A Nurse Reminder – The Importance of Humanity

We are back in the Holiday Season again friends, and the flavor of the month is kindness and giving.

You see it on commercials, billboards, and soda cans. The hospital is full of potlucks and gift exchanges. You may be getting ready for your holiday party and trying to find the right outfit that is not scrubs or yoga pants. It can be a cheery time when looking from the outside of the unit.

But in your department, it is probably a different story.

The census is high. Patients are sick. Staffing is short. There is no time to sit, pee or hardly stuff any of that potluck food in your mouth between call lights and IV pumps sounding off.

We are all busy in the winter. It’s a fact. Nurses wear their fun scrubs and Christmas light necklaces that shine so brightly, but their mood is dark and cold like the weather outside. Your department has run out of everything – no more sandwiches, personal belonging bags or the good, fitted sheets for the beds. Administration is sending out emails thanking you for all your hard work, but also asking you to pick up some extra hours to fill in the staffing holes. It is easy to get resentful and cranky.

These are the days that we see holiday silliness in the emergency department that seems only to arrive in winter – 19 dialysis patients with clotted vascular access in 4 hours, patients with sore throats on a Buy 1 Get 30 Special, and so much epigastric pain (mine included) that it can only be the weeks after Thanksgiving.

And you will get those patients that no one wants to deal with but who take an extraordinary amount of time - the homeless men and women who come for what seems like complete BS. Maybe the EMS call will be for a 67 year-old homeless woman who fell and can’t (did not want to) get up or possibly a 46 year-old transient man who is having a flair up of their chronic thumb pain. I agree, this is not an emergency. This is a waste of an EMS rig. We are receiving a person who does not need emergency medical care services.

However, I want to take a moment to remind us all that while these people do not need emergency medical care, or possibly no medical care at all, they are people who still need care. These are often the forgotten, the hungry, the cold, the mentally ill, and the individuals that our society is failing. They are not getting the medical or mental health care that they need. They are most likely lacking the absolute basics – clean clothes, a place to shower, decent food, and a safe place to sleep.  

**And I hear all of you who are saying that there are lots of people who choose this kind of life and just use and abuse the healthcare system. I agree. There are those people, lots of those people. But let’s just remember that they are still people.**

I had a patient like this yesterday. They needed nothing medically and were definitely taking up a bed that we needed for a sick patient. But as I tried to get them out of the ED, they told me about how much they just wanted a shower and some sleep. They told me how they had been eating out of the trash and scared to sleep because they never know who is around and what they might do.

This is not a person who needed any medical care, but they did need someone to care. We tried to help. We gave them clothes and food. We let them wash up. I led them to the waiting room to eat and rest while the ED continued to provide medical care to those who needed it.

I finished my shift and went home. And I was frustrated and sad. The emergency department should not have to be caring for the basic welfare of our patients. I truly feel that humans all have the right to clean food and safe housing.

And I can’t always make that happen. Shelters are often full. The department doesn’t have enough food to feed everyone a meal. Hospitals can’t be the fixer for all of these problems.

But for what it is worth, I know that I can always try to remember to care – to care enough to give each person the most dignified and respectful interaction that I can and to care enough to keep their humanity in mind even during the busiest time of year.

- Sarah @ New Thing Nurse


About the Author - Sarah K. Wells, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL is an educator, speaker, blogger and owner of New Thing Nurse, a professional and academic coaching company for the nursing world. New Thing Nurse is organized to provide support and guidance to aspiring nurses, newly graduated nurses, and veteran RNs looking to make a change in their life.

Whether it’s a new school, new job or new idea,

New Thing Nurse wants to help with your new thing!




An Interview with Anna Rodriguez from The Burnout Book

Confession - I really like social media.

I have been overly involved with social media for years, but got REALLY into my accounts when I started discovering the nursing social media community. From your phone, you can interact with nurses from literally all over the world. It is so wild how much you can have in common with people that you have never met and who are located in geographic areas that are literally thousands of miles away.

