Related: Attitude, Compliments, Failure, Feedback, Feelings, Goals, Learning, Mindset, Motivation, New Nurse Tips, Nurse Relationships, Nurse Support, Stress, Success, Teamwork, Truth

Everyone has to work to stay positive. It’s human nature to focus on what went wrong. As a new nurse faced with situations that are terrifying and challenging, you have to work doubly hard at it.

All new nurses have been there: at a point of giving up because they’ve repeatedly told themselves they know nothing and will never get it all right. But you will. [...]

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: Healthy Living, Spirituality, Stress

It comes in all shapes and sizes. It comes when things are going well or when we're already struggling. It comes when we're young and when we're old. It comes. Then it comes again.

Stress is universal, but have you noticed how differently we all handle it? Headaches, stomach aches, even humor. This is on my mind because of the [...]

Related: Expectations, New Nurse, New Nurse Tips, Organizational Skills, Seasoned Nurses, Stress, Time

It takes time to look like you have it all together.

“I’m frustrated as I watch the more seasoned nurses find time to take breaks and read magazines,” writes a new nurse, “while I can’t even find time to take a bathroom break. They appear to have it all together, but I never seem to get all my charts and reports updated before the next [...]

Related: Anxiety, Career, Fear, Mistake, New Nurse, Quitting, Stress

There may be times when we need to take a turn as the patient – and let somebody help us.

A new nurse recently wrote, “I’ve been having anxiety attacks. I’m wondering if I’ll make it another week—let alone another day—in my job. My patient load is overwhelming. I can’t, in good conscience, handle the number of patients I’m charged with. I’m [...]

Related: Addiction, Anxiety, Balance, Caregivers, Compassion Fatigue, Drug Addiction, Energy, Healthy Living, Mindset, Prioritizing, Spirituality, Stress, Support

Extreme tiredness, negative feelings, weight gain, and marital problems.

One moment, Kayla thought she was depressed and that medication would help. Another moment, she thought her husband was the problem and that she should quit her marriage.

But Kayla wasn’t depressed. She suffered from something that affects many professional caregivers.

In recent years, Mary Jo Barrett, author and social worker from the Center for Contextual Change, in Elmhurst, [...]

Related: Abuse, Assertiveness, Authority, Boundaries, Bureaucracy, Confidence, Conflict, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Doctors, Fear, Handmaidens, Hostility, Management, New Nurse, Nurse Relationships, Power, Professionalism Sabotage, Scapegoat, Seasoned Nurses, Stress, Support, Teamwork, Truth

The new nurse was doing the best she could. But it wasn’t fast enough for the emergency room doctor. As the doctor struggled to triage the patient, he became more and more agitated. Finally, he yelled and threw a bloody sponge at the nurse—right in the middle of a procedure.

When physical and verbal abuse takes place in the workplace, immediate action should be taken. But [...]

Related: Healthy Living, Stress

Simply, slow down.

That advice for new nurses comes from Sharon LaCroix, who experiences chronic neck and back pain because of 15 years as a nurse.

Nursing, obviously, is a physical profession. Aches and pains are the norm, after days filled with moving patients, lugging cumbersome equipment, wiggling around in awkward positions to accommodate patients. Even if you’re young, healthy, and physically fit, at the end of [...]

Related: Anxiety, Boundaries, Caregivers, Caring, Compassion, Compassion Fatigue, Emotions, Healthy Living, Mindset, New Nurse, New Nurse Tips, Nurse Support, Nursing Jobs, Patient Advocate, Patients, Quitting, Stress

It was one of those days in the pediatric intensive care unit you’d love to forget.

One child, a 6-month-old girl, was in a vegetative state, both blind and deaf.  Her mother decided it was too painful to have any contact with her and had stopped visiting. The little girl’s father wanted everything done to save her.

One morning, five minutes after Jana, a second year nurse, [...]