Category: Nurses

Is the Professionalism of Doctors, Nurses Being Exploited?

Doctors, nurses often do what’s right by their patients, even if it comes at a high personal cost. Is their professional nature being exploited by those in charge?

As the corporatization of healthcare continues at a rapid pace and staffing shortages march on, are the professionals at the heart of the health industry being exploited for their work ethic and professionalism? An op-ed published in The New York Times by Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, an attending physician at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, postulates this to be true.

The op-ed, which points out that doctors and nurses often do the right thing for their patients, even though it frequently comes at a high personal cost, casts a scathing light on higher-ups who manipulate this to their favor. “If doctors and nurses clocked out when their paid hours were finished, the effect on patients would be calamitous. Doctors and nurses know this, which is why they don’t shirk. The system knows it, too, and takes advantage,” Dr. Ofri says in the piece.

Dr. Ofri goes on to point a blaming finger at time-consuming EHR, calling it the “biggest culprit of the mushrooming workload” that has been thrust upon medical professionals in recent years.

“For most doctors and nurses, it is unthinkable to walk away without completing your work because dropping the ball could endanger your patients,” Dr. Ofri states, which is the conundrum at the heart of the op-ed. Real lives are at stake, but not just those of the patients—the lives and livelihoods of those who care for them, too.

Read the op-ed in its entirety here, and tell us if you agree or disagree in the comments below.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

The State of Emergency Nursing

There is not exactly a state of emergency when it comes to the field of emergency/trauma/transport nursing, but one may be on the way.

A recently released study took an in-depth look at the state of emergency, trauma, and transport nurses in the United States in an effort to gain an understanding of the landscape of the field, as well as the issues facing these nurses. The comprehensive study, which is the first of its kind, provides important insights about the current workforce and the future demands of the profession.

Here are some highlights from the report.

Demographics

  • The majority of the workforce is under the age of 40 (43%), female (78%), and Caucasian (87%).
  • Transport nurses are more likely to be male than emergency or trauma nurses.
  • Compared to the overall nursing workforce, emergency/trauma/transport nurses are more likely to be male and white.
  • More than 50% of respondents have previously worked in an Emergency Department.
  • 10% of respondents report previous military experience.
  • 78% of respondents hold a BSN or higher.

On the Job

  • Respondents indicated that 60% of their time is spent on direct patient care, while 25% of their time is spent on documentation.
  • 65% of respondents stated they are satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs.
  • 39% of respondents report the workload is too heavy or overwhelming.

Salary & Career Path

  • For emergency nurses, the median salary is $77,500.
  • For trauma nurses, the median salary is $82,500.
  • For transport nurses, the median salary is $82,500.
  • The majority of survey respondents expect a shortage or extreme shortage of nurses in the next 5 to 10 years, though most report plans to continue in their current role for the next 5 to 10 years.
  • The most common planned career change among respondents is to obtain a specialty certification or become an APRN.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Chipotle Offers Buy-One-Get-One Free Deal for Nurses

Free food alert! Chipotle locations across the U.S. and Canada will be offering a buy-one-get-one free deal for all nurses (including RNs, NPs, CNAs, and more) tomorrow, June 4th.

Chipotle Mexican Grill is offering a special buy-one-get-one free deal for nurses across the U.S. and Canada on Tuesday, June 4, 2019.

All professional nurses who hold an RN, NP, CRNA, CNS, CNM, LVN, or CNA designation, or local equivalents, who present valid identification, such as their nursing license or hospital or medical office ID, can receive a free burrito, burrito bowl, salad, or order of tacos with the purchase of an entrée of equal or greater value. The promotion is valid at all Chipotle locations in the U.S. and Canada from open to close that day.

“We know that nurses are some of the most hardworking individuals and Chipotle wants to do its part to recognize these dedicated professionals who are helping to cultivate a better world,” said Laurie Schalow, Chief Corporate Reputation Officer at Chipotle, in a press release issued by the company. “We’re inviting all nurses to come into Chipotle to show us their IDs to redeem our token of appreciation.”

To find a Chipotle location near you, please visit chipotle.com.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Top Survival Tips for New Nurses

Here are four essential tips for the new nurse, to not only quell your nerves, but to begin to shape you into the best nurse you can be.

