Your Nursing Career Mitochondria

We all know that mitochondria are the energy-producing powerhouses within each cell of our bodies, synthesizing ATP (adenosine triphosphate) for us around the clock. In terms of your nursing career, what are the mitochondria that power your engine? What impetus, desires, goals, or motivations drive you forward? If you need to stoke the fire of your nursing career, the spark cannot be created in a vacuum.

Thinking Innovatively About Your Nursing Career Development

Your nursing career is yours to create, and every nurse’s path can be unique, innovative, and idiosyncratic with proper care. At the same time, your many obligations and  responsibilities can steer you away from your uniqueness and leave you in a rut of choosing the path of least resistance. There are many strategies for choosing a career journey that fits your vision of who you want to be as a healthcare professional, and it’s worth exploring those strategies for the ones that can most readily move you forward. 

Nurse, What's Your Personal or Professional "Everest"?

Speaking with a nurse colleague the other day, she was referring to something she’s attempting to do in her life outside of nursing as her “Personal Everest”. These types of endeavors can be scary, and they can cause you to question yourself along the way. Is there something you want to conquer or master, either personally or professionally? Is there something in your sights that you just can’t let go of until you do it? 

When George Mallory was asked why he was going to attempt to summit Everest, he allegedly said, “Because it’s there”. Whatever it is you want to do, I bet you have a better reason that that. Can you find it?

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5 Ways to Build Your Network of Nursing Career Allies

In the course of your nursing career, you need allies who can help you elevate and advance your journey as a professional nurse. Allies are easier to come by than you think, but so many nurses don't think strategically about this important aspect of nursing career development.

Since such a large number of nurses seem averse to consciously and purposefully building a professional network, here are five ways to build your network of nursing career allies.

Defining Nursing Career Success on Your Own Terms

Every nurse and healthcare professional has the opportunity to define success in their own way. However, how many of us allow our nursing careers to be defined by someone else. How can we seize control of our careers and define success on our own terms?

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10 Strategies for Feeding the Nurse's Inner Life

In managing their careers and busy lives, nurses can be very focused on the "outer" aspects of life and work: family, chores, shopping, resumes, job-hunting, pursuing education, social media, etc. But how do we keep the nurse's inner life fed and watered? Let's explore 10 strategies for cultivating that inner life and nurturing happiness, wellness, and personal/professional balance as 21st-century nurses with very full lives and careers to grow.

(Note: please see this blog post's companion podcast, episode 186 of The Nurse Keith Show, for further exploration of this topic.)

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The Five Rights Of A Healthy Work Environment

Several years ago, I gave a presentation at a northern California nursing conference on the subject of healthy work environments for nurses. During my preparations, I spent a great deal of time pondering aloud about the scourge of nurse bullying and lateral violence, as well as why healthcare workplaces lend themselves so readily to unhealthy work conditions.

There are many reasons that bullying and unhealthy workplaces have become so common, and I’m sure that you, dear Reader, can rattle off a few without even thinking for more than a nanosecond.

The Universal Impact of Racial Disparities and Systemic Racism: It's Everyone's Responsibility

(Author's note: this article was originally published on LinkedIn on June 30, 2020)

In these days of the globally devastating COVID-19 pandemic and the powerfully burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement, two crucial moments in human history are coalescing on the world stage in a striking overlapping pattern that seems unprecedented in scope.

Racial disparities and the pandemic are hardly mutually exclusive, and the coexisting pandemic of police brutality against communities of color is not at all separate from the socioeconomic inequalities that are, to a large extent, exacerbated and informed by the egregious systemic targeting of non-white people on multiple levels in societies around the world over the course of countless generations.

                                                                                             Photo by Alex Paganelli on Unsplash.com

Mindset is Everything in Your Nursing Career and Beyond

In my work as a holistic career coach for nurses, there's one thing I've noticed more than anything else: mindset matters to your nursing and healthcare career. From putting together a resume and writing a cover letter to sitting for an interview or reaching out to potential connections on LinkedIn, your mindset and its attendant attitude make all the difference. 

