Navigating the Nursing Journey with Purpose

Nurses, what’s next?

As a labor and delivery nurse, I am part of one of life’s biggest moments for families I may never meet again. This calling requires a positive attitude and an ability to instill hope throughout each 12-hour shift. But at a certain point, I found myself feeling exhausted and disconnected from this work, and all my effort to maintain a cheerful demeanor and engagement only exacerbated the burnout. This toxic positivity, or pressure to exude optimism, had a pernicious effect on my well-being and I found myself at the polar opposite state from compassion.

I heard chatter in the break room and hallways from colleagues who were experiencing similar exhaustion, and although I was keenly aware of the tools and resources available from my organization—employee assistance programs, wellness calendars, etcetera—I didn’t know any nurses who used them, and I didn’t know how participating in these activities would alleviate my burnout.

Reconnecting to your purpose.

Photo by Heidi Fin on Unsplash

While pursuing my doctor of nursing practice degree, I began performing research on the impact of recognizing one’s purpose on job satisfaction and work engagement. Defining your purpose can be challenging. Simply saying “I am a labor and delivery nurse” doesn’t describe […]

2023-10-16T14:58:02-04:00October 16th, 2023|career, nursing career, wellness|2 Comments
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Nurse Burnout Recovery: Healing Ourselves to Better Serve Patients

Shedding parts of us that no longer serve us.

Photo by Javardh on Unsplash

A couple months ago, I shared my experience with burnout and lessons learned from it. This experience propelled me into a healing journey. This healing journey wasn’t just about a newfound appreciation for “self-care.” Guided by several mentors, coaches, and healers, it incorporated modalities such as energy healing, spiritual healing, mindset work, inner child work, meditation, breathwork, and journaling. Burnout had initiated an intense deconstruction and deprogramming process that made it clear it was time to shed the pieces of me that were no longer serving me.

During this healing journey I asked myself:

  • Why do I do what I do?
  • Why do I feel that I’m not good enough/smart enough/skilled enough to take care of my patients?
  • Why do I feel like I can’t prioritize myself and my own needs so I can take better care of my patients?
  • Why do I feel like it’s not safe to speak up if I have a concern?
  • Why am I afraid to fail?

After being brutally honest with myself, I realized I had to go back to where the programming began.

Confronting our fears.

As children, […]

2023-10-02T09:38:34-04:00October 2nd, 2023|Nursing, nursing perspective, wellness|1 Comment
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RSV Prophylaxis for Infants and Children: Now Available, But Is it Accessible?

July, a month typically characterized by the relative hibernation of communicable respiratory illnesses, brought with it the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) approval of nirsevimab-alip (brand name: Beyfortus) and thus a reminder of the gearing up necessary for the respiratory disease season ahead. Nirsevimab, approved for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), is poised to mitigate the staggering effects of this lower respiratory tract disease. Since significant barriers remain related to distribution, accessibility, and insurance reimbursement for this drug, it is especially important for primary care RNs and nurse practitioners in clinics and medical homes to be well informed on this topic.

RSV: a significant public health burden.

Transmission electron microscopic image revealing morphologic traits exhibited by a human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)/ CDC

RSV is primarily of concern in the youngest and most vulnerable of the pediatric population, such as those born prematurely, with chronic lung or congenital heart disease. As many of us know all too well, RSV carries significant public health burden, causing more hospitalizations than any other illness in U.S. infants and accounting for 100 to 300 deaths each year in children under five […]

2023-09-21T11:10:58-04:00September 21st, 2023|infectious diseases, Nursing, pediatrics, pediatrics|0 Comments
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The Healing Power of Animals: Reducing Stress in Patients and Nursing Students

Nursing students are known to have high stress levels during their nursing programs. While many researchers have explored different coping mechanisms to help nursing students cope with their stress and anxiety, not many have looked at animal interventions.

I am a huge fan of animal interventions after seeing their positive effects on patients (and staff) while I was working bedside in the hospital. Frustrated or anxious patients would usually become more accepting of care after a visit from an animal. Scared and lonely patients who were shutting down became more vibrant and open. Visitors and staff also benefitted from the visits. There were many times that as the therapy animal came down the hallway to a patient room, staff members stopped and took a moment to relax with the animal in a way that clearly refreshed them.

Becoming a therapy animal handler.

Seeing the effects of therapy animals in the hospital inspired me to pursue being a therapy animal handler myself. The hospital where I work had rabbits as part of their therapy animal program. This was a small enough animal for me to handle and care for. I picked out my first two, and I was hooked from the get-go.

The rabbits are very interactive—I like to say they are nosy. […]

2023-09-18T11:45:53-04:00September 18th, 2023|Nursing, nursing students, patient experience|0 Comments
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Unseen Struggles: When the Pain of Chronic Illness Meets Disbelief

A friend’s desperation.

Photo by Ben Blennerhassett on Unsplash

It was early in the morning when I received a call from my best friend, who was crying and
distraught. She frantically rattled off her symptoms: “My stomach is on fire, I can’t sleep, nothing is relieving the discomfort, and I’m in excruciating pain.” Although she’d been feeling discomfort for the previous two weeks, at first she’d thought the intensity of her current symptoms might be from food poisoning. Given her not always healthy diet, which she and I had discussed in the past, I too at first thought she might have eaten something that set the symptoms off.

“It hurts so badly I don’t think I can take it anymore,” she told me over the phone. “I can’t stop going to the bathroom.”

She said that despite the severity of her pain, her family just thought she was being dramatic. I could sense her desperation as she sobbed over the phone. Even though she did not want to seek medical attention, I begged her to go to the nearest clinic or hospital and told her I’d meet her there.

Crohn’s disease: When nurses doubt a patient’s pain.

In the emergency department (ED) where she […]

2023-09-07T11:14:39-04:00September 7th, 2023|Nursing, nursing perspective, pain management, patient experience, Patients|1 Comment
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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