You’ve just accepted your very first job as a Registered Nurse. Now what? Here are four essential tips to not only quell your nerves, but to begin to shape you into the best nurse you can be.

  1. Seek Out a Mentor: Though some hospitals and health care facilities have mentorship programs built in, some don’t. If your new employer is one that does not, speak up and seek out a mentor of your own—be it a seasoned nurse that you can just quietly observe or one that you have a more established mentoring relationship with, in which you can ask questions and receive feedback.
  2. Ask Questions: Though you’ve just finished school, there is still a lot to learn. Don’t be afraid to use your voice, if you come across something you’re curious or unsure about. No one knows everything—not even the most experienced nurse—but there will be plenty of people who can help you to learn more as you settle into your new role.
  3. Pay Attention: It’s easy to become overwhelmed, especially when you’re new to the field, and things could easily slip through the cracks, if you’re being pulled in multiple different directions all at once—which you likely will be. Be mindful and focused as best you can at all times. And don’t be afraid to step back, breathe, and ask for help, if you need it.
  4. Practice Self Care: Your shifts will likely be long, your bathroom breaks will likely be short, or non-existent, and you’ll likely be on your feet all day. It’s easy to feel drained, when that is your day-to-day. Take care of your brain and body every single day by hydrating, eating right, sleeping well, and leaving the stresses of work at work.

What other tips would you add to this list? What is the best advice you received when entering the field of nursing?

The Hardest Parts of Nursing

The nursing profession comes with many obvious rewards, be they personal or professional. However, it is also well-documented to be one of the most stressful careers, due to staffing shortages, hospital politics, long hours, and many other factors. Business Insider recently took a deep dive into the minds of nurses and released a list of what they have found to be the top pain points of working nurses. The list, released last week, includes eleven of the hardest challenges faced by nurses today, including:

  1. Experiencing the death of patients
  2. Judgment passed by others about their occupation
  3. Long, stressful hours
  4. A lack of respect from others in the industry
  5. Hospital politics
  6. Non-existent or few bathroom breaks
  7. Outdated and time-consuming technology
  8. Know-it-all patients and their families
  9. Missing out on holidays and weekends
  10. The pressure to know everything
  11. Caring for drug-addicted patients

What do you think is missing from this list? Are you facing struggles that aren’t mentioned above? Feel free to vent about them in the comments.

7 Ways to Make the Most of Your Holiday Nursing Shift

by Deborah Swanson

Ask any nurse working a holiday shift if they’d rather be home with their friends and family and they’ll likely say “yes.” However, patient needs don’t stop for the holidays, and most every nurse has to work at least a couple of holidays each year. That being said, working on a holiday doesn’t mean that your shift has to be completely lacking in seasonal cheer. With the winter holidays coming up, here are seven ideas to help you make the most of a holiday nursing shift, from seasonal scrubs to cookie swaps..

Decorate the lounge.

Get permission to decorate the lounge or nurses’ station, and then let your inner interior decorator out. It’s easy to get cheap, seasonal decor at party goods or home decor stores, and you can of course make your own DIY decorations if you’re feeling especially crafty. You can theme the decorations to match your setting—for example, stringing tinsel on the walls to look like an EKG reading—or you can keep things strictly holiday-focused with classic decorations. Out of respect for coworkers and patients, either keep the decorations nonreligious or try to represent winter holidays of various cultures (Chinese New Year, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc.).

Create a common Christmas tree.

If you have room in the lounge or reception area, put up a small fake Christmas tree (real ones can trigger allergies in some people) and ask each nurse in your unit to bring in an ornament to decorate it. The ornaments can be funny, personal, sentimental—whatever they choose to bring in! If you want to get really elaborate, you can decide on a theme for the tree—for example, everyone has to bring a nursing-inspired ornament—or you can keep things eclectic and simply see what everyone brings. Or you can forgo the ornaments altogether and simply make a tree from scratch using surgical gloves instead.

Wear holiday-themed scrubs.

You can carry the holiday cheer with you wherever you go by dressing for the season. There are many (many, many) printed scrub tops with holiday designs available, with styles ranging from tasteful to the best kind of tacky. If you prefer a more subtle look, you can always combine red and green solid scrubs or wear holiday-themed compression socks under your pants. Of course, don’t forget accessories such as stethoscope charms, badge holders, lanyards and small jewelry items such as stud earrings. As always, prioritize safety first and make sure none of your holiday accessories dangle in such a way that they can snag on something or get pulled on by patients.

