Explaining What Nurses Do

This post about what nurses do and how nursing is perceived by the general public was originally posted in 2012. It's been updated and republished for your enjoyment and edification. 

When I tell people that I'm a nurse, they will often innocently ask, "So, how many hours do you work at the hospital?" While such questions are well-meaning, they belie the fact that so many people make wild assumptions about nurses and nursing, and most everyone has little idea what nurses actually do. I've expounded on this topic before, and will no doubt do so again.

If we're put in boxes by others, do we also unthinkingly put ourselves in boxes, as well?

Nurse Keith Is Animated On YouTube!

I'd love for the readers of Digital Doorway to be aware of my latest YouTube video, which is a fun, lighthearted animated feature explaining how Nurse Keith Coaching helps and empowers nurses to find what they need to develop their nursing careers. I'm super psyched about the video and hope you enjoy it!

Digital Doorway is Ten Today!

I almost forgot, folks! Today marks the 10th anniversary of Digital Doorway. I can't believe that this blog, which started from quite humble and ignorant beginnings, has become one of the most popular nursing blogs on the Internet! (Have we really reached "double digits"?) And it's all thanks to you (and a little help from Google)!

Nurse Keith on Local Networking

Those of you who are familiar with me know that I'm a big fan of nurses using social media, and I've published many blog posts and videos about online networking. But what about local networking? Isn't it just as important to have a robust professional network right in your home town?

Nurse Keith on Interviews, Part 2

Job interviews are an important aspect of any professional's life (unless you're a business owner, sole proprietor or entrepreneur, that is!) To view the first video in the series, click here.

Meanwhile, here's the second in a series of videos about how to be at your professional best during the interview experience.

A Nurse Keith Video on The Nurse's Future Self

Based on this week's most recent blog post, here's a new YouTube video with my ruminations on what kind of career that you, my fellow nurses, may want to look back on. I'd love your comments and thoughts!

Creating Authentic Linked In Connections

I love Linked In, and I also believe that building an authentic professional network is paramount. So, when you want to connect with someone on Linked In, why send them a generic invitation instead of a personalized one? This video is about my strong feelings regarding how to reach out authentically to the professionals you want to connect with. It's a word to the wise.

Nurse Keith on YouTube!

Well folks, I've finally joined the 21st century and hopped on board the video revolution! While I'll still be writing here on Digital Doorway as regularly as always, I'm adding a new dimension to my online presence with video!

Santa Fe Coaching Retreats With Nurse Keith!

I don't often write explicitly about my coaching practice for nurses, health professionals and nurse entrepreneurs here on this blog, but my latest launch is so exciting, I couldn't contain myself and had to tell my Digital Doorway community all about it!

Group Coaching For Nurses is Here!

Under the auspices of Nurse Keith Coaching, I love to offer individualized coaching to nurses who want to improve their self-care, prevent burnout, or otherwise manage their career and create more satisfying personal and professional lives. Now, group coaching is the newest vehicle available for nurses who would like to work and play with me in the context of coaching!

Happy Holidays To All!

To my beloved readers,

I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your encouragement, readership, comments and obvious passion for the best in nursing and healthcare. It's my joy to continue to bring Digital Doorway to you as its eighth anniversary approaches in January of 2013!

Meanwhile, my coaching practice at Nurse Keith Coaching will be marching into its second exciting year, and I'm thrilled to be developing new programs and initiatives that will deliver even more benefits to nurses seeking self-renewal and enhanced wellness.

As I take a blogging break until the New Year dawns, please feel free to read my most recent newsletter for my year-end wrap-up.

Thank you for being here, thanks for returning time and again, and please come back and visit me in 2013!

With gratitude,

Nurse Keith

Coaching For the Future of Nursing

Sometimes, when I tell people that I'm a coach who coaches nurses, they ask me why nurses need coaching in the first place. I tell them that nurses are the backbone of the healthcare industry, and that healthy, happy nurses are the key to successful outcomes and happy patients! Nurses are key to the delivery of care, so it serves to maintain a healthy nursing workforce that can withstand the stress of nursing and the demands of the profession.

August Greetings From Nurse Keith

The August newsletter from Nurse Keith Coaching is now available online for those who would like the latest Nurse Keith news. Please click here to read the online version, and feel free to sign up for my mailing list at NurseKeith.com. Thank you!

What Do Nurses Glean From Coaching?

When I work with nurses via my coaching practice at NurseKeith.com, there are a variety of life aspects upon which we can focus. Whether it's addressing work-life balance or managing a change in the trajectory of their careers, nurses come to coaching for many reasons, but the goal is always centered on what the client truly wants.

What Will You Do....For National Nurses Week?

Well, it's that time of year again, and National Nurses Week is just around the corner. Now, before you get too excited about the hearts, flowers and monogrammed mugs that your supervisors will leave in the nurses station (I just received a terribly ugly pin in the mail from one of my employers), the question of the day is: What will you do---for yourself---for National Nurses Week?

