Nursing Network for Nurses and Nursing Students - Latest Articles

I am being disciplined. What Now?

By jadelpn - Every nurse at one time or another loathes the words "HR needs to see you" or "You need to go speak to the manager" even if you are well aware that you made a mistake, and that you are going to have to answer to it. There are some nurses who set themselves up to purposefully wreck havoc. This is not the norm. And if you are one of those nurses, you should seek help far outside a disciplinary process. Most nurses are full of good intentions and always doing right by their patients. But contrary to any hero worship, we are all human. And we are bound to make mistakes. Human error to... Read More →

---

Solve A Neurologic Mystery

By juan de la cruz - Solve this neurologic mystery: RS is a 70 year old, lady who lives independently in a first floor apartment in the city. She has no close relatives but has neighbors who know her very well and check in on her from time to time. She hires a cleaning lady that does her house cleaning and laundry every week. Her nearest relative is a niece who lives in the same state but is 8 hours away by car. Her medical history includes anxiety disorder, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, COPD, and mild kidney insufficiency. She has a 40 pack/year history of smoking. She has no known allergies and takes the... Read More →

---

Drawing the Line: Shutting Down Verbal Abuse

By canesdukegirl - It's 3 p.m. The witching hour for any operating room. As our medical director makes rounds, he tallies up how many late rooms are running, and compares that to how many surgical and anesthesia staff we have available to run the late rooms. If the numbers don't add up, then cases are put on hold. While our director speaks frankly and with tact to the surgeons whose cases are being held, it never fails that the surgeons immediately call me and try to barter, beg and plead. End run at its finest. I am the charge nurse for a busy OR. My job is to facilitate case movement, troubleshoot... Read More →

---

Nursing Hostility and Other Nonsense

By RegisteredNuisance - In my short career as a nurse I've seen some terrible behavior among nurses, and I'd like to share my take on things. I've only been a year for two years, and working as a nurse for 13 but in that short amount of time, I've seen an astounding amount of hostility between my coworkers and directed at me in the two facilities I worked at. It made me sad, it burned me out and it made me feel like I was working in a mine field. As a fellow nurse, I respect you. We ALL had to work our tails off to get through the hell that was nursing school, study feverishly for the NCLEX exams, then... Read More →

---

ARDS: Should we be prone to prone?

By juan de la cruz - The buzz in critical care circles these days is the recent publication of the results of the PROSEVA Study Group in the New England Journal of Medicine. This European study begs to answer the question long-debated by critical care professionals over the years – is there a benefit to prone positioning in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)? Prior to the release of the PROSEVA results, trials that tested this hypothesis have failed to show a beneficial effect on patient outcomes. Before going further on the topic, allow me to refresh our memories and establish an understanding of what... Read More →

---

Rate Your Pain

By jadelpn - There's all sorts of pain. There's physical, emotional or a combination of both (and probably a lot more descriptive words that can be used). The most difficult part of pain for a nurse is to put aside some of their own thoughts, and focus on patients as a whole. Pain control is complex. So one doesn't have to go it alone. Yes, there are "drug seeker, push it fast, give me more" kinds of patients. Those are the patients who need a few more disciplines involved than a nurse with a vial. And one should not hesitate to use them, especially when it becomes apparent that your... Read More →

---

Less Common Nursing Interview Questions (Part 1 of 4)

By TheCommuter - Last year I wrote a three-part essay on how to answer the most common nursing interview questions. My three different articles list some of the more conventional, commonly-asked questions along with suggestions on how to answer. Please feel free to click on the website links below if you wish to read my previous pieces on answering common nursing interview questions. How To Answer The Most Common Interview Questions A Few More Common Interview Questions (Part II) More Common Nursing Interview Questions (Part III) Due to the current economic situation, many local employment markets... Read More →

---

Online, but not Out of Touch

By Sea_of_Roses - The faculty said the Associates degree nursing program was “extremely vigorous” but if you ask me that was putting it lightly. While my friends went to sandy beaches for spring break I stood home surrounded by mountains of flash cards, textbooks, and enough anxiety to make a Buddhist monk pull his hair out (if he had any). I was determined to succeed as a nursing student but there were still times when I wasn’t sure how I was going to pass the semester. Nevertheless, thanks to a great support system and internal drive I happily graduated in 2 years earning my Associates degree in Nursing.... Read More →