Holiday Nursing Shift_2

Coordinate a potluck.

Besides gifts, delicious food is a major staple of holiday celebrations around the world. Rather than picking at hospital cafeteria food for the umpteenth time, get your coworkers together and host a holiday potluck. Have each person sign up to bring a certain type of dish (main course, side dish, dessert, drinks, etc.) and encourage them to make food from their religious or cultural background if they would like to share with the group. Nurses are already stressed enough around the holidays, so if some people in your unit would rather not cook, encourage them to bring a store-bought dish instead. After all, even pre-made mashed potatoes from the grocery store will probably taste better than whatever the cafeteria is offering.

Do a cookie swap.

If a potluck sounds like too much effort or you don’t have a lot of cooks in your unit, you can always coordinate a cookie swap instead. Invite each person to make or buy their favorite type of cookie (again, it’s a good idea to have a sign-up sheet of some sort so you don’t end up with too many duplicates) and then line the cookies up on the counter in the nurses’ lounge and let people grab them as they can. Even if people don’t have time for a full potluck meal, they probably will have time to eat a cookie or two! Definitely make sure the cookies are stored in airtight containers so they won’t get stale. If stored properly, the cookies will stay fresh for several days, which means that nurses across several shifts will get to partake in the cookie swap.

Holiday Nursing Shift_3

Host an office Secret Santa exchange.

You should know who is working the holiday shift with you in advance, which gives you all a chance to plan a Secret Santa exchange. Have people randomly draw the name of someone else who will be working the holiday shift, and then set a monetary limit for gift purchases. If you want to keep things low key, you can just exchange one gift on the day of the holiday. However, if all the nurses in your unit are really close, you can spread multiple small gifts out over the course of several weeks to keep the holiday cheer going all season long.

Make the most of your breaks.

Working on a holiday can be even more tough emotionally than a regular nursing shift. If your break is long enough, use the time to call or FaceTime your family so you feel like you got to connect with them on the holiday itself, however briefly. If it will cheer you up, you can ask your family members to send you pictures of the celebrations so you feel included. However, if that will just make you feel what you’re missing out on even more acutely, put your phone down and use your break to catch up with coworkers you like instead. Even if all you do is commiserate about having to work the holiday, as least you’ll be getting in some social time. Plus, talking to people face-to-face releases the hormone oxytocin, which boosts your mood.

No nurse really wants to work a holiday—but someone has to do it–so you might as well have fun while you’re at it. Try one or all of these seven ideas to inject a little cheer into your holiday nursing shift (pun definitely not intended).

Deborah Swanson is a Coordinator for the Real Caregivers Program at allheart.com. A site dedicated to celebrating medical professionals and their journeys. She keeps busy interviewing caregivers and writing about them and loves gardening.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Nurses, Nursing, and the Nature of Suffering

Nurses are no strangers to the illness, suffering, and death of others. But how a nurse navigates their own personal suffering plays a role in how they approach life, work, and the overlapping of the two.

From Nurse Keith’s Digital Doorway

In the course of many nurses’ healthcare careers, witnessing the illness, suffering, and death of others is commonplace. From dialysis and med-surg to home health and the ICU, nurses create therapeutic relationships with patients and their families, providing spiritual and emotional comfort, compassion, and expert skilled care based on many decades of nursing science and evidence-based interventions.

Aside from witnessing the challenges faced by others, nurses are themselves human beings with their own life experiences, victories, and suffering. How a nurse navigates their own personal suffering plays a role in determining how they approach life, work, and the overlapping of the two.

Life is Suffering

In Buddhist studies, it has been said that life is suffering. I believe that this expression refers to the notion that our emotional attachment to the things that make up our lives (relationships, money, success, possessions, family) are what cause us suffering, and the ability to live in the present without grasping for what we don’t already have can help to alleviate that suffering. In other words, our desires cause us to suffer.

Aside from our attachment to things and people, there is also the reality that bad things often happen to good people — we see children with incurable cancer, elders living alone and destitute, and many other situations that seem both untenable and patently unfair.

