Monthly Archive for June, 2010

The Un-Retiring of Nurses

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on June 28, 2010
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a_nurse_phoneOne of the most cited reasons for the temporary lull in the nursing shortage – a pause really – is the influx of previously retired nurses back into the workforce. When the economy started to stumble last year, nurses who had previously experienced “good bye” parties in hospital lounges everywhere came back and punched their time cards once again. However, the individual reasons for their return, varied from nurse to nurse.

Earlier this year, during my orientation to an RN refresher course, the instructor facilitator went around the room and asked all the previously retired nurses present in the class, why they were returning to the workforce. Rather than simply stating “the economy,” like one of the many industry reports floating around the media, the nurses in the classroom were specific, and personal.

Some were grandmothers, whose dried up 401K and pension accounts meant that they would not be able to fund their grand-children’s education as they had planned.  Or, they needed a stable paycheck to replace their own retirement income.

Others were forced to return to work after the recent unemployment of their spouse. Some of the younger students in the room, who comparatively had not been out of the health care industry for very long, were looking for stability (the same reason many new nurses are entering this recession proof field).

One thing that was clear, however, was that these nurses were well aware that the progress of nursing and health care in general had been marching steadily on since their departure. I listened as they discussed fears related to advancing technology, electronic medical records, new infection control protocols – and then technology again (computers).

What they were excited about returning to, other than the stability of a paycheck, was the connection with the patients. The “human” reasons for these nurses’ return to the workforce were the same reasons that new nursing students talk about. The economy may change, nursing job vacancies may fluctuate, and technology may march on, but the special relationships between nurses and their patients, is eternal.

Hotlines Have a Lot to Offer Nursing Students

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on June 21, 2010
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i_nurse_female_2As I have previously blogged about here on RN Builder, there are countless opportunities for nursing students to sharpen your skills and gain additional experience outside the classroom during nursing school.

Depending on your particular interests and passions, these can include working as an EMT, a CNA, a hospital or patient care technician, volunteering for hospice, working at a community center or many other ways of giving back to the community while building your knowledge and skill base as a future nurse.

Volunteering to work on a crisis hotline is another way for nursing students to develop their listening skills, therapeutic communication skills while receiving intensive extracurricular psychology training. This is a rewarding activity in particular for nursing students who aspire to work as a psychiatric nurse after graduation.

Working on a crisis hotline, such as for suicide prevention, domestic violence or rape exposes trained volunteers to individuals who are typically at one of the lowest points in their lives, and view the hotline as a last available life preserver. During nursing school, I had the privilege of training to work on a hotline serving victims of rape, and the experience was far more profound and educational than I ever would have anticipated.

Being in a position to help people in their most dire times of need is truly a privilege that most nursing students can relate to, because it is likely a motivating factor for their enrollment in nursing school in the first place. It may be working on a hotline or an entirely different area of community service that draws you in and motivates you to help others while gaining a valuable learning experience during nursing school.

Regardless of what you do and how long you do it for, it is well worth the effort to check your schedule and find even the smallest window of time to contribute.

Cultural Awareness in Nursing

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on June 14, 2010
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i_nurse_femaleIn a time when nurses of all ethnicity and cultural backgrounds are needed to care for an equally diverse population of patients, the health care community is also working to create more diversity in the nursing workforce.

There are some groups which contend that the more ethnically diverse a nursing workforce is in a community, the fewer discrepancies exist in patient care.   This would, of course, be difficult to prove, but nevertheless, the current supply of nurses is being shored up for the upcoming projected nursing shortage, by any means possible.

Nursing schools are doing their best to recruit instructors so they can accept and graduate more students. Another strategy is bringing in nurses from other countries as a way of filling staffing gaps while also attempting to diversify America’s nursing workforce.

The challenge with this strategy is that, just because a nurse from overseas shares the same root ethnicity as specific populations here in the states, it does not mean that they share the same culture.  For instance, nurses from Latin American countries do not necessarily represent an exact cultural match to the broad range of Hispanic American populations and African does not mean African American. The beauty of culture is often found in its depth and diversity.

Since nurses have the most direct contact and communication with patients, cultural awareness is a very important part of nursing care. Creating a diverse nursing workforce is certainly an admirable goal, but no matter what your culture or ethnicity is, there are ways you can provide culturally competent care to all your patients.

First, there is the cultural awareness that comes from understanding your own culture and any biases of other cultures.  Second, there is the basic information about the cultures in your community and work area that you can establish by doing your homework. Finally there are the cultural factors that impact the care that you offer your patients, such as religion, home remedies, communication, family roles, personal space and food preferences that vary by culture.

In an ideal world, our health care system could boast a nursing workforce packed with skilled, compassionate, competent and diverse nurses that represent America’s equally diverse population. As our health care system works to buffer the population of current and future nurses, it is fortunate that all nurses can add cultural awareness to their existing list of talents.

Whether Nursing Program Is Extensive or Accelerated, Focus on Fundamentals

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on June 7, 2010
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i_student_3An increasing number of nursing schools, universities, community colleges, vocational schools and corresponding online nursing programs, are starting to offer “accelerated” ADN (Associate’s Degree) and BSN (Bachelor of Science Degree) programs. The major motivating factor for this is the coming shortage of nursing. The shortage is expected to hit the health care workforce head on in the next few years.

School administrators are realizing that by the end of next year at the earliest, the job market lull will have passed and there will be more nursing jobs than nurses. In an effort to prepare for this need, schools are attempting to graduate as many nurses as quickly as possible, however, without compromising the integrity of their nursing education. Students seeking an accelerated BSN may graduate faster, but the road to their nursing license is more intense than the traditional four year program.

Whether you choose to get your nursing degree on the fast track or at a less hectic pace, via the conventional route, here are some fundamentals to pay particular attention to during your education and clinicals.

Pay Attention to the Meds: School is the time to learn as much as possible about as many commonly prescribed medications as possible, as well as to master your medication dosage calculations. Even with calculators and computers, it is important to know why you are giving the amount of medication that you are giving (and be sure it’s the right amount).

Teaching: I have written about this in previous blogs but cannot emphasize enough the nurse’s role of patient and family teaching. Many instances of patients being readmitted after discharge with complications could be prevented with proper, thorough, clear patient teaching.

Time Management: This one is a biggie. Nursing school is the time to figure out all your responsibilities as an RN and how to organize and prioritize them within one shift. After graduation, you will rarely have the luxury of figuring this out.

Infectious Disease Precautions: Unfortunately, infectious diseases are becoming more and more prevalent in health care and it is important to learn to differentiate between the types of illnesses and proper precautions.

There are of course a host of other priority learning items during your nursing school education that your very capable instructors will take you through.  Consider this a set of “cliff notes” to highlight the things that I found to be most important as a new grad.