You’ve gone through nursing school and taken the NCLEX. Now what? How do you want to move your career in nursing forward? A blogger by the name of The Nerdy Nurse recently posted an entry called Life after NCLEX: How to Advance Nursing and Your Nursing Career. The Nerdy Nurse points out five steps to consider when advancing your career: Motivation Education Positive attitude Networking Integrity On the topic of a positive attitude,...  Read More »

The first time newly registered nurses are on their own in a patient’s room dealing with a tough situation can be a scary learning experience. Truckee Meadows Community College, in Reno, NV, is trying to eliminate as much stress as possible by creating a specially designed nursing wing in its nursing department that helps prepare students for real-life hospital situations upon graduation. The nursing wing is described as an exact replica...  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 »

The University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) AACN Nurse Residency ProgramTM (NRP) has helped program participants achieve a 4.4% turnover rate of first-year nurses–quite a feat, considering the national rate is 27.1%. So far, 61 sites have incorporated the program, which equates to about 16,000 participating nurses since 2002. In 2009, 11 participating sites had a 100% retention rate. It seems the key to the program is providing practice...  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 »

You will find nursing a rewarding profession, but it does have it sources of stress. The key is to get this stress under control from day one. Start out by identifying what areas of your work are causing you the most stress. Is it something you can change? If so, develop a plan and put it into action. There are various ways you can manage on-the-job stressors, such as: Avoiding the stressor (e.g., a nurse who is rude to you) Eliminating...  Read More »

Despite all the talk about critical thinking, nurses operate in a very task-oriented system. In our rush to take care of all our patients’ needs, we are prone to neglect ourselves, which affects not only our own health but also our ability to care for patients. Remember, there are few things that can’t wait five minutes, so take a moment for yourself. Much of my increased efficiency at the bedside results from the way I now manage...  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 »

Q: What went through your mind the first time you had to call a physician at home regarding a patient? A: It can be pretty intimidating to approach doctors on the floor or on the phone. But we have to place calls out to them pretty much all day. Patients have multiple doctors collaborating on their care so when we need to address an issue, we have to be sure to contact the right doctor. Talking to doctors isn’t as bad as you think...  Read More »

I know this question is very similar to the other debate about family being present in a code, but it is something that really interests me. As nurses, how do we approach the topic of code status? It is something that we have to deal with on a daily basis. When I’m getting report from the night shift, the first thing mentioned is the patient’s code status-whether it is full, limited, or DNR. We deal with family a lot more than...  Read More »