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Nurses, George Floyd, Racial Disparities, and the World We'd Like to See

At this unsettling time in the United States and around the world, racism is being confronted head-on by citizens who've simply had enough of the status quo. The knowledge of deep racial disparities in healthcare are nothing new, and the understanding that people of color are treated more poorly within the American healthcare system is also an old story that never seems to change.

But now, amidst the  COVID-19 pandemic and rampant global fear, economic insecurity, and a population tired of lip service to diversity and inclusion, millions are saying, "No more to endemic racism and police brutality against people of color!"

We nurses are part of the conversation because we're citizens, voters, and those who deliver care, conduct research, and perform myriad other tasks related to public health, acute care, hospice, home health, and beyond. Is our profession up to the task of confronting racism and other societal ills more boldly than ever before? 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

5 Actions for Overcoming Nursing Career Attention Deficit Disorder

In the midst of a fast-paced, 21st-century life, it's possible for a hard-working nurse to experience what I call Nursing Career Attention Deficit Disorder (NCADD). In this context, the nurse in question loses sight of her goals and dreams, instead becoming scattered and distracted by life's myriad responsibilities and demands; she's pulled in multiple directions and feels like she's running around like a chicken with her head cut off. Can NCADD be turned around? Can our distracted minds be tamed in the interest of developing a more satisfying nursing career?

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Your Nursing Career: Stagnation or Flow?

As nurses, our careers are fed by movement, not stagnation. Nursing can be a very dynamic career path, and how you approach the trajectory of your professional development can be greatly influenced by many aspects of your life. At this point in time, is your career stagnant or flowing?

The Profound Meaning of Nurses' Week During a Pandemic: Nurses Show Up

Nurses' Week is upon us, and May 12th, 2020 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Florence Nightingale, the veritable progenitor of the modern profession of nursing. Meanwhile, we also find ourselves in the middle of the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife as declared late in 2019 by the World Health Organization (WHO), the healthcare arm of the United Nations. Add to this the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we have a recipe for a very profound moment when it comes to nurses and the nursing profession in this global context.

Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels.com

Be Yourself, Nurses; Everyone Else is Taken

Owning and stepping into your own genius as a nurse is important; and genius is, of course, relative for all nurses. At times, we can lose heart and feel that we just can't become the person or professional we thought we could be; however, seeking our own individual path is paramount when it comes to creating a career that feels tailor-made just for us, and not just a path someone else said was the best one to follow. 

Whether you feel like an impostor or your career has grown stale, there's nothing you can be other than yourself; and if you're trying terribly hard to be just like someone else (or do what others tell you is right), you may end up missing the mark altogether.

A Message to the Nurse's Future Self

Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to keep our futures as nurses and human beings in mind, as well as our goals and aspirations. Please enjoy this re-published blog post from 2018. Stay safe and healthy!

So nurse, it's twenty years in the future, and you have two more decades of nursing under your belt. You've cared for thousands of patients, held thousands of hands, and looked into thousands of pairs of eyes. What do you remember, and what do your patients recall? What stands out for you? How does your career compare to your expectations, dreams and aspirations? How would you like that 20 years to live in your mind and heart? You can create it now.

Nurse Keith's 4-1-20 COVID-19 Roundup

In these days of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems like the world is upside down and inside out. We are all reeling from the overwhelming disruption of most every aspect of human life: economics, work, and career; education across the lifespan, from preschool to post-doctoral research; faith communities; migrant workers; the undocumented; the frail, elderly, and vulnerable; transportation; small business; and the actual details of survival, including food, clothing companionship, and shelter.

