The Nurses’ Corner
Let’s face it; being a care taker is hard. For most, nursing isn’t just a job, it’s a description of who you are. You care in a way that doesn’t shut off just because you leave the doctor’s office, or the hospital.
While caring and compassion are qualities that make you good at your job, it has its drawbacks. ICU burnout, compassion fatigue and other symptoms of job-related stress are real issues – especially when the medical professional spends all their time caring for patients and not enough time caring for self.
-But taking the time to take care of yourself means being a better caregiver in return. Talk about the things that bother you: to your peers, your friends, family – even a stranger off the street.
The Nurses’ Corner is a step in that direction, to give nurses, EMTs and medical professionals a place to share the moments that lift them up, and to be lifted up when caretaking is hard.
Contributing to the Community
Help build the Nurses' Corner into a thriving community. Ask questions, provide comments and feedback, or even offer helpful guest blogs. We'd love to hear from you!
What Is Compassion Fatigue and What Can You Do to Prevent It?
Compassion fatigue is an emotional and a physical state experienced by those who have been caring for one or more individuals for a lengthy time. It certainly refers to a state of tiredness and exhaustion while also pointing to tense feelings and overall distress. Some may refer to it as [...]
Focus on the Whys of Your Job During Your Next Rough Day
A rough day on the job may lead you to pull a pint of ice cream from the freezer in the evening. However, a string of rough weeks and months may be causing you to rethink why you even chose your health care career in the first place. After all, [...]
Grieving and Coping After a Patient Death
Coping with the death of a patient is a topic that is very rarely discussed among health care professionals, yet it is an important one that affects your day-to-day stress levels and perception of success. Dealing poorly with death can lead to more perceived stress in your work and may [...]
Smoothing Your Path When Dealing with Angry, Hostile and Confused Patients
Patients who are going through health crises are often filled with fear, which can leach out of them as anger. People who are usually calm and collected may suddenly be blowing up at the least provocation. As a nurse, you may be the person directly in an angry patient’s path. [...]
What Is Mindful Nursing and How Can It Help You Thrive in Your Career?
The term mindfulness has become a hot topic these days with many wanting to know how they can improve their daily lives as they pay more attention to themselves. It has been said that you cannot take care of others until you take care of yourself. Mindfulness allows you to [...]
Fall in Love with Your First Nursing Job by Choosing the Right One
While choosing nursing as your career may have been a simple decision, your choice of nursing specialization may not be so easy. After all, there are dozens of areas where you can work in any health care organization as well as numerous specialty organizations that offer home health and [...]
Pros and Cons of Working “Only” Three Days Each Week
Today, the majority of nurses, particularly newly licensed nurses, end up working 12-hour shifts rather than the traditional 8-hour shift. This often makes staffing easier in hospitals, and hospital managers argue in favor of the great continuity of care for patients. However, even though some love the flexibility of the [...]
Building an Incident Response Team in Your Emergency Room
Today, many of the largest organizations and businesses have incident response teams that are designed to respond to unusual and dangerous situations quickly. Some businesses may have incident response teams to deal with unexpected computer system failures or major electrical outages. Large hospitals should also have carefully planned teams [...]
Stress Management
Do you feel stressed at your job? Well, you aren’t alone in feeling this way. According to the American Attitudes in the Workplace survey, 80% of Americans feel stress in their job and more than half feel that they need help in learning to manage their stress. What is stress? [...]
Helping Patients with Urinary Tract Infections
In this week’s edition of the Heartbeat Blog, we will begin a discussion on urinary tract infections as a precursor to our upcoming lecture series on “The CNA role in identifying patients at risk for a UTI.” […]
