Professional Communication—Email
Email communication can be tricky. I worked with a wonderful nurse who started an email to her professor: “Well, dang….” Don’t do this. It didn’t go well. Think of an email as a formal letter that you might have sent in...
Clinical Sharps and the Lizard Brain
While wandering the wilds of the internet a day ago, I ran into a question about injections that tickled my fancy. Simply restated, it asked if nurses would be able to give themselves a ‘shot’. Fun question! I remember, long...
GIFs That Nursing Students Understand Too Well
There are a few things all nursing students and nurses have in common. Giving up our social life for a new normal, learning hardiness in the face of poor grades and much worse, living on noodles while taking out a...
Thinking of Taking the NP Leap?
Are you thinking about going back to NP school but the entire application process seems overly complicated, and you’re just not sure where to start or what you will need? You are not alone! I almost didn’t apply to NP...
Bad mistakes, I’ve made a few
A few times a week, I spend about an hour happy stamping. I use that term because “stair stepper” sounds boring. Target heart rate gets established and the glistening starts. My earbuds were in, and dialed to the fitness center...
How hard is nursing school?
Nursing school is hard. When I started my nursing classes (the formal part of classes after pre-requirements were filled) about 120 of us were all gathered into one large lecture room for the welcome/orientation to the Nursing school. After some remarks,...
Eliminating Tuberculosis One PPD at a Time
Public health is a major focus of nursing practice–and for good reason. The overall strategy is simple: improve the health of an at-risk population by targeting factors that improve outcomes. Tuberculosis is a disease that all nurses learn a lot...
Concept Mastery: CBC and Anemia
Aside from knowing essential lab value ranges, a nurse has to have a solid idea how to interpret those values, even though nurses don’t diagnose or prescribe. In this article, we will discuss the complete blood count (CBC) and interpretation...
Off to Repair a Broken Heart
On the morning of September 13th, I handed my 3.5 month old daughter over to a nurse. The nurse held her in his arms and promised to take care of her. He walked out of the room with her on...
Professional Communication
Effective, professional communication is the cornerstone to efficient, quality health care. Truly, good communication is essential in any arena, whether personal, educational, or professional! Communicating can also make a nursing student or a new nurse VERY nervous, whether receiving or...