Other than those still living who experienced World War II, the Holocaust, or even the 1918 so-called "Spanish Flu", none of us have a memory of such a devastating worldwide event. The AIDS epidemic at its awful zenith in the 1980s is the closest we've come since the Second World War, and that was enough to strike fear into the hearts of many and cause massive loss throughout the 80s and 90s until we got a handle on the virus and rendered it mostly a chronic illness that can be survived for decades by most infected individuals.

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COVID-19, Nurses, and Staying Informed in Trying Times

Greetings from Nurse Keith Nation HQ here in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I'm spending the majority of my waking hours monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely in order to inform myself and my online tribe of nurses and healthcare professionals. Like many others, I'm doing my best to stay up-to-date and use my various platforms (as well as good old-fashioned emails and phone calls) to educate and inform as many people as I can about the latest developments regarding this very real pandemic sweeping the globe.

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay 

Overcoming Mission Drift in Your Nursing Career

Has your nursing career drifted off course? Do you feel that your current career path isn't aligned with your personal or professional mission? You're not alone, and there's something you can do about it.

Letting Your Nursing Career Magic Out of the Hat

Nurses, do you need some magic to get your nursing career back on track? Career development for nurses isn't rocket science, but manifesting some magic and joy for the betterment of your career is certainly possible if you want it. Is it time to let the rabbit out of the hat?

Seven Traits of Effective Nurse Leaders

Please enjoy this guest post from Samantha Boone of Aspen University:

“Rejoice in your work; never lose sight of the nursing leader you are now and the nursing leader you will become.” – Sue Fitzsimons

Leadership shapes innovation and change, and as more and more baby boomers retire, the baton is being passed down to new generations of nurse leaders. “Senior leaders look to surround themselves with creative and talented individuals to accomplish not only organizational goals but also a shared vision,” says Dr. Marcos Gayol, Assistant Dean of Nursing at Aspen University. “In doing so, they also provide these same individuals with opportunities for growth, involvement, and fellowship with career advancement goals in mind.”

Your Nursing Career Legacy

Whether you're a nursing educator, researcher, nurse entrepreneur, or nurse clinician, creating a nursing career legacy is both recommended and essential. No matter your place in the nursing ecosystem, leaving something behind that has meaning for you will suffuse your career with a sense of accomplishment.

Your Untapped Reservoirs of Brilliance

A few weeks ago, I was speaking with a nurse client who came to me for career coaching, and we were discussing a variety of issues pertaining to her nursing career. At some point in the conversation, I used the phrase, "your untapped reservoir of brilliance", and it has stuck with me since. What untapped reservoirs of brilliance are you ready to mine for your highest good?

Brilliance can mean many different things to different people; for me, it conjures a plethora of images and metaphors. Brilliance can manifest at many levels and in every aspect of life, and in terms of your nursing career, your brilliance---and the brilliance of others---can serve you in ways both imagined and unknown.

When the Career Cookies Crumble

As a seasoned career coach working with nurses and other healthcare professionals, I often hear stories from my clients that are both heartbreaking and maddening. Nurses and nursing students go through so much in their careers, and there can be plenty of pain, struggle, and blood, sweat, and tears along the way. And when things go south and a nurse's career seems endangered, it can be a frightening and worrisome time.

No matter the cause of a nurse's career cookies appearing to crumble, there's almost always a way to get things back to the way they should be. I've seen so many varied scenarios of how a nursing career can take a bad turn, and I've seen many nurses turn it around and get back on top once again.

When The Nurse Is Stretched Too Thin

In all likelihood, we can all readily agree that nursing is not for the faint of heart. Nurses in many different settings can be pushed to the breaking point, driven to the precipice of burnout, compassion fatigue, and utter defeat. But there is indeed another way.

Overcoming Objections During Job Interviews

When you land a nursing job interview, one of your main tasks is to demonstrate that you're the ideal nurse candidate for the position. In the course of the conversation, your interviewer is likely to raise objections to why you may not be the best fit or why they might be hesitant to hire you. This is where the rubber hits the road, and you must do the work of overcoming their objections and convincing them that you're the person they want.