The Beginning and the End as a Nursing Student

Guest blog post by Jae Kook Lim

HELLO! My name is Jae Kook Lim and am currently attending the University of Central Florida College of Nursing. I began my college career in the summer of 2012 and I'm now in my third year of college. I am also the Student Senator, representing the College of Nursing to the Student Government Association and other Colleges. Since I started school, I have been remained active in the school life. In the past, I was an Orientation Team Leader 2013, Volunteer Teacher Assistant for Human Anatomy, dancers for Rukus Entertainment and Fresh off the Beat, student secretary for School of Social Work undergraduate and graduate, and peer adviser! The list goes on and on but from this, you can say that I am very active and enjoy being involve.

Nursing: A Sea of Options with an Ocean of Danger

Sarah was so excited that she secured her first job as a nurse before she graduated, even though jobs were scarce in her community.  Sarah was hired in the OR at one of her community’s largest hospitals. She was a bit apprehensive at first, because Sarah was shy, easily intimidated, and struggled with confrontation. Although she heard about how stressful working in the OR was, she was way more excited about getting offered a job!

On her first day, one of the cardiothoracic surgeons screamed at her for getting close to his sterile field. At the end of the day, the lead OR nurse told her she needed to “grow a thick skin” if she wanted to be successful. Sarah left her first day in tears. Within 6 weeks, Sarah felt she had no choice but to quit.

What went wrong?

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!

Nursing Practice Tip: Documentation “Never” Events!!

I think we’d all like our roles as nurses a whole lot better if we didn’t have to document. I hear nurses say all the time that they spend more time DOCUMENTING than taking care of patients. And sometimes, I agree.

But documentation is an important part of what we do. Why? Well, documentation helps providers identify problems and make appropriate treatment decisions; allows you to take credit for the work you do; ensures that you’re practicing according to standards of care; and helps your organization get the maximum reimbursement for your hard work!!

However, documentation can also be used against a nurse – especially when patients have bad outcomes.