Tips for New Nurses: Effective delegation starts with understanding this

One of the biggest struggles new nurses face is learning how to effectively delegate to nursing assistants. Let’s say you’re 23 years old and get your first job on a busy cardiac unit. You quickly learn that the most of the nursing assistants are much, much older and have been there for centuries! When you meet them, they give you a look – a look that says, “We’ve been here for 30 years and we’re not about to let a young whippersnapper like you tell US what to do!” Seriously, I spend most of my time helping individual nurses and organizations eliminate nurse-to-nurse bullying but sometimes it’s not the nurses – it’s the nursing assistants!!! Many nursing assistants try to intimidate the new nurses on purpose so that they will be less likely to delegate to them.

However, the only way you can successfully provide high quality, safe and effective patient care is to learn how to work WITH nursing assistants (and others) and delegate.

3 important ways to grow new nurse wisdom

One year ago I made the decision to go back into clinical practice. I made this decision for 2 reasons: First, I still teach seminars with clinical topics (certification review courses, medsurg topics, etc.). It’s a credibility thing – I can’t teach about clinical topics if I’m not still practicing clinically!  Second, for me to be an effective keynote speaker and help nurses succeed, I need to know what they are going through.

Going back to the bedside after being away for such a long time (8 years) was the hardest thing I’ve ever done but it was the best decision I’ve ever made. Not only does this experience give me great stories to share while I teach, it gives me great insight and understanding to the challenges current and future nurses face.

This knowledge helps me to help you!

Congratulations Nursing Graduates! Your public is waiting for you

Congratulations! You’ve just completed the 1^st leg of your journey to becoming a competent and compassionate nurse. Getting through nursing school is a HUGE accomplishment!!! Congrats...you've earned the right to call yourself NURSE. However, with this title comes expectations with regards to competence and compassion. 

Guest Post: Top 10 Skills Employers Seek in New Nurses

Thanks to Katy for a great post!

One of the toughest challenges recent nursing school graduates often face is competing for jobs with the experienced labor market. The good news is that there are employers looking for not-so-seasoned nurses. In fact, we found 284,576* job postings over the past 12 months seeking registered nurses with two years or less experience.

One way you can be sure to set yourself apart from other green nurses is to come armed with inside information on what employers are looking for. If you know the keywords they are using in their job descriptions, you can get one step ahead of your competition by using those same words in your resume and job application.

Message for Graduating Nurses: Remember these words

Several years ago I was asked to give the graduating commencement speech for a local school of nursing in Pittsburgh. I can remember talking with many, many new nurses and parents after who were very inspired by my speech. Knowing that this is the time of year again for new graduates, I wanted to share that speech with you to hopefully inspire you too as you begin your journey into the wonderful world of nursing.

New Nurse Tip: Your patient passes out. Now what?

Before I became a nurse, I worked as a Medical Assistant at a local women’s clinic in Pittsburgh, PA. I worked in the lab and drew blood on about 50-60 people a day. It was inevitable that out of the 50-60 people, at least one of them would start to drop their pressure and pass out.

When I became a nurse, the same sort of thing happened but sometimes it wasn’t because I was drawing their blood – sometimes it was because they had a massive GI bleed, were septic, or severely dehydrated.

What would be your initial independent nursing intervention if your patient passed out? Pick one.

You’ve already learned how to become a successful nurse

If you are in nursing school or newly graduated, you may feel overwhelmed with everything you have to learn to be a successful nurse. You may also be confused by the contradictory advice and behaviors of others. “Be professional” yet you see how nurses sometimes treat each other.

I know how you feel.

Even as a seasoned nurse and business owner, I sometimes question my decisions and advice others give me. One person says, “do this” yet another person says, “no. Don’t do that…do this!” Ugh. It’s a struggle sometimes to make good decisions and always do the right thing…especially when others don’t.

Good news! If you get overwhelmed about what to do or get confused by how to behave, just remember the words of Robert Fulgham.

CLINICAL TIP FOR NURSES: WHO WINS? GLUCOSE OR INSULIN?

Is it the glucose or the insulin??

When I teach clinical seminars, I always, always talk about fluid and electrolytes. One of my favorite things to talk about is potassium. In particular, how we treat hypo and hyperkalemia. In the next few blog posts, I'm going to map out some of the most common treatments for hyperkalemia - starting with glucose and insulin.

One thing you need to understand about potassium is that you have WAY MORE potassium INSIDE (145 mEq/L) the cell than you do OUTSIDE (3.5-5 mEq/L) the cell. So, any time you damage the cell wall or change the pH of the blood (will discuss that in a future blog post), the potassium INSIDE the cell will leak out into the extracellular space (blood vessel). 

Knowing that hyperkalemia can wreak havoc on the heart and other muscles, it's important to get the potassium back into the cell where it belongs!!!