It was on Instagram that I first “met” Anna Rodriguez, the curator of the incredible IG account - @the.burnoutbook. I was immediately drawn into her posts about self-care, strategies to fight compassion fatigue and manage stress, her videos of her doing yoga with her Corgi, Walter, and her personal experiences that she would share about working through nurse burnout herself. I completely identified with her narrative and felt like I had found a kindred spirit who also wanted to help support the nursing community!

As luck would have it, Anna happens to also be very active on IG! We now have become regular commenters on each other’s accounts and decided to combine our passions for sharing nurse stories by featuring each other on our own blogs! Isn’t life neat sometimes?

It is now with much pleasure that I introduce you to Anna Rodriguez of The Burnout Book… or better yet, I'll let her introduce herself!


Sarah @ New Thing Nurse (NTN):  ANNA! I am so excited! Can you introduce yourself to our New Thing Nurse readers?

Anna Rodriguez (AR): Hello! I'm Anna Rodriguez, I'm a critical care float pool nurse in Washington state! I've been a nurse for 10 years now (which seems crazy), and I've had a variety of roles in that time: bedside nurse in med/surg, telemetry, CVICU and then as a nurse manager in CVICU, then I transitioned back to bedside care as a travel nurse and then to my current job. In the future, my plan is to pursue a masters in nurse education. Through all the different jobs I've had, I discovered I find a lot of job satisfaction when I'm in a supportive role, helping others learn new things or helping make their jobs or lives a little easier. So, at the moment, I'm still working as a full-time nurse and started a blog on the side focused on nurse burnout reduction and prevention.

NTN: The New Thing Nurse Blog is all about learning from each other by sharing our professional journeys. How did you fall into nursing? And what area of nursing did you start in?

AR: I’m sort of an anomaly. I figured out what I wanted to do pretty early on and stuck with it, no changes in my major during college! I was in 6th grade and my best friend's mom worked as a CNA and her sister was a nurse, and so she introduced the idea to me. At the time, we envisioned ourselves in a pediatric clinic, playing with babies and kids all day and maybe having to clean up some vomit now and then. All these years later, we both became nurses but both ended up preferring to work with adults! But during high school, I made sure to do some volunteer work at the local hospital so I could be exposed to the environment and make sure I enjoyed it. I would help transport patients around to procedures or to their vehicles when they were discharging, and I found that I really like interacting with patients and being helpful. Nursing is a really good fit for me. I'm so glad I ended up choosing this path.

NTN: The focus of New Thing Nurse is supporting nurses as they find their "new thing." What made you explore nursing away from the bedside? And what was your first "new thing"?

AR: I believe bedside nursing has a bit of a shelf life, at least for me. I admire the nurses who are able to make a career out of bedside nursing, but I'm at the point now where I'm ready to branch past that that and into a non-traditional nursing area, like nurse blogging and education. That's probably what I'd classify as my first "new thing." Although, I'm always looking for opportunities to grow as a nurse, whether it's by attending a conference or volunteering on a committee!

NTN: What helped you make that transition into your "new thing"?

AR: First and foremost, I have an amazing husband who always encourages me to do new things and is incredibly supportive. I've also found an amazing nurse community on social media, and we're always encouraging and learning from each other. So definitely find your people who cheer you on. Second, I'm always staying curious and trying to learn new things and stay challenged. From a practical perspective, if you're a nurse who wants to start a blog, I highly recommend the book "The Nurse's Guide to Blogging: Building a Brand and a Profitable Business as a Nurse Influencer" by Kati Kleber (Fresh RN) and Brittney Wilson (The Nerdy Nurse). It's so, so good.
 
NTN: Do you have any tips for anyone out there who might be considering jumping into a "new thing" of their own?

AR: Don't wait until it's a "good time," there's always something going on that will make it inconvenient. You will find time for the things that matter to you. With that being said, it really helps if your new thing is something you're passionate about! Something that you think about non-stop, dream about at night, and talk to all your friends about. Pick THAT new thing, and you'll find time for it.

