Giving Thanks for Meaning in a Nonclinical Setting

Julianna Paradisi, RN, OCN, writes a monthly post for this blog and works as an infusion nurse in outpatient oncology. The illustration of this post is by the author.

NiceNurseSome Thanksgiving seasons, it feels like the only specific nursing thing to be thankful for is the overstocked larder of the staff lounge, marking the advent of The Season of Eating.

I’m being facetious. Actually, there’s lots to be thankful for in nursing, including a regular paycheck, which is not taken for granted. However, most nursing units remain understaffed, despite hoards of nursing school graduates desperately seeking jobs—creating a no-net gain on the gratitude side of the ledger.

Ethical issues and long hours also make finding gratitude a challenge. It’s not the gifts from patients of flavored popcorn and boxes of chocolates in the staff lounge that warm a nurse’s heart so much as the handwritten cards accompanying them, thanking us for their care. For nurses, finding meaning in what we do goes hand in hand with gratitude.

This season, however, I was surprised by an opportunity to find meaning as a nurse outside of a clinical setting, and I want to share the experience.

One afternoon, a neighbor came to my door asking for help. She is the mother of two small children, and her toddler had accidentally burnt his hand in the kitchen. She’d taken him to the emergency department and […]

2018-03-28T10:27:41-04:00November 25th, 2013|career, nursing perspective|6 Comments
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NP Develops Innovative Runaway Intervention Program in Minnesota

Ten years ago, NP Laurel Edinburgh began to see a number of sexually exploited girls in her practice at the Midwest Children’s Resource Center, a child abuse clinic within Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota in St. Paul. The girls, who were runaways, were quickly slipping through the cracks. Half were no longer in school, many hadn’t been reported missing by their parents, and many were staying with gang members. Some had been gang-raped; others had had sex with men in exchange for money or drugs.

Via U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Web site Via U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Web site

That’s the start of a profile (“Nurse Develops Runaway Intervention Program”) by editor Amy Collins in the November issue of AJN. It’s about a nurse practitioner in Minnesota who, in the course of her daily practice, noticed a population in need and did something about it, finding ways to establish contact with runaway girls and help them rebuild their lives. The article will be free until December 6. The nurse who started the program, Laurel Edinburgh, RN, CNP, hopes her approach will catch on in other states—so please give it a read.—Jacob Molyneux, senior editor

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2016-11-21T13:05:59-05:00November 22nd, 2013|nursing perspective|0 Comments
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Scrubs on the Street: Big Concern?

This colorized 2005 scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicted numerous clumps of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, commonly referred to by the acronym, MRSA; Magnified 2390x. CDC/via Wikimedia Commons This colorized 2005 scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicted numerous clumps of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, commonly referred to by the acronym, MRSA; Magnified 2390x. CDC/via Wikimedia Commons

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

Last week I came across this article on the Reporting on Health blog from the Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism at the University of Southern California. It discusses one woman’s campaign to get hospital health care providers to stop wearing scrubs outside of the hospital. She wants people to photograph the ‘offenders’ and send the photos to hospital administrators. She’s concerned that the clothing will pick up infection-causing bacteria in the community and spread infection to weak, immunocompromised patients.

Wearing uniforms outside of the clinical setting has been debated on and off for years. Here’s an excerpt from an editorial comment that appeared in the March 1906 issue of AJN (you can read the full article for free as a subscriber):

AJNArchiveExcerptNursesonStreet

So […]

2016-11-21T13:05:59-05:00November 20th, 2013|nursing perspective, nursing research|6 Comments
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Are Hospitals Doing Enough to Help Newly Licensed RNs?

CalloutNewNursesVoices

Staff retention is a big issue in hospitals. There can be advantages in hiring newly licensed RNs, but some hospitals and workplaces may pay insufficient attention to helping new nurses with the challenging transition from classroom to clinical practice. In our November issue, some of these issues are brought more clearly to light by an original research article called “Hearing the Voices of Newly Licensed RNs: The Transition to Practice.”

“The first few months of employment is a crucial time in a nurse’s career,” write the authors of this small study. According to interviews with newly licensed RNs conducted by the authors, the following factors can make a big difference:

  • The quality of the preceptor—is the preceptor knowledgeable, adequately experienced, and nonjudgmental?
  • Professional growth and the development of confidence over time in terms of time-management, communication skills, and learning from experience.
  • A sense of being nurtured by the program, the preceptor, and peers.
  • The thoroughness and effectiveness of orientation.

Read the article, or listen to an author podcast on our Web site. What worked in your own transition to practice? What didn’t work? Or how do you help others with this transition? We’d love to know. —Jacob Molyneux, senior editor


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2016-11-21T13:06:00-05:00November 18th, 2013|career, nursing perspective|1 Comment
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A Focus on Meaning and Attitude: This Week’s Nursing Blog Post Suggestions

By Jacob Molyneux, AJN senior editor

'Autumn Washed Away,' Diane Hammond/ via Flickr ‘Autumn Washed Away,’ Diane Hammond/ via Flickr

Here are a few recent posts by nurses that you might find of interest. As I put this together, a theme emerged, so it seemed fair to just go with it. Maybe the approach of these bloggers has to do with the time of year, the shorter days and colder weather as we approach the winter holidays . . .

At the intriguingly titled Nursing Notes of Discord blog, there’s a short reminder post with a fairly straightforward descriptive title: “Anyone Can Make a Positive Difference.” And, the author points out, you “don’t even have to be a nurse” to do so.

At Digital Doorway, Nurse Keith has a recent post that also focuses on positivity, this time about one’s profession: “For Nurses, ‘Just’ Is a Four-Letter Word.”

At HospiceDiary.org, in the lovely post “Leaves, Geese and Other Ramblings”—as the below quote may suggest—we find another angle on this theme of being present and focusing on the good in the midst of sometimes constant, poignant awareness of change, loss, dying, and rebirth:

2016-11-21T13:06:05-05:00November 13th, 2013|career, healthcare social media, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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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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