Nurse Keith Coaching is Born!

In the last few days, my new website and coaching venture was officially birthed! Nurse Keith Coaching is now live, and the process of making it a reality has paid off! There has been a great deal of support from my community of friends, family and colleagues. Now the task is spreading the word that I am now available to provide professional coaching for nurses and nursing students who want more out of their lives and their careers.

As I say on my website:

As nurses, we spend a great deal of time caring for others and precious little time caring for ourselves. Our work can be all consuming, and in that process we can easily lose touch with our own health, happiness, and sense of balance. Toxic workplaces, heavy workloads, stressful work conditions, mandatory overtime and unhappy, cynical colleagues can all leave us feeling undermined in our attempts to be healthy and happy in our work and at home. 

Nurses are caregivers, but we can only provide the best care when we are also taking care of ourselves properly. Exercise, nutrition, weight loss, stress management, leisure and fun, work-life balance, spirituality, financial prudence, relationships—all of these aspects of our lives impact our ability to be at our best when we engage in our work. 


My skills allow me to hold space for where you currently are in your life, but also to challenge you to dig deeper and find the places where you still want to grow. 

So, please stop by NurseKeith.com, visit and "Like" my Facebook page, and let me know how I might be of service to you. 

Why Coaching For Nurses?

When I speak with people about my newly launching coaching practice for nurses (which will shortly be live at NurseKeithCoaching.com and NurseKeith.com), they often ask why nurses might need coaching. There are many reasons that nurses can benefit from coaching, and when you take into consideration the fact that nurses are responsible for the care of millions of people worldwide, it makes sense that nurses should be healthy, balanced and happy at home and at work so that they can perform at their best.

As nurses, we spend a great deal of time caring for others and precious little time caring for ourselves. Our work can be all consuming, and in that process we can easily lose touch with our own health, happiness, and sense of balance.

Coaching with me is meant to be all about you. It’s about rediscovering the things that you love about your work. It’s about reconnecting with what’s underneath your desire to be a nurse. It’s also about finding balance in your life, and making your own health, happiness, relationships and life satisfaction the focus.

Nurses are caregivers, but we can only provide the best care when we're also taking care of ourselves properly. Exercise, nutrition, weight loss, stress management, leisure and fun, work-life balance, spirituality, relationships---all of these aspects of our lives impact our ability to be at our best when we engage in our work. And when our lives are out of balance, we suffer on multiple levels. 

My intention is to provide coaching that lifts nurses' spirits, assists them in identifying their goals, their strengths and their areas of challenge, and creating a life that more clearly resonates with their spirit and their vision of the best possible life. 

If nurses are the backbone of the health care industry, then that backbone needs the support to be the strongest and healthiest it can be. Nursing should be something you do, not just something that does you in!

Nurse Keith Coaching Is On The Way!

Happy holidays, readers of Digital Doorway! I hope this finds you well and happy!

The purpose of this post is to inform you that the nature of my private coaching practice is changing, and I have decided to focus completely on the coaching of nurses. As an experienced nurse and coach, I feel that my coaching skills can serve in their greatest capacity by helping nurses to live the most satisfying and healthy lives possible. I plan to offer services ranging from health and wellness, weight loss and stress management to burnout prevention, burnout recovery and work-life balance, and I am already in discussion with others in the industry to create exciting partnerships and joint ventures to add even more value and power to my offerings.

As nurses, we spend a great deal of time caring for others and precious little time caring for ourselves. Our work can be all consuming, and in that process we can easily lose touch with our own health, happiness, and sense of balance.

Coaching with me is all about you. It’s about rediscovering the things that you love about your work. It’s about reconnecting with what’s underneath your desire to be a nurse. It’s also about finding balance in your life, and making your own health, happiness, relationships and life satisfaction the focus.

Nurses are caregivers, but we can only provide the best care when we are also taking care of ourselves properly. Exercise, nutrition, weight loss, stress management, leisure and fun, spirituality, relationships---all of these aspects of our health impact our ability to be at our best when we engage in our work. And when our lives are out of balance, we suffer on multiple levels.

You can work with me to improve your work-life balance, get your health on track, set personal and professional goals, and make nursing something that you do and love, not something that does you in!

My new website---currently under construction---will be located at NurseKeithCoaching.com and also linked at NurseKeith.com. There will be a frequently updated Facebook page, as well as my continued presence on Twitter (as NurseKeith). My plan is also to eventually offer free downloads, audio podcasts, and perhaps branch into webinars, internet radio and live workshops here in Santa Fe. 

At this point, I am requesting that you hold this endeavor in your heart, knowing that I am creating this coaching practice so that more nurses can be healthier, happier, and more successful and satisfied clinicians. I am so excited about the coming birth of Nurse Keith Coaching, and I will post a formal announcement as soon as the website is live! 

Gratefully, 

NurseKeith