The Blog Archive

There is a pervasive problem within the nursing profession. It’s been called nurse-to-nurse hostility, lateral violence, intergroup conflict, and eating our young. There are a lot of different names for it but whatever you chose to call the problem, it’s responsible for ruining a lot of nursing careers. A Bully In Scrubs There are many reasons why a nurse turns into a bully. Nurses have little autonomy in the workplace while being held accountable for ... More »

Every nurse thinks about quitting their nursing job from time to time when they are having a horrendous day at work. Wanting to run for your life when you’re facing a stressful situation is normal, but it brings up a question posed to me by one of my readers. Super LPN wants to know when is it time to quit your nursing job. She writes: I am thinking hard about quitting my present job, am attached to ... More »

I’m sure that what I’m about to say will shock a lot of young people in the nursing profession. Nurses use to hold the same job for a lifetime. I’ve known many nurses who have worked their entire career where they attended nursing school. Now unit secretaries have to update their unit staffing roster every month because of the turnover. According to a recent report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, “baby boomers” held on average 10.2 ... More »

It’s a Catch 22: You can’t get a job as a specialty nurse without experience, but how are you supposed to get nursing experience without a job. Sound familiar? Here are three tips that will help you find your dream job. Tip One: Start Building Your Resume When You Are In Nursing School. Hospitals traditionally like growing their own nurses to fill spots in their nursing rosters. Three year diploma schools started that trend years ago, and ... More »

It’s cold and flu season and many of my non-nursing friends are shocked when I tell them that hospitals have unwritten rules about nurses calling into work when they are sick. Sure, nurse recruiters tell new hirers that they can call in sick, but in reality, nothing could be farther from the truth. I’ve actually heard a nursing supervisor refuse to accept a nurse’s callout because there was no one that could take her place on the unit. ... More »

Annie was always a good nurse, but things started slowly changing after she met Don. Her coworker, Gloria, was worried. Patient care on the unit was suffering and by the look on Annie’s face every morning during report, so was she. Gloria had grave concerns for Annie’s safety at home because of Annie’s attempt to conceal her bruises with thick makeup. Once a bright and happy woman, Annie was fading away. When Annie started going out with Don, she couldn't ... More »

Their eyes met across a crowded room. They knew in an instant they were kindred spirits. The problem? The crowded room is the nurses’ station, and the kindred spirits are coworkers. During the last few years, there has been a lot embarrassing stories circulating out on the Internet about hospital employees who have become romantically entangled with each other. Personally, I’ve never dated a coworker. It just struck me as being kind of incestuous. I always thought dating someone ... More »

In October of 2008, I wrote a post about how to bullet proof your nursing career. I predicted that nurses were going to start feeling the impact of the recession, and I told readers how to brace themselves for the fallout. Here are some words to those of you who pooh-poohed my advice. I told you so. No, I’m not gloating. Times are too tough to gloat, but don’t worry. There are ... More »

It’s that time of year again. I’ve been getting a lot of letters from senior nursing students asking me for advice on how to write a resume. Most new graduates that I talk to think that their resume will fall flat when they turn it into a nurse recruiter. Take a deep breath and relax. You have more experience than you think, and more importantly, you have the qualifications that employers are looking for. Let’s begin with ... More »

Nursing is a tough job. It’s challenging on many different levels. Nurses must have many different skill sets and know how to use them simultaneously. Everyone knows that nurses can take a patient’s temperature and administer medications, but the most important nursing skills are the ones that are the most overlooked. One of the most important skill a nurse must have is the ability to communicate with others. You might think that being a good communicator is a ... More »