This article originally appeared in Scrubs Magazine. In nursing, like all vocations based on serving others, the best practitioners are those who do it not for recognition or financial gain, but rather out of a sense of responsibility. As a young girl in upstate New York, Pattie Jakel felt the calling. At the age of 15, she found herself caring ...

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 ...

There are two reasons the odds are against any AARP member suddenly becoming a doctor: time and money. But "physician" is one of the only positions in healthcare where older workers don't find a welcome mat. In nearly every other category, the industry brims with employment opportunities. Healthcare is in the vortex of a job seeker's perfect storm. Demographically, an aging ...

Celebrities. We love to hate them. We also love to watch their every move, laugh at their mistakes and scrutinize their decisions. Like them or not, their celebrity status means not only have they achieved career success, they’ve also got a hell of a lot to lose. And sometimes, whatever actions have helped catapult them to fame or rendered them ...

When it comes to your career, do you lie to yourself? The answer is most likely ‘yes.’ In an article I read by Sam Sommers, a professor of psychology at Tufts University, he explains how and why we like to kid ourselves. He explains: “People do this all the time. We bend the facts to fit our self-image, perpetuating a ...

Despite a wealth of technological advances, we all still spend more time charting than we'd like. But what if you looked at charting as something other than a chore? Instead of seeing it as one more thing to cross off your to-do list, what if you considered it a vital means of communication? After all, isn't that the original purpose of ...

One fact in life is certain; we will all die from something. Simply put, death by natural causes is a death that is not unexpected. It is not from an accident, a natural disaster, a homicide or suicide. It is also one that is not preventable. A disease process that has progressed and caused organ failure is usually the root of ...

Now that Spain has won and the World Cup is over, this is a good time to look at other aspects of South African life, such as what it's like to be a nurse in that country. From job satisfaction, working conditions, and a different medical system, nursing in South Africa is a whole other experience. Risk of Violence Violence occurs ...

Alzheimer’s doesn’t play favorites. The soccer mom who was president of a neighborhood volunteer organization in years past may now be an angry woman, pacing the floor, trying to “escape” from the facility where she now lives. The professor who held court in front of thousands of students over the years may now be unable to lift the spoon to his ...

"May I Please Have Your Attention. The Hospital Will Be Closing Shortly." Ahh… If only this were true. (Insert dream sequence…) The hospital doesn’t function like the local town store with posted ‘Store Hours’. The hospital never closes. It operates in some capacity 365 days a year, 24 hours a day (and yes 366 days a year on leap year). It ...

Survival is in our nature. In fact, surviving is not an option, it's an expectation. The difference between surviving and drowning is how well you ride the ‘wave'. Only my fellow nurses will understand what I mean by the ‘wave'. You know – it's that feeling you got when you first decided to become a nurse. It was then that feeling ...

How does a man survive in a woman’s world? Here are some down-and-dirty survival tips that every ‘male nurse’ needs to know in order to survive in the wilderness of women. Learn the ways of the Venutians Men are truly from Mars, and yes Women are from Venus. We live on two different worlds, but we do occupy the same solar ...

NOTE: The information in this column is not to be construed as legal advice. Please see an attorney if you need legal assistance. This is for informational purposes only. Q: As a nurse, what is the single, most important legal issue I must be aware of as I take care of my patients? A: Today's nurse must manage complex situations both ...

Perhaps you always dreamed of becoming a nurse when you were younger or you may have been attracted to nursing as a second career. At some point you understood the true value that nurses contribute to the lives of patients, the community and humanity. There were many hurdles to stride getting into and surviving nursing school. The competition was intense and ...

Maybe it’s the whiny colleague who makes your 12-hour nursing shift seem twice as long or the turf war raging between the nurses, physicians and technicians in your department. Or maybe you’re just tired of feeling overworked and underappreciated. Whatever the scenario, you sense that changes are needed before you lose your sanity or start looking for another nursing job. Whether ...

One of the hard parts about being a nurse manager is evaluating another nurse’s performance. Looking another nurse in the eye, who is your co-worker and sometimes even friend, and telling them how well, or bad, they perform can be difficult. I am working on two evaluations right now. One is an excellent nurse. She was hired as a new graduate ...

Many people are surprised to know that the first nurses throughout the world were actually men. The first nursing school was in India in about 250 BC and only men were felt to be pure enough to be nurses. During the Black Plague in the 1300's, a group of men formed one of the first hospitals to care for the victims. ...

Any nurse who has been rejected by a nurse clique or has been the victim of another nurse’s malicious gossip wonders, “Weren’t we all supposed to grow out of this?” Unfortunately, no. According to one study, 38 percent of working adults have experienced bullying at work and 42 percent have witnessed bullying behavior. And while most workplace bullies are men, women ...

Imagine finding yourself in an overwhelmingly stressful situation. Then imagine having no control over said situation. I have to keep this in mind each day that I venture to work and am faced with a difficult parent or family member. Working in a pediatric facility, I have the added challenge of not only caring for the ill child, but caring in ...

Ahh, the shaking of hands. It sounds simple enough: Two hands meet and greet and do a little shake. Easy, right? Not so fast. Unfortunately, there are quite a few ways a handshake can go south. From an overly moist hand to a bone-crushing grip, handshakes come in all shapes and sizes — and only the best will hit the ...