In nursing, medicine, and healthcare, what we’re grasping for is the health and well-being of our patients, sometimes against all odds. We grow attached to patients and their families, our compassion goes out to them in their hour of need, and we can feel like failures when things don’t go the way we wished they would.

I’ve lost many patients over the years, and I did indeed sometimes blame myself when they suffered or died, especially when it seemed almost impossible to alleviate their suffering. I’ve seen patients consumed by cancer, heart or liver disease, dementia, stroke, multiple sclerosis, ALS, diabetes, and the opportunistic infections that transform an HIV+ patient into someone living with AIDS.

Suffering is also witnessed by so many of us when we turn on the evening news, listen to the radio, or scroll through a news app on our phone or our Facebook feed. War, famine, terrorism, politics, the economy — each of these aspects of 21st-century life can reveal to us the crueler side of human nature and existence.

Our Own Suffering

I’ve lived with chronic pain for more than a dozen years, and I admittedly suffer to some degree every day. Like many other people with physical pain, I power through my days and then rest at night as best I can.

Throughout my many years of providing career coaching and professional support to nurses, I’ve heard many stories that have nearly broken my heart. Nurses with all manner of conditions have passed through my orbit, and I’m consistently inspired by the courage and persistence embodied by these incredibly strong human beings. From burnout and depression to cancer and brain trauma, nurses are themselves patients too.

As nurses who serve the ill, injured, and vulnerable, how do we tend to our own suffering while also being present for our patients? How do we allow ourselves the space to feel our own feelings and deal with our personal issues without feeling guilty for being vulnerable ourselves?

Nurses often feel they need to be invincible, uncomplaining, and stoic, but we’re human beings, not angels and saints. We nurses need to honor our own suffering, challenges, and pain — by doing so, we can then be even more available for our patients through the simple fact of our own compassionate understanding of their plight and our very human experience.

Our Own Humanity

As nurses, healthcare professionals, and human beings living in a complex and often stressful 21st-century world, our own humanity matters, even when we’re determined to deny our own pain and suffering in the interest of being the strong nurse helping others. Denying our humanity and our pain does us no good, but nurses are experts at doing so.

We nurses are fallible and prone to all of the ills that are visited upon our fellow citizens. Like everyone else, we have our existential anxieties about family and friends, the environment, politics, our finances, our futures, our careers, and anything else under the sun.

Nurses too live with debt, personal tragedy, and grief and loss — we also strive to create the best lives we possibly can for ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities. At times, admitting that we don’t have the answers is a very human thing to do. The ability to say “I don’t know” is a sign of strength, even for a nurse who prides herself on always having the answers to life’s vexing questions.

Our humanity has meaning, no matter our efforts to be superhuman and carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. As nurses, we must strive to recognize, accept, and celebrate our own fallibility, and create lifestyles and careers that honor our needs, our pain, our suffering, and the forward thinking personal and professional lives we strive to live.

Keith Carlson, RN, BSN, NC-BC, is the Board Certified Nurse Coach behind NurseKeith.com and the well-known nursing blog, Digital Doorway. Please visit his online platforms and reach out for his support when you need it most.

Keith is co-host of RNFMRadio.com, a wildly popular nursing podcast; he also hosts The Nurse Keith Show, his own podcast focused on career advice and inspiration for nurses.

A widely published nurse writer, Keith is the author of “Savvy Networking For Nurses: Getting Connected and Staying Connected in the 21st Century,” and has contributed chapters to a number of books related to the nursing profession. Keith has written for Nurse.com, Nurse.org, MultiViews News Service, LPNtoBSNOnline, StaffGarden, AusMed, American Sentinel University, the ANA blog, Working Nurse Magazine, and other online publications.

Mr. Carlson brings a plethora of experience as a nurse thought leader, online nurse personality, podcaster, holistic career coach, writer, and well-known successful nurse entrepreneur. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his lovely and talented wife, Mary Rives.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

“The Jewish Nurse” Who Treated Tree of Life Gunman Speaks Out, Urges Love

After the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history, stories emerged about “The Jewish Nurse” who treated the alleged gunman. Now, Ari Mahler, RN, tells his side.

In the days following the tragic shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in suburban Pittsburgh that left 11 Jewish people dead, stories spread of “The Jewish Nurse” who treated Robert Bowers, the alleged gunman. “Death to all Jews,” Bowers reportedly yelled as he was wheeled into the ER at Allegheny General Hospital, and still, “The Jewish Nurse” cared for him.

