Hey NursingLink members! Wondering who might be able to help you with questions about our community? Need some one-the-job advice from a seasoned nurse? Well meet your new moderator HerbalNurse! We think Joyce's positive energy will be a great addition to our NursingLink community, and we asked her four questions to help you get to know her. So without further ado, ...

Having been a nurse for over 20 years, I have experienced burnout or compassion fatigue several times during this journey. Wikipedia describes the follow symptoms of compassion fatigue: "Sufferers can exhibit several symptoms including hopelessness, a decrease in experiences of pleasure, constant stress and anxiety, and a pervasive negative attitude. This can have detrimental effects on individuals, both professionally and personally, ...

While my first reaction is that this is a Duh Study, the more I think about it, the more important a study like this may really be. Nurses know how to give good nursing care. They also know they are extremely limited in giving quality care by the number of patients they have on any given shift and how much care ...

Last Valentine’s Day I decided to wake up early and make my beau a homemade chocolate chip cookie cake, all decorated with a cartoon picture of us. It was going to be perfect, but I had to get up super early to get started on it. The problem with that is: I am not a morning person. Nevertheless, I am mixing ...

If you spend a lot of time at a desk, personalizing the space makes sense -- whether it's a private corner office or a shared cubicle. But just as your clothes and body language make an impression on others, your workspace gives coworkers and clients a distinct impression about you. Plants, books, artwork -- even your name plaque -- transmit clues ...

Sexual harassment of nurses can be as simple as a patient's unwanted flirtatious winks or as elaborate as a male hospital physician's systematic assaults on female employees. And nurses are likely to encounter this occupational hazard. In a University of Missouri study, 21 of 29 nurses surveyed said patients had sexually harassed them. A 2001 NurseWeek/American Organization of Nurse Executives study ...

Do you consider yourself to be a leader? The definitions of the words leader and manager are often confused. Traditional managers have assigned roles and titles within an organization, as they carry out specific functions, duties and responsibilities. Managers exert control over decision making and obtaining results as they direct both the willing and unwilling. In contrast, leaders do not necessarily ...

You think garbage collectors have it hard when it comes to on-the-job smells? Well, they do, but at least in their case they're prepared and can even wear a mask. Plus, there's a lot of margin for error. They don't have to look at whatever's causing the offensive odor; they can just close their eyes and dump it into the ...

Unsure whether you should keep your job or seek greener pastures? While a shaky economy shouldn't keep you in a job you can't stand, you can watch for these 10 signs that could tell you you're fine right where you are. 1. You're Happy We're not talking mere complacency here, but genuine happiness. If you're happy, you're going to be more ...

Everyone wants to maximize productivity — no matter the setting — and hospitals are no different than offices, classrooms, warehouses, or anywhere else where work is done. For those looking for an answer on the surface, "working harder" is often the most popular remedy for productivity concerns. But what if that isn't possible? What if everyone is working as hard ...

As nurses, it's your job to take care of people, but who looks after you? When we were children, that was our parents. We always had our dads looking out for us, taking care of us, and protecting us. Whether you're still daddy's little girl, or the son that reminds him of himself, you know that a father's love runs deep. ...

Last week I spent four days at Disney World with my family. It was amazing see the magic of it all though my four year old’s eyes. One of the biggest things I was amazed by was how friendly everybody was. And their friendliness made even waiting for over an hour for a three minute ride tolerable. I saw people yelling ...

Do you recognize anyone in this picture? The one wearing the nurse’s cap is yours truly. The cute little gentleman was my patient. This picture appeared in my nursing school yearbook, circa 1977. (Did we all have bad hair like that back then?) I remember loving my little geriatric patients. Yes, all patients need support and understanding, but nurses must know ...

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD, is commonly associated with veterans and combat stress; but this anxiety disorder can strike anyone who has experienced a traumatic event. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, approximately 7% to 8% of Americans are expected to have PTSD at some point in their lives, and an estimated 5.2 million adults have PTSD in ...

Nursing certainly has its ups and downs, but the happy moments make the profession worthwhile. Here is a collection of quotes from nurses as they reflect on the best moments of their career. 1. “The ‘ups’ of nursing are when a discharged patient and his family knock on the ICU door with heartfelt thanks to you and your team for taking ...

Patients come in all shapes and flavors. Sometimes that flavor is ignorant. America is a layered, cosmopolitan country comprised of people of various faiths and ethnicities. Most Americans would agree this is a positive and enlightening thing, but there are a few bad apples out there. Sometimes a closed-minded or culturally illiterate patient is going to wind up in one of ...

“Superstition: An irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome.” -from the American Heritage Dictionary With St. Patrick’s Day happening this month, I have been loving all the green and the so-called lucky four-leaf clovers floating around the hospital. I’m hoping all this “luck” will rub off on our floor: ...

Nobody loves going to work all the time--but there's a difference between routine workplace hassles and a working environment that stresses you out to the point of illness, according to Linnda Durre, the author of "Surviving the Toxic Workplace." Durre suggests that hostile working environments typically have one or more types of dysfunction--how many symptoms does yours have? Unfairness [widget:a_day_in_the_life] You ...

The Case Description: Mr. James is a 57 year old gentleman admitted to room 224A two days ago for dehydration secondary to nausea and vomiting for three days. His sclera is slightly yellowed and his abdomen is distended and tender to palpation especially in the upper right quadrant. After two days of IV lasix therapy, he has 2+ edema in his ...

When I first decided to enter the nursing profession, I really had no idea what I was getting into. I hadn’t grown up wanting to be a nurse, nor did I give it much thought beforehand. But I was bored and miserable working for the U.S. Postal Service and had to find something that was a lot more mentally stimulating. My ...