---

The Many Relationships Spirituality has Impacted

By TiffanyMichelle - When we were younger many of us did not quite comprehend all the complexities, qualms, strengths, and weaknesses of our family. But, before you know it, you feel you are an integral part of your whole family dynamic even though you had been all along. As I continue to grow and find my way in this ever-so-changing world, I finally realize how important my upbringing was in building my core beliefs, morals, and values that will remain with me wherever I go and help guide me to healthier decisions not only for myself, but for my patients. Spirituality is a concept that has resonated with... Read More →

---

Love in a Time of Hospitals

By molly.hershman - As a nurse, you have to prepare yourself for the good, the bad, and the ugly. Also, you should probably take some time to steel yourself against the smelly, the disgusting, the offensive, the exhilarating, and the exhausting. And wait, did I forget to mention the terrifying, the grotesque, the impressive, and above all else, the amazing? I am a student, and I know I have a loooong way to go in nursing. I’m essentially the equivalent of a nurse toddler: playing with my care plans and concept maps and stethoscope, dressed in my ponytail and shiny new scrubs and HIDEOUS nursing shoes (I... Read More →

---

I'm just not that into you

By jadelpn - "Old nurses are just so mean!" "Young grads are really mean!" "The doctors are mean!" "My co-workers are mean!" "The patients are demanding and mean!" How many times have we heard these very words? How many times have we experienced one (or all) of the above? Are people really mean, or is our ability to communicate interpersonally broken down to the point that every interaction ends with someone who is mean? I believe mean can be subjective. My huge disclaimer is the fact that YES, some people are just miserable. That if the miserable person you deal with (or dare I say deals... Read More →

---

Respect your bladder

By decgrad - Along with all the other goodies I learned in my first year of nursing, my favorite lesson was the bladder lesson. No, I did not get a terrible infection or end up with measurable kidney damage, but I learned a lesson on stress. Physical stress. The kind that interfered with my still immature nurse-brain. I call this my first critical thinking moment of my career. And it happened at home. At 30 years old I had gone back to school, or rather, completed my 12 year associate’s degree. I felt like I had the advantage of maturity knowing how to work and work hard. I had been at it since I was... Read More →

---

No Man is an Island: Musings on Grief, Bonding, and Candy

By CheesePotato - It is said that no man is an island entire of itself. At one point in one of my more contemplative less than sober moments, I pondered if the disagreement with that statement had more to do with man being more a peninsula or a cape. Perhaps a fjord. Can one be like a fjord? Wait...where was I? Oh, that’s right-- Make no mistake, I like what I do. The fact that I get paid to do it sometimes helps with the liking factor substantially. But there are things in this world that a paycheck can't help. Money can't buy happiness and all that. Blah blah blah. Personally I think... Read More →

---

Be a renal nurse and not work a day in your life

By abbyrenalRN - "I've never been this happy." As said by a patient given love and care by his dialysis nurse. a phrase that will tickle any ear specially if heard from a man, a father, very weak, on hemodialysis for 2 years but knows he may die anytime even if he sits on a lazy-boy chair for hours with his blood out for cleaning. He used to work at a company with a managerial position. Being the best, all his recommendations was accepted including all of his children being given the opportunity to work in the same company. they all became as successful as he was. But when he got sick, and weak, all of his... Read More →

---

Critical Thinking

By jadelpn - Critical thinkers want to be clear. They want to be logical. Nurses want to be accurate and precise in their practice. It is safe practice and in a patient's best interest. So how does one become a critical thinker? A nurse needs to learn how to be fair and actively listening to their patients. Newer nurses would benefit from a mentor. Someone who's practice they admire, and who they can observe and learn from. Nurses benefit from leading with their heads, and not their hearts. For every action, there's a reaction. So to critically think, a nurse must be systematic in the... Read More →

---