‘Batman Has No Superpowers’: Inspiring Nurses as Leaders and Healers

“Leadership is about inviting people on a mission to do something extraordinary together.”

by Augustin Ruiz, via Flickr

This year’s Quality and Innovations Conference, presented by the American Nurses Association in April, included an offbeat presentation on ‘Superhero Leadership: How Everyday People Can Have an Extraordinary Impact.’ At this opening session, filmmaker Brett Culp shared a short film, stories, and advice, offering a perspective on leadership that managed to be both inspiring and poignant.

Using everyday skills as forces for good.

Culp may be best known for his 2013 documentary, Legends of the Knight (www.WeAreBatman.com), in which he relates the true stories of children and adults “who were inspired to become real-life heroes because of their love of Batman.” Batman has no superpowers, and therefore he can inspire others to use their own everyday skills and strengths as forces for good. The filmmaker suggests that nurses, too, should “embrace [our] inner superhero” when needed.

Culp emphasized that in his many travels he has seen that “the world is filled with good people,” and that most people want to make a difference at work and for their communities.

Leaders ‘hold space’ for what could be.

Culp believes that a pivotal role in the process of change is the person who steps up first, “creating space” for others to join them in their efforts.

This is a central job of leaders, he […]

2019-08-01T09:56:36-04:00July 5th, 2019|career, Nursing|0 Comments
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Mild Cognitive Decline or Physical Limitations: What’s a Nurse to Do?

Noticing small changes in what’s possible.

I worked for many years in infection prevention and control, and loved it. Still do. But I loved bedside work too, and it was always in the back of my mind that I might one day return to staff work. That is, until I took care of a family member during the last year of his life.

While I think I provided him with reasonably good care—let’s not get into the emotional connection that made me a less objective caregiver than were his fantastic CNAs—there was no fooling myself any longer. After years away from the bedside, my assessment skills have slipped. I’m not used to working while wearing glasses (without which I can’t read labels or check for reddened skin or cloudy urine). And arthritis in my wrists meant that those bed-to-walker transfers were not optimally safe.

What about multitasking, 12-hour shifts?

My difficulty in providing physical care made me wonder whether my cognitive skills, too, might not be up to managing the pace and pressure of floor work today. I may still be good at supporting and teaching, but can I multitask through 12 hours of nonstop problem-solving and decision-making?

In “When Is It Time to Leave Nursing?” in this month’s AJN, nurse Janet Blake […]

2019-05-21T12:18:44-04:00May 21st, 2019|career, Nursing|0 Comments
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One in 4 Million: The Nurse Who Mentored Me

Hostility among nurses is a well-documented topic of discussion, a phenomenon studied by both academics and hospital administrators wanting to create functional teams. Perhaps the remedy for healthy nurse–coworker relationships isn’t found by studying dysfunctional relationships but by observing the successful ones.

I was lucky to have one.

I excelled as a student, even with balancing the role of nursing student with the role of mother to a preschool-aged daughter.

However, academic success and my talent for multitasking did not prepare me for the reality shock of a new-grad nurse.

Thrown into the deep end.

There was a nursing shortage. I was hired to a pediatric unit before graduation, skipping the two years of adult medical-surgical nursing before entering a specialty that was customary for new grads at the time. I began my first job, pending successfully passing state boards, with an interim permit.

It was an era before nurse residencies or comprehensive orientations. My orientation consisted of accompanying a day shift nurse while she managed her patients.

After two weeks, I began night shift on a 30-bed pediatric unit during the height of the respiratory infection season.

Night shifts were staffed with up to three RNs, overseeing certified nursing assistants. Often the CNAs came from agencies, possessing varying amounts of skill. As a new grad overseeing […]

2019-05-08T08:44:03-04:00May 8th, 2019|career, Nursing, nursing career|1 Comment
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In Nursing, ‘Joy’ and ‘Work’ Are Not Mutually Exclusive

No shortage of workplace pressures.

Photo by Mark Thomas/Science Photo Library.

In virtually any health care setting today, nurses are under pressure to increase efficiencies, improve quality, and cut costs. The nonstop pressure to always do better comes in the midst of staff shortages, repeated changes in clinical protocols, struggles with EHRs that are incompatible with our workflow, and even concerns for our own physical safety. It’s no surprise that nursing turnover rates are increasing.

With all of this raining down on our heads, is it really possible to experience joy at work?

In “Finding Joy in the Workplace” in this month’s issue (free until May 7), Rose Sherman and Cynthia Blum tell us that it is. And, they argue, the work experience of nurses influences the quality of their interactions with patients:

If clinicians don’t feel hope, confidence, and psychological safety in their work, they can’t in turn offer these to their patients.

An evidence-based framework for improving joy.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is known to most of us as an organization that focuses on patient safety issues like CLABSIs, surgical site infections, falls, and medication errors. But increasingly concerned about clinician burnout (which is, after all, a patient safety issue), […]

2019-04-24T09:26:18-04:00April 24th, 2019|career, Nursing, wellness|0 Comments
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Critical Mass at the Critical Care Nursing Conference

Boston + 9,000 nurses = NTI2018

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) is well-known for its annual National Teaching Institute (NTI), but this year, in terms of sheer scope, it surpassed all other meetings I know of. With over 9,000 attendees, registration had to be closed for the first time ever. Imagine—there were almost too many people at the Boston Convention Center, one of the largest venues in the country.

The exhibits, as always, were never-ending, with sections for industry, education, organizations, recruiters, and publishers. And as always, the “newbies” could be identified by the bags of giveaways they carted off . . . as opposed to the NTI veterans, who merely scan badges and have info sent to them.

Obstacles as opportunities for change.

Monday’s opening address by AACN president Christine Schulman was heartfelt. Reflecting on her soon-to-end year as the president and its chosen theme, “Guided by Why,” she encouraged us to explore the possibilities of making real changes when we face obstacles. And she announced that AACN was planning to take on the fundamental issue of nurse staffing:

“Inappropriate staffing has gone on for far too long. It involves many factors . . . and needs a major shift in how we think about delivering patient care.”

Body language creates and projects confidence.

The next day’s keynote address by social psychologist Amy Cuddy (see her popular TED Talk, “Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are“) gave attendees some insight […]

2018-06-06T12:38:27-04:00June 6th, 2018|career, Conference reports, Nursing|0 Comments
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