As many nurses are graduating and taking the NCLEX, one question is on many of their minds: How easy will it be to get a job? The standard expectation has been that, as a nurse, you will be in demand and that finding a perfect job should not be a struggle. Recently, however, many experts are questioning whether there still is a nursing shortage due to the difficulty new grads are having with finding work. Rebecca Hendren of HealthLeaders...  Read More »

The phrase “like-mother-like-daughter” definitely pertains to Barbara Toney and Rachel Craft, who this month became the first mother and daughter pair to graduate from the Ohio University Southern (OUS) school of nursing. After receiving advice from the Lawrence County Workforce Development Resource Center, Toney and Craft decided nursing would be a good fit for the both of them. Craft, being recently married, believed the schedule...  Read More »

An interesting piece written by Rebecca Hendren for HealthLeaders Media bridges nurse retention and sleeping. The article highlights a new graduate nurse retention program in Lynchburg, VA, that offers a formal sleep education class that explains how to get better sleep and why sleep is important. The program was created after the nurse retention coordinator, Cheryl Burnette, began to see a potential tie between nurse retention of new graduates...  Read More »

The American Nurses Association’s Nurse’s Career Center has now joined the National Healthcare Career Network. The Network brings healthcare associations together to provide job placement and advancement opportunities, as well as career development tools, training, and possible scholarships. The network currently has more than 136 professional membership and trade organizations. If you’re in need of a nursing job, remember,...  Read More »

Clinicals are one of the most important parts of your nursing education. With everything that may be on your mind at the time, it’s important to remember proper communication and etiquette during each one. To practice good etiquette and common courtesy during each of your clinical rotations: Introduce yourself to the nurses on duty Ask if you can help out in any way Respect their territory and time Always be polite At the end, thank...  Read More »

Many new graduates have to learn to work with many different personalities and work cultures. To do this successfully, they must understand themselves and how they work so that they can fit in with the rest of the team. Socialization or fitting in on a unit is as important for new grads as increasing their nursing skills. If they do not work at trying to be part of the team, their experience at their facility may not be a happy one, and...  Read More »

Tucson (AZ) Medical Center (TMC) is turning several job-seeking new graduates away despite spending $10,000-$30,000 on each candidate’s education. Prior to May 2008, the nurse-needy facility agreed to fund 27 nursing students’ college education, which in turn contracted the students to work at TMC for two years after graduation. Since then the facility has seen rising nurse retention rates and falling patient numbers due to the...  Read More »

“That patient in 310 is soooo needy! He won’t eat, complains about everything, and refuses to ask for help to get around! ARRGGHHH!” How many of us are guilty of saying something like this about our patients? We say it to co-workers, ourselves, and doctors. We even say it loud enough to be overheard at the nurses’ station. Then we wonder why the family seems distant to us. We all have the things that make us come...  Read More »

Editor’s note: This excerpt is adapted from HCPro’s new book “Nurse Retention Toolkit: Everyday Ways to Recognize and Reward Nurses,” by Lydia Ostermeier, MSN, RN, CHCR and Bonnie Clair, BSN, RN. Leaving nursing school to enter the workforce can be a difficult transitional period for many new nurse graduates. And literature reveals that 57% of new nurse graduates will leave their first position within two years of...  Read More »

Nurses who have good organizational skills can manage even the worst of days. They always look like they are in control and are never at a loss locating what they need. How do they do it? Some use a clipboard with a built-in calculator. On this clipboard is also their patient assignment, as well as quick references or “cheat sheets,” which are laminated and attached to the back of the board. Others develop a paper worksheet...  Read More »