Question about Nurse Coaching

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hey everyone,

I'm interested in nurse coaching. I've researched a few different certification programs (mostly ones recommended on the AHNA website), but wondering if someone can give me a recommendation based on personal experience? Have you been able to successfully start your own business?

Thanks!

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

aship -- I sent you a pm

Specializes in 15 years in ICU, 22 years in PACU.

Yeah, it's always a question of who is going to pay you to do the thing.

Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.

In my humble 45.5 years of being an RN,

I have never seen or as other posters suggest, a nurse coach.

I have decades experience in teaching hospitals, medical centers, from Houston, to Memphis, & Wash. DC

Where would be your market, how would you be paid, ? Malpractice Ins?

Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.
Nurse Coach - American Holistic Nurses

Here's some information from the main credentialing body I found. Can I ask you both what has made you so skeptical?

Our combined in excess of a century nursing experience

Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.
Yeah more similar to a wellness coach. I'm still learning about it too because I think it's something that nurses have started pursuing more only within the past few years.

But when I think about it, it makes a good deal of sense to me. When you think about all the MLM companies that have wellness coaches who have not been trained other then a 3 month certification or what have you and they are the primary market for helping people live healthy lives then it seems like nurses have a huge opportunity to step in. We're the ones who see first hand the effects of chronic disease and lifestyle choices so it makes sense for us to be in the front lines of teaching healthy lifestyles. Yet, the opportunities to do this seem relegated to 5 minutes at the bedside until inevitably the patient will be back in a few months.

I just have a strong desire to help people thrive and not exist in the revolving door of the hospital so looking for a way to make this happen.

I've never heard of a "nurse coach" however this seems like it might be similar to the "health navigator" concept one of the local hospitals have started for frequent ED users. Getting them hooked up with health navigator to help figure out what is going wrong upstream and address it so that they can stay out of the ED. Except, I think all of their health navigators are social workers rather than RNs. Though I really don't see why one couldn't be an RN.

That being said there don't seem to be many job openings for this role because it is still so new. Does you local hospital system have something similar? Or would could you sell the idea to them of having RN case managers / wellness coaches / health navigators / whatever they call the position start in their hospitals on a trial basis?

Interesting to see they've set up their own credentialing body, not affiliated with ANCC. Which makes me wonder about the content of the program.

ok, i'll check it out. Thanks!

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to figure out. If somehow my local hospital could get on board with something like this. I'd think that'd be the best place to start.

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I'm so glad you're interested in nurse coaching. My own discovery of nurse coaching was a big part of what kept me enrolled in nursing school. That's because the fundamental concepts of coaching embodied the way in which I felt called to serve others: Help them help themselves.

I like to think of coaching very broadly, as a style of communication. In a coaching conversation, the person being coached is presumed to be the expert. This requires a mindset shift for us as nurses, because our education lends us a level of authority which means we tend to deliver our information in a one-way, top-down manner. However, this concept of "patient-as-expert" can be more valuable than gold in helping a person make --and stick with-- significant behavioral/lifestyle changes. Coaching can be, quite literally, a power-tool for helping people help themselves.

(Side note: Coaching doesn't work with every patient in every situation; Coaching works best for people who are ready to make a change.)

Nurses often make great coaches, but just because you're a nurse, it doesn't mean you automatically know how to "coach" in an effective, ethical, and formally recognized way that consistently improves health outcomes. Most nursing education programs do not (yet) offer specific instruction in the refined communication skills necessary for engaging in maximally effective coaching conversations, hence the proliferation of coach training and certification programs for nurses.

Getting trained and certified as a coach can improve your nursing practice as well as your personal life. You can get CEUs for receiving coach training. Mastering a bunch of coaching skills may not get you a direct pay increase from your employer, and you may not be able to start up your own 6-figure coaching practice over night, but using your coaching skills in ANY work you do will likely help you enjoy your work more because you'll be able to help people more effectively. And, coaching skills will definitely improve all your communications –translate: relationships-- which will affect your personal life positively beyond measure.

There are MANY different ways to get trained as a coach, and to become certified if you wish to do so. Most coach-specific job descriptions I've seen listed by health care employers (usually in big urban areas) require some sort of recognized coaching certification. Coach training is not the same thing as certification as a coach-the training prepares you for the certification. I got my coach training through Wisdom of the Whole Coaching Academy. WOW is endorsed by both the AHNA and the International Coach Federation (ICF), which means the education I received through WOW meets the coach training requirements for AHNA nurse-coaching certification and for general coaching certification through the ICF. When choosing coach training programs, it's helpful to know what kind of certification you wish to pursue.

There's currently no medical billing code for coaching, so the healthcare world tends to overlook its value. However, as delivery of patient-centered care and non-pharmacological/lifestyle-change oriented treatments for chronic conditions grow in popularity, interest in coaching will increase because coaching can improve outcomes in these areas. When you integrate a coaching approach into the plan of care, the patient truly OWNS the idea of making and sticking with specific behavioral/lifestyle changes.

I have so much to say about the topic of nurse coaching-it's clear to me that I need to put together some more article(s)- it may even be helpful to address some of the things I wish I'd known about nurse coaching before I got started. I'll admit I'm still working on creating a lucrative independent business based on coaching, but I know my efforts will be worth it eventually. Meanwhile, the skills I learned in my coaching training and certification programs have not only enhanced my nursing practice but my personal life as well. I hope these thoughts helped pull together some of the comments in this thread for you.

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Hi Lane Therrell!

Thank you so much! Can I pm you to ask more specific information about WOW?

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Please feel free to PM me any time.

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