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Handling Stress
How real nurses find energy for work and home.

Laura’s plate of cookies sits at the nurses' station after the unit potluck. You walk by and take one. It’s just a harmless cookie. When you pass by again, you take another. Pass again: another cookie. By the end of your shift, you’re not sure how many cookies—and calories—you have consumed.

Gretchen Vanderbosch, a dietician for Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, IL, calls this cookie [...]
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Handling Stress
Why healthcare professionals are at risk.

“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 [...]
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Reality Unscripted

It comes in all shapes and sizes. It comes when things are going well or when we're already struggling. It comes when we're young and when we're old. It comes. Then it comes again.

Stress is universal, but have you noticed how differently we all handle it? Headaches, stomach aches, even humor. This is on my mind because of the [...]
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Provocative Topics
Freedom for those trapped in drug abuse.

Drug addiction? That could never happen to me!

I wish that were the truth. I’m a nurse, and I certainly never thought I was vulnerable.

Not all nurses will develop the disease of addiction. But for many nurses, addiction is real. Substance abuse in the nursing population is believed to parallel or be slightly higher than that in the general population: approximately 10%. And it very often [...]
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Nurse Relationships
Build your network of support before you need it.

My first year of nursing, I considered becoming a forest ranger. Nursing was bleeding my emotions.

When I first got out of school, hospitals faced a big nursing shortage—not unlike today. The unit was understaffed, and the level of responsibility quickly overwhelmed me.

Worse, I became trapped in a destructive internal dialogue. I’d constantly tell myself: I’m not doing a good enough job. I stink at this. [...]
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