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RealityRN
Posts Tagged ‘Compassion Fatigue’
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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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Seasoned with Sage

Ever felt like you were stuck in a bad situation and could do nothing about it?

Sometimes it’s the little things that can really help to turn things around. While there are many things that may be outside of your control, sometimes all it takes is one person choosing to focus on creating positive change to really get the momentum going

A few ideas on how to [...]
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Rookie Wit & Wisdom

I am drained: mentally, physically, emotionally, and psychologically.

One month at the PICU, I’m so tired. It's been the kind of month that keeps you up all night. If you finally get to sleep, you wake up from a disturbing dream.

You smile and joke the whole day at work, but subconsciously you're bleeding from the gut. And there are no sutures to keep the wound closed. [...]
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Seasoned with Sage

I have first-hand experience with “sticking it out” in a bad job situation. However, there are also benefits to seeking out change. If you can no longer thrive in the environment you are in, move on. But how do you know when to stick it out or start looking for a new job?
1. Gauge your feelings over a long period of time (six months or [...]
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Interacting With Patients

Congratulations! It’s Nurses Day. You’ve made it through another year—or perhaps you’re inching your way through your freshman year. While you’ve experienced the joy of changing patients’ lives, you no doubt have encountered daily struggles and frustrations that most people in other professions would crumble because of.

Enjoy a hearty chuckle at the fun poked at the not-so-glamorous parts of nursing. The list has been around [...]
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Reality Unscripted

One of my early posts was about setting boundaries with those who are all too happy to cross them. This go around I'm taking a different slant.

I'm here to admit I haven't done a very good job at setting my own boundaries.

I'm in the middle of a situation that has made me exhausted, crabby, and out of clean underwear. I've allowed myself to [...]
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Rookie Wit & Wisdom

"What are they doing here?" asked Shannon. "They shouldn't be here. It's an emergency room, for goodness’ sake."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, can't they see we're too busy?" I added. At the time I had only been working in the emergency room for six months, and like all good junior staff, I was mimicking my seniors.

You see, the problem was that we were ridiculously busy, [...]
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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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Provocative Topics
The path to recovery for nurse addicts.

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 [...]
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Handling Stress
How nurses can stay positive and focused in high stress environments.

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 [...]
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