Catching up with Karyn

When I’m speaking to nursing and healthcare professionals, certain issues are always top of mind for my audience. At a macro level, their major concerns revolve around the state of flux in healthcare today.

On a day-to-day level, their concerns turn toward stress related to

• High workloads (too much to do, not enough time to do it)
• Poor communication (I know you think you understand what you thought I said…)
• The competitiveness of the job market (recruitment/retention)

But I can help!

I come in and talk to leaders in organizations or staff about how to take better care of themselves, so that they, in turn, can take better care of others.

The two main ideas of this talk are

1. Stress management/self-care

2. Wellness

You don’t want someone taking care of you or a loved one who’s stressed out, sick or tired.

Why?

If the answer isn’t obvious enough, studies (NCBI.gov) have shown that people who are stressed tend to:

• make more mistakes
• give the wrong...

Dr. Bob Dent is the Dean of Health Services for Midland College, as well as the VP of Patient Care and Chief Nursing Officer for Midland Memorial Hospital, which is located in Midland, Texas. He’s one of those impressive individuals who has more characters in the abbreviations of his professional accomplishments than most of us have in our actual name!

But his accomplishments aren’t just a result of his education, or his certifications. Dr. Dent’s caring, compassion, and charisma exude through his easy-going style and sense of humor. I’ve had the privilege of watching Dr. Dent during a visit to Midland Memorial and seen first-hand his mastery of leading with levity: setting the tone for fun while at the same time setting high expectations of his staff.

The result? They’ve achieved ANCC's Pathway to Excellence—twice! They are enthusiastic about their path on the ANCC Magnet Journey. Patient satisfaction scores are high and continue to climb, and...

Happy Nurses Week!

This week of celebration and recognition is for everyone who's ever been puked on, cursed out, and proposed to - all by the same patient!

This week of celebration and recognition is for everyone who's ever had to reassure a heavily tattooed, multiply-pierced individual that they really wouldn't die from the pain of getting a tetanus shot!

This week of celebration and recognition is for everyone who knows that the proper answer to 'When will the doctor be here?' is not "Your guess is as good as mine!"

This week of celebration and recognition is for everyone who responds to the next shift being 20 minutes late by giving report in Pig Latin!

This week of celebration and recognition is for everyone who has physically restrained a colleague from saying the Q word!

What we do as nurses is amazing and amusing. This week, make a point of laughing - with your colleagues or by yourself - as often as you can. You'll be happier, you'll be healthier, and you'll be a better...

MIZ...

I know I sound like Sally Field when I say, "You like me! You really like me!" but I've got to tell you, that's absolutely how I felt when I got the news that my alma mater - the Sinclair School of Nursing, my beloved Mizzou - has decided to honor me with a Certificate of Merit. Thrilled doesn't even begin to express my emotional state - it's awesome, inspiring, and humbling all at once.

Nursing school changed my life. You walk into those classes thinking you know a little something about health care - and then your eyes are opened to all the amazing, amusing, and yes, awe-inspiring things that nurses do every single day.  The lessons I learned while working on my Master's at Mizzou have served me well, through every day of my nursing career and beyond.

The research I was able to do in those early days, my first tentative explorations into the connection between health and humor, was successful and bore fruit due to the encouragement and support I received at that time....

Looking for a fun way to boost morale in your health care facility? Caption contests are a great idea. Simply print out one (or more!) of the cartoons below and have your team members come up with their own funny captions. You'll be astonished what the talented (or twisted!) minds of your nursing staff can come up with.

As an incentive, you can offer Prizes of Incredible Value: I've found baked goods and Starbucks work very well indeed. Don't forget to share the best ones on social media: you can tweet them to me @funnynurse!

Nurses are known for their compassion, clinical expertise, and ability to work a 12-hour shift without ever once needing to eat or use the bathroom. Okay, that last bit was a joke, but now I'm being deadly serious. Leadership is one of the most essential nursing skills you can develop. That's why I'm grateful to Ellice Cooper for creating and sharing this super informative infographic, The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Nurse Leader.

The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Nurse Leader features 10 chapters, jam-packed with useful, insightful information and valuable resources you can use to assist you on your journey toward a leadership role. It's free, so I encourage you to check it out and share it with your friends and colleagues who may also be interested in nurse leadership.

Thanks to Molly Miller for this terrific contribution. Please share!

"The minute this LOL walked into our ER, I knew she was going to be trouble. She arrived with 6 relatives, each of whom was being continually, loudly reminded of their responsibilities. One had to hold the purse, another was to call everyone - she listed them by name - and let them know the LOL was in the ICU and about to die any moment, another one had to run out to the car to make sure the lights were out, the fourth was supposed to make the doctor see her at the triage desk because she didn't have the strength to go any further, the fifth had to take the purse because the first one wasn't holding it right, and the sixth was responsible for everything else."

"I don't think Queen Elizabeth has this many attendants. I knew right then we had a candidate for our Hall of Fame."

Reframing: Seeing the World Through the Lens of Humor

Some patients are more difficult than others. That's no secret - just ask any nurse! Humor provides a way to keep calm, cool, and collected while managing...

We spend a lot of time in healthcare focused on patient outcomes, and that's how it should be. After all, we all got into this gig to help people cope with illness, injury, or incredibly bad luck. If we're not helping our patients out, we're doing it wrong.

But sometimes the focus on patient outcomes overshadows other important stories. If you're a physician, a nurse, a therapist, an aide, or otherwise involved in the front-line delivery of healthcare, your chances of being injured or becoming ill on the job are more than 4 times higher than if you worked in manufacturing.

Isn't that an incredible statistic? I couldn't believe it when I first heard it. Then I remembered all of the slips, trips, falls, scrapes, and yes, assaults from patients and disgruntled visitors, that I experienced or witnessed during my nursing career, and I thought that number suddenly seemed a little low.

There are twice as many healthcare workers as there are construction workers in this country, but...

From my point of view, Nurses Week and Hospital Week absolutely rocked! I had the good fortune to speak to the nursing staff at dozens of healthcare systems – always a thrill for me, because it’s a privilege to recognize, entertain, and inspire the awesome nurses from coast to coast.

But how did Nurses Week look to other nurses around the country?

When I ask nurse managers and healthcare systems administrators what their biggest challenge is, the word ‘engagement’ comes up a lot: “We need nurses who are engaged, actively focused on the best in patient care – especially now that reimbursement rates are directly tied to patient satisfaction.” Nurses Week and Hospital Week celebrations are the time to recognize and celebrate the vital role nurses play (and hopefully inspire them to want to keep up their incredible performance!).

Are we doing a good job of letting nurses know how important they are?

Yes and no. When asked, many nurses are quick...