Now, “The Jewish Nurse” has a name—Ari Mahler, RN—and a message, and he has taken to the internet to tell his side of the events that transpired on October 27th in a powerful and moving social media post.

“I am The Jewish Nurse. Yes, that Jewish Nurse. The same one that people are talking about in the Pittsburgh shooting that left 11 dead. The trauma nurse in the ER that cared for Robert Bowers who yelled, “Death to all Jews,” as he was wheeled into the hospital. The Jewish nurse who ran into a room to save his life,” the post, which has been shared more than 166,000 times since it was published on Saturday, began.

Mahler went on to explain how he found empathy for the man who stands accused of the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.

“Love. That’s why I did it,” he said in the post. “Love as an action is more powerful than words, and love in the face of evil gives others hope. It demonstrates humanity. It reaffirms why we’re all here. The meaning of life is to give meaning to life, and love is the ultimate force that connects all living beings. I could care less what Robert Bowers thinks, but you, the person reading this, love is the only message I wish to instill in you.”

Mahler’s poignant message can be found in full below.

Can’t see the post above? Click here to view it directly on Facebook.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Nurse’s Post about Vaccines Goes Viral

If you buck vaccinations and Big Pharma, should you be allowed go to the doctor or the hospital when you get sick? This nurse says no in her viral post.

Days before an article was published by the Los Angeles Times stating, “Health authorities in California have more power to insist that a dog is vaccinated against rabies than to ensure that a child enrolled in public school is vaccinated against measles,” a California nurse took to Facebook and made a post about that very topic. In her post, Meggy Doodle, as she’s known on the site, told parents that they may have the “freedom” not to vaccinate their children, but that it comes with a caveat—”The caveat to that is this: then they should NOT be allowed go to the doctor or the hospital when they get sick, looking for treatment,” if they think Big Pharma is “just trying to turn a profit or poison us all.”

Doodle went on to urge those against vaccinations to, “stop being so naïve,” and rattled off a list of live-saving measures which are also compliments of Big Pharma—antibiotics for sepsis, steroids and epinephrine for anaphylaxis, an inhaler for asthma.

“Having a heart attack? Better break out your essential oils and get your affairs in order, because the only thing we have to offer you is medicine and procedures brought to you by the very same people who are responsible for those vaccines you insist are evil,” Doodle continued.

She then said that she personally takes offense to anyone who, “implies that medical professionals, like myself, would ever administer anything to anyone, especially a child, that would intentionally harm them. I take even more offense to anyone that would imply that a college educated professional, like myself, is incapable of “doing the research.””

She signed the post as “a nurse, a mother, a college graduate (with a science based degree), NOT BIG PHARMA.”

The post quickly went viral, amassing more than 12,000 shares and upwards of 13,000 reactions in mere days, with many who shared the post echoing Doodle’s sentiment. “You tell them girl. I agree with you,” said one woman who shared the post. “With flu season approaching… I’ll just leave this here,” said another. “Something to think about,” read comments accompanying quite a few other shares.

As a nurse, do you agree with Doodle’s sentiment? Read her post in full below, then tell us in the comments.

Can’t see the post above? Click here to view it directly on Facebook.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

New App Connects Patients with Advanced Practitioners, RNs via Text

A new app is taking aim at the telehealth space–not to diagnose, but to triage–and advanced practitioners and RNs are the ones on call.

A new startup has taken aim at the telehealth space. However, unlike other apps, the focus is to connect patients with physician assistants and nurse practitioners, as well as registered nurses, instead of physicians. The app, which offers a 24/7 chat-based model, also aims not to diagnose or prescribe, but to triage and inform.

Developed in the Harvard Innovation Lab and launched earlier this month, Nurse-1-1 is designed to offer patients a better and more reliable resource than being left to their own devices, such as Googling symptoms, to determine whether or not they should seek medical attention. It is HIPPA-compliant and encrypted, and offers patients a low-cost model of $12.50 per chat, with or without insurance—which is undoubtedly cheaper than a wasted co-pay, if medical attention isn’t deemed advisable.

To use the service, patients only need to download the app, answer some simple questions, and then they are paired with either a physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or registered nurse, who can triage their situation through photos and information shared via the chat.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.