Related: Confidentiality, Gossip, Patients

I grew up in this town. I go to church here. I work here. My kids go to school here. My extended family lives here. I am well connected. These facts are all wonderful to me most of the time. It does occasionally cause me some difficulties, though. I work at a doctor's office that lots of [...]

Related: Caring, New Nurse, Nurse Relationships, Patients, Stress, Support, Teamwork, Time

I often struggle to remember the good days at work. But the good outweighs the bad, otherwise I wouldn't still be a nurse. One of the more memorable, feel-good stories goes like this:

At 41, Mr. Jones was too young to need vascular surgery, especially since he wasn't diabetic, and as far as he was aware, he didn’t have a family history of circulation problems. But [...]

Related: Confidentiality, Conflict, Patients

I broke the C law--not on purpose. And what is the C law? Let me tell you a story. Early one morning I received a letter, which read:

"Dear Nurse,

Thank you for your email, but we feel our son needs to see a doctor as his cough sounds terrible. He complains of being constantly tired, unable to sleep, and states that you do not let him [...]

Related: Attitude, Caregivers, Caring, Patience, Patients, Time

I read a blog entry this week from a friend whose son is having a bone marrow transplant today. I could fill a book with all the things I've learned from this family, but I'll just share one thing with you today. This particular entry was about how you can't rush a 10-year-old who doesn't want to do something. Especially if he [...]

Related: Anxiety, Authority, Mistake, Patients, Professionalism, Respect

Everyone wants to be treated with respect; nurses are no different. But we often exhibit behavior that undermines our professionalism. Over the years, I've developed a list of the 5 things that scream, "I am not a professional!"

1. Sharing too much of your own story. I've done this several times. Once when I was assisting my doc with a Pap smear, the patient mentioned [...]

Related: Anxiety, Embarrassing Moment, Humor, Patients, Travel Nursing

As a traveling nurse, I was sent to check a patient who was close to dying. The night prior to my arrival, he had gone to the ER to have a Foley inserted.

When I arrived at the patient's home, his wife greeted me with, "Oh, nurse, I am so glad you are here! My husband needs to move his bowels, and I cannot [...]

Related: Balance, Caregivers, Caring, Charting, Expectations, Mindset, Morale, New Grad, New Nurse, New Nurse Tips, Organizational Skills, Patient Advocate, Patients, Prioritizing, Professionalism

As a new nurse, your goal is to make a difference. You want to heal people. You want to engage with patients, communicating to them your professionalism and that you care. But countless tasks and a steep learning curve may prevent you from the patient interaction you were expecting. According to Donna Cardillo, considered to be the “guru of career development” for new nurses, this [...]

Related: Assertiveness, Attitude, Caring, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, New Nurse Tips, Patience, Patients

In 2008 I will:

Be more patient with difficult patients.

Be more patient with difficult families.

Be more patient with myself.

Be more assertive with difficult doctors.

Be less difficult to work with.

Be more assertive with anyone who keeps me from giving my patients the best possible care.

Be more accepting of working the crummy shifts.

Be more accepting of being the "new nurse".

Stop spending more than I have so I don't [...]

Related: Attitude, Feelings, Night Shift, Orientee, Patients

Christmas 1983. I was finishing orientation at my first hospital job and had to spend two weeks working pm's before going on permanent nights. I can't say I was looking forward to giving up every evening over the holidays as the rest of the world partied.

On one of my first evenings, a teenager, a senior in high school, was admitted after a sledding [...]

Related: Attitude, Career, Caregivers, Caring, Patients, Quitting, Student Nurse

When my boyfriend told his mother, who's a nurse, that I started a nursing program, I think she thought I was going into it for the money. I'm not going to lie, I was.

The first day of lecture, the instructor said to us, "Walk out of this room if you're getting into nursing for the money." Of course, no one left. Then at midterm, many [...]