Working conditions have always been a big issue for nurses. Floating to another unit can be one of the most irritating things nurses have to deal with on a fairly regular basis. Itʼs not just hospitals where nurses are most likely to float. Nurses in home health, clinics, and other ambulatory settings may also need to help cover other nurseʼs responsibilities ...

Have you ever wondered why certain patients act the way they do around nurses? Why some are pleasant and cooperative and some are disrespectful or difficult to engage? It is easy for a nurse to have expectations of patients because naturally we all want them to be kind, cooperative, and appreciative. But it is important for nurses to keep in mind ...

Peer review: an evaluation tool that gives you an idea of what your co-workers (peers) think of you as a fellow co-worker (and nurse). The concept of the peer review is a relatively new concept for me. I think I was introduced to peer reviews approximately four years ago. It was used as a monitoring tool during my orientation on a ...

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 ...

The CEO of Hewlett Packard, Mark Hurd, got fired last week following an investigation into sexual harassment claims made by a former contractor, Jodie Fisher. After the probe into the allegations, the company found Hurd had not violated HP’s sexual harassment policy but he did monkey around with $20,000 of company funds. Now Fisher, who was also a reality show contestant, ...

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 ...

We don't mean to do it. We don't mean to stop seeing the people behind the patient facade. We know our patients have lives outside of the hospital, beyond their illness or disability. They have interests, hobbies, work, and love. They have friends and family. They may have had a charmed life, or they may have had a tough one. There ...

Everyone has something (or someone) that annoys him or her at the hospital. It could be faulty medical equipment or nurses who don't pull their own weight. But nobody's complaining about you, right? Not so fast. Even though your mom, friends, or significant other may worship the ground you walk on, there could be some people you work with who ...

If you deal with daily staff meetings and interactions with doctors and patients, you know just how important it is to speak assertively and get heard! But what exactly does “assertively” mean and how do you speak your mind without coming across as rude? These are important questions, as communicating effectively — not to mention politely — is pivotal to your ...

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 ...

Night shifts, be they 12 or eight hours (1900 to 0700 or 2330 to 0730) are tough to work, even if you work them regularly. It's just not natural for our body to be up and alert all night, only to (hopefully) be refreshed during the day. It seems that no matter how well you think you sleep during the day, ...

Once again, a coworker called in sick, and once again, you’ve been asked — no, make that required — to stay into the next shift. You’ve already worked 12 hours, you haven’t seen your kids all day and you have guests coming in tomorrow. Staying late was not in your plans. First, take a deep breath. Responding in haste isn’t going ...

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 ...

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. ...

Patient teaching and patient education are big topics in nursing. Good preventative health education helps keep people from becoming patients and good patient education helps patients from getting worse or helps them manage their condition or illness. It used to be that nurses had time to sit down and discuss various issues with their patients, answering questions and generally providing support. ...

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 ...

We all have dreams and goals for our personal life and career. Whether you are a brand new nurse straight out of school or a seasoned nurse looking toward your future, we all need a little bit of help and guidance. That is why a mentor is so important. Not only to help you as a nurse just managing like I ...

I have this problem with our health care profession. Wait, let me re-phrase that. I have this problem with some health care professionals. (Beware of impending rant to follow) We should practice what we preach. Or better yet, we should practice what we teach. Patient education is a corner stone of the health care profession. No matter what your medical specialty ...

I think we all can appreciate the argument. Nurses feel overwhelmed when the nurse-to-patient ratio is extended beyond our means. Not only beyond our means, but also when it borders on compromising patient safety. That has always been the source of our angst and distress. Having one nurse care for additional patients in a single assignment becomes cumbersome and borders on ...

In the health care setting, life-or-death situations can spell high-flying emotions — not just from patients, but from team members and your nurse manager. This guide to body language will help you “read” what a person may not necessarily be telling you. For example, want to know the secrets that your manager’s body language may be telling you? The nonverbal cues ...