wellcoachRN

The facility that I work for moved from smoke free to nicotine free several years ago. We have a clear no e-cig policy. I do remember nurses telling me over the years that the nurses used to be allowed to smoke at the nurses station years ago.

Just for clarification, a vocal/voice coach is different from a speech therapist as they will give you exercises to overcome anxiety. They often work with actors with stage fright. I worked with an amazing coach to help me with public speaking since I will be doing corporate wellness talks next year. I highly recommend a few sessions. Most coaches are very reasonably priced. Wishing you great success!

I think now is the time for your son to start to take 100% responsibility for his life and find out what he wants to do. Does he love nursing or is he perusing it because he thinks he "should"? Most schools have counseling services and vocational testing. When he finds something that truly lights him up, opportunities will appear as well as his motivation. Too often people waste their lives staring at doors that are not meant to be open while ignoring the doors that are open. If he really does want to pursue nursing, perhaps this is the event that sparks his motivation. If not, it's time to move on and discover what he is passionate about and is meant to do. One of the most difficult things as a parent is to let go and allow your child to create their own life. Part of this entails plowing your child to learn from their mistakes. Your son is fully capable of learning life lessons. Your job is to support, not control or "save" your son. Your son is an adult, now should be the time in your life that you can do the things you love. Take a class, join a book club, do something just for the fun of it.

A voice/vocal coach could also give you wonderful techniques that would help you. They generally are not that expensive. To find a good one, contact a local actors group or speakers bureau. Wishing you success in your career!

I am certain that management would eventually take notice. One hospital I worked for took care of the problem by creating a time management for nurses class for nurses who had this problem. I never had that issue. I value my time off too much!

When you are sick the best thing to do is take care of yourself early so that it doesn't snowball into something worse. You will also be protecting your patients and coworkers. Working night shift automatically lowers your immunity. Do not feel guilty. You are sick and should take care of yourself! Wishing you a speedy recovery'

I once heard "your purpose is your passion". If you couldn't do nursing, what would you want to do? If you are questioning continuing on the nursing path, at least explore a few others. You may discover that you do truly want to pursue nursing or you may decide to go another path. Do not go into any profession because someone told you to. You may consider talking to a career counselor at your school. Good luck with your decision!

TOS is Top of Scale. Sorry for the confusion! I also forgot to add the wear and tear on my body.

My decision to leave the bedside included all of the above in addition to the hours. Years ago, I received great advice to always have a backup plan for when you hit TOS when there is a nursing surplus. I am seeing benefits cut as well as TOS nurses bring laid off. I am also tired of the politics and the lack of preventative care in our current system. I am also irritated that nurses benefits and pay keep on getting cut, frozen or piddly raises while the administration do not have cuts to pay or bennies. I used to be the adrenaline junkie nurse who wanted the crashing IABP, CVVHD patient. I now love helping people make healthy changes so they can live the life they want. While I am grateful for all of the years of nursing, I am excited to start my life as an entrepreneur as I will be starting my business next year. I can not wait until the day I can hand in my resignation!

One of the most important lesson I have learned is that your life is going to go on. You can choose to live your life in fear or in trust. You only need one job. Have someone you trust go over your resume, do some CEUs (you can add them to your resume) and do things that increase your energy and happiness. Wishing you great success in your career.

I would not have been offended since it is most likely in the best interest of the patient. However, I do take issues with the nurses in the past who "helped me out" by giving the patient a suppository so they did not have to clean up the mess. That is not team work!!

You have to find out what works got you. I found that working out before going to work helped me. I found that I didn't sleep as well after I worked out. I also had a better workout after I slept. I also highly recommend quality black out curtains! Good luck in finding what works for you!

I am so sorry that you had to go through this. I highly recommend contacting your EAP to see if you can get a few counseling sessions to help you through your grief. The other thing I want you to know is that we are never responsible to another adults actions. It is hard when we see the writing on the wall and someone is having a hard time accepting what may be happening. We can't force someone to do anything if they are in denial. Please reach out for support. I wish you all the best!

Years ago I took a 2 year contract at a facility I found to be exceptionally toxic. One of the important lessons I learned was that I did not have to "absorb" my coworker's bad mood. It helped me to realize that their bad mood is their problem not mine. I actually mad a game out of not taking their crap personally. I ended up taking a class on how to deal with energy vampires and I learned a few tricks to deal with them such as observe their behavior before you react. Vampires or prima donnas live to trigger people since they love chaos. At this time, I also learned to practice daily self care to decrease my stress. If I had a bad day, I would plan to do something that I enjoyed after work. Practicing daily self care and doing things I loved really helped me until my contract was up. After that, I learned not to ever take a contract with a sign on bonus. There is generally a reason why they have to pay for people to work!

I encourage you to tap into your education department offerings. Start taking an EKG class then see if you can take ACLS. Lippincott has a lot of great easy to understand books on critical care nursing. Classes, CEUs and ACLS are great things to add to your resume. Wishing you great success in become an ICU nurse!