Related: Career, Education, Goals, Leadership, Learning, Nursing Shortage, Professionalism, Resume, Teamwork

The way you start your career as a new nurse is important—but often overlooked. With so much to learn, we tend to focus mostly on the job – we’re so worried that we’re going to hurt a patient. It takes a while before we discover that we’re never going to know everything. So as you start your new job, think about launching your career. Here’s [...]

Related: Career, Communication, Networking, New Nurse Tips, Professionalism

Like every other professional, nurses need networks because they are an invaluable source of information and opportunities. A network is like a treasure chest. And you can put wonderful things in it that you never know when you’re going to need to pull out. For example, you might dig into your chest when looking for a new job, when looking for advice on the job [...]

Related: Confidence, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Doctors, Handmaidens, Hostility, Male Nurse, Nurse History, Professionalism, Respect, Stereotypes

You’re a nurse. You are educated and work hard but often feel like a second-rate cleaning lady.

You’re not the only one who thinks so. Jerry R. Lucas, RN and owner and publisher of Male Nursing Magazine, believes that it is the responsibility of nurses to make their future better than their past. Lucas is passionately devoted to enticing men and women to the nursing [...]

Related: Male Nurse, Patient Advocate, Patients, Power, Professionalism, Seasoned Nurses, Stereotypes

You’re about to begin your first shift as an RN.

Your gut tells you that the moment you walk through those doors in uniform, people will judge you. Why? Because you’re a man.

In training, you may have been exposed to the modern stereotypes of the male nurse. According to Jerry R. Lucas, RN, and owner and publisher of Male Nurse Magazine (http://www.malenursemagazine.com/), “Either you are a [...]

Related: Assertiveness, Bureaucracy, Communication, Complaints, Confidence, Conflict, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Doctors, Management, Mindset, Mistake, Nurse Relationships, Nurse Support, Patient Advocate, Power, Professionalism, Stereotypes, Teamwork

Doctors and nurses have been trained to be suspicious of each other.

So writes Suzanne Gordon, author of Nursing Against the Odds (Cornell UP, 2006). And while this has historical roots, it is particularly dysfunctional today. In this RealityRN interview, Gordon describes the complicated relationship between nurses and doctors—and gives practical advice for nurses to help remedy the situation.

RealityRN:  Describe the history of nurse/doctor relationships.

Suzanne [...]

Related: Assertiveness, Communication, Confidence, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Doctors, Expectations, New Nurse, Nurse Relationships, Patient Advocate, Patients, Professionalism, Respect, Stereotypes, Success

Suzanne Gordon, author of Nursing Against the Odds (Cornell UP, 2006), says new nurses need to train others for respect. Here are four tips to do just that:

1. Introduce yourself in a professional manner.
When you introduce yourself to doctors, don’t say, “Hi, I’m Susie.” If you want to be respected as a nurse, you shouldn’t be “Susie in the angora sweater” or “Cheerful, smiley Susie.” [...]

Related: Career, Confidence, Education, Feedback, Leadership, Management, New Grad, New Nurse, Nurse Educator, Nursing Associations, Professionalism

“What do you want to be doing in five years?”

It’s a question that 33-year veteran nurse Patti Ludwig-Beymer hates. It never helped her focus on what she really wanted to do. In fact, new nurses who are able to articulate a five-year plan are the minority. Most nurses just hope to make it through another day.

But goal setting is essential to developing as a nurse [...]

Related: Assertiveness, Authority, Communication, Confidence, Conflict, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Doctors, Emotions, Fear, Management, New Nurse, Nurse Relationships, Patient Advocate, Patients, Professionalism

It was the ninth hour of a 12-hour night on Labor & Delivery when my fourth patient presented with complaints of vaginal bleeding.  Exhausted, I told myself this had to be another worst-case scenario—probably placenta previa or abruption.

I initially performed a comprehensive review of symptoms and thorough patient history, which I presented to the resident. He was a cocky first-year resident, just starting his first [...]

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 [...]