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!

NEW NURSE: 3 TIPS TO AVOID GETTING BLINDSIDED

Ashley was blindsided by her boss during her 6-month review. As a new nurse, Ashley thought she was doing a good job. Her boss, however, thought otherwise and told her she wasn’t meeting expectations.

Expectations according to what?

CLINICAL NURSING TIP: UNDERSTANDING DIC - ACT 1, ACT 2

I teach many clinical courses to nurses all over the country and frequently get the deer in headlights look when I mention DIC. Just thinking about the clotting cascade can send any nurse, especially a new nurse, into SVT!! DIC really isn't as difficult to learn as you may think. To understand DIC, you just need view it as a play with a plot, characters, and with different acts. 

Once you understand the basics, you can learn the rest.

TOP 3 WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR NURSING LICENSE: TIPS FOR NEW NURSES

Congratulations! You are now a Registered Nurse. All of your sacrificing, studying and suffering have paid off. Take some time to celebrate your success – you deserve it. However, now that you’ve received your nursing license, you have to start thinking about how to protect it. 

Many State Boards of Nursing used send out publications with a list of nurses who lost their licenses and WHY they lost them. I can remember being a new nurse, reading those reasons and thinking that I wanted to make sure I didn’t make the same mistakes. I don’t think they publish these lists anymore (do they??).

TIP FOR NEW NURSES: HYPERKALEMIA: UNDERSTANDING TREATMENT OPTIONS

Potassium acts as an irritant at the neuromuscular junction. Too much and your cells get irritated; not enough and your cells get sluggish. Your heart demands a normal potassium level for its electrical conduction system to work. Too much and you’ll see a peaked T wave; too little and you’ll see ventricular arrhythmias! So, hyperkalemia is a bad thing for your patient’s heart and needs to be treated immediately!

There are so many different ways to treat hyperkalemia, but how do you know what treatment is best and in which situation?

To treat hyperkalemia effectively, you must understand why a patient gets hyperkalemic in the first place and how each treatment option works.

TIPS FOR NEW NURSES: TOP 3 STRATEGIES TO PROTECT YOUR NURSING LICENSE

I’ll never forget the moment when my first nursing license came in the mail. I swear I stared at it for hours! I was never so proud of anything I had done up to that point. However, reality hit me when I started working in an acute care hospital.  I realized that I no longer had the safety blanket of my instructor to protect me - I was on my own as a professional RN and I was scared to death! After all, I worked really hard to get my license but I wasn't sure what to do to protect it.

We’ve all read the horror stories about nurses who lost their licenses and want to make sure that doesn't happen to us! 

CLINICAL PRACTICE TIP: THE GREAT OXYGEN DEBATE

I’m sure you’ve experienced the following situation: A COPD patient drops his sats. You’re about to start him on oxygen yet someone shouts, “Wait. This patient has COPD. Don’t give oxygen!” Hmm…is that true? Maybe – maybe not.

You’ve just experienced the great oxygen debate! What do you do?

To provide the very best care to COPD patients and "win" the debate, you must first understand what stimulates the body to breath.

Actually, we have two stimuli: