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: Caring, Feelings, Humor, Mentor, Morale, Patients

Many of us have been hurt by destructive forms of humor. As a fourth- and fifth-grader, I was very overweight and other children often would ridicule me. As adults, we know that being “tricked”--or being the brunt of a joke--is not healthy humor.

I learned at an early age—from a wonderful mentor—that the secret to dealing with destructive humor is this: “If you can [...]

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 [...]