Related: Attitude, Caregivers, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Perfect Nurse, Respect, Stereotypes

Nurse Jackie.

Love her or hate her, she certainly has generated some strong comments from our readers.  The general consensus was that the TV show, which depicts the life of a nurse, is unrealistic.  Some find it offensive, some find it funny.

We could argue the rights and wrongs of this particular show for days, but here's what I would like to know.  How would a good [...]

Related: Career, Caregiving, Male Nurse, Motivation, Stereotypes

I'm sure many of you, like me, have been asked this very same question: "So, what made you go into nursing?"

Now there are a bevy of responses you could come up with.  There's the traditional response: "I want to help people!"

Then there is the spiritual response: "I felt called to it!"

I was asked this question at least a billion times during my time in college. [...]

Related: Learning, New Grad, New Nurse, Orientee, Preceptor, Residency, Seasoned Nurses, Stereotypes, Student Nurse, Success

According to preceptor Kim Rapper, RN, BSN, new nurses should expect their preceptors to act differently at the end of the precepting experience. Rapper points out the signs of a healthy precepting relationship at the end of orientation—and they might surprise you.

Related: Attitude, Career, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Education, Mindset, Patient Advocate, Stereotypes

I am an RN studying to be a Physician Assistant. I have been training in the medical model for PA school after my nursing school education. I’ve essentially sat in on the training of both MDs and RNs and can tell you stereotypes are ingrained on both sides.

Doctors are groomed to expect to have nurses “bugging” them for orders, calling them with useless and non-important [...]

Related: Attitude, Career, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Doctors, Handmaidens, Male Nurse, Second Career Nursing, Stereotypes

From my observations, men below the age of 25 are reluctant to enter the field of nursing. The trend remains that more men between the ages 25 and 30, who have been working in other fields, are filling the ranks.

Unfortunately, male nurses entering the field have to deal with the press' portrayal of them - that all male nurses want is a "free show." But, [...]

Related: Career, Doctors, Expectations, Learning, Male Nurse, Mindset, New Nurse, Respect, Stereotypes

Once upon a time—straight out of college—I suffered from Doctoritis. I blame it partly on my youth. But the rest of the blame lay with Dr. Steele.

You see, I was an impressionable young man and Dr. Steele had it all: he was 29, handsome, worked out at the gym and had the muscles to prove it. He also had every woman in the hospital in [...]

Related: Communication, Expectations, Feedback, Learning, New Grad, New Nurse, Non-Verbal Language, Orientee, Precepting, Preceptor, Stereotypes

It can be a grab bag: Will you get a good preceptor or a bad preceptor? Often you don’t
know the clear answer to that question until you’re well into your orientation. Then it may
be too late to request a change. Kim Rapper, RN, BSN and Reality RN Senior Advisor, has
had years of precepting experience. She knows the tell-tale signs of a lax preceptor. So you [...]

Related: Abuse, Addiction, Anger, Caregivers, Compassion Fatigue, Drug Addiction, DUI, Education, Emotions, Failure, Felony, Management, Mistake, Nurse Support, Perfect Nurse, Stereotypes, Stress, Success, Support, Weaknesses

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 [...]

Related: Addiction, Anxiety, Drug Addiction, Healthy Living, Mistake, Nurse Support, Stereotypes

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 [...]

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 [...]