NTN: Your slogan says you're passionate about "helping nurses keep their spark!" What drives your work to help the nursing community fight nurse burnout? Did you have a personal experience with nurse burnout?

AR: My drive and passion for fighting nurse burnout definitely comes from a personal experience. I was working as a nurse manager for two years and during that time, I witnessed burnout in my staff and went through my own experience simultaneously. I was the manager when we implemented our new Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) program with nurses running the machine at the bedside. It tested us in a lot of ways, physically and emotionally. These are really sick patients who require a 1:1 nurse to patient ratio (sometimes 2 nurses for 1 patient!) and we were working extra shifts to account for this staffing matrix that we weren't anticipating. And because we were seeing sicker patients, there was a lot of moral distress and compassion fatigue occurring. I was considered a "working manager" and would frequently work full or partial shifts at the bedside to supplement the staffing needs while still doing my manger role. I worked some nights when we didn't have a charge nurse, I came in on a weekend for a family conference and missed a funeral for a very special long term patient of ours. We started experiencing nurse turnover (mostly on night shift) for a variety of reasons: interpersonal relationships with physicians, scheduling issues, the acuity of the patients, etc. I realized pretty quickly that I was putting in way too many hours and that my personality made it difficult to let go of a lot of the issues when I walked out the door. I would stress about conversations I needed to have the next day with staff or patient's families. It wore on me physically, mentally, emotionally and I was burned out within two years. I knew transitioning back to bedside nursing would help (at least from a time management perspective) so I helped train my replacement and moved on to travel nursing. It's been almost two years since I quit managing, and I'm still recovering from that experience. I share all my burnout tips on my instagram page (@the.burnoutbook) and on my website and blog, www.theburnoutbook.com.

NTN: If you could give our readers your top tip or tips towards avoiding burnout, what would they be?

AR: I’m going to link to one of my first blog posts, "What to Do When You're Starting to Feel Burnout." It covers the first steps you should take if you suspect you're in that chronic state of physical/mental/emotional exhaustion that we call burnout.

First, talk to someone who you trust. Not only can it help you feel a little less alone when someone else knows your struggles, but it can help provide perspective. Second, write your experience down. Reflective journaling can help you process emotions and deal with negative things. But most importantly, I love writing down the positive experiences: the patient thank you, the compliments from peers, the positive and humorous interactions that you have as a nurse. The Burnout Book started as a little notebook where I documented those positive things so that when I had rough days and felt burned out, I could go back and read through the book and remember why I do what I do.

The last tip is all about self care, which can take many forms. It can simply be saying "no" when the staffing office calls to try and get you to work an extra shift. It can be doing things on your days off that are relaxing or energizing. It can simply be spending time with loved ones. I highly recommend setting healthy work boundaries and know what your limits are. That can go a long way.

NTN: I love nursing professional organizations. You seem very involved with the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). What can you tell our readers about the AACN, and how it has enhanced your nursing career?

AR: One of my favorite “new things” I've done recently has come about because I'm a member of a nursing organization, AACN (American Association of Critical Care Nurses).

The AACN is a national organization that creates a community of acute care and critical care nurses. There are a bunch of perks to being a member! You get access to a ton of continuing education, they have several journal publications that come in the mail, they provide discounts for certification tests and study material, they hold an annual nursing conference where you can meet nurses from across the nation (and around the world!), and a whole bunch of other online resources. There are other nursing organizations you can become a member of with access to similar things. This is the organization I chose 8 years ago because I was in a Telemetry unit with plans to go into critical care and it made sense at the time.

More recently, I've had the opportunity to be a volunteer on a committee to help create questions for a nursing certification exam, and I've been a social media influencer for their national nursing conference! I'm amazed at all the opportunities that have come because I'm apart of this organization!

NTN: Your IG account is full of videos of you doing yoga, often with your adorable dog Walter.  How does yoga help you? Do you incorporate yoga into your nursing practice?

AR: I’ve always enjoyed yoga from an activity standpoint. I love testing my flexibility and stretching, it's very relaxing. After going through my burnout experience, I've found a huge benefit from yoga because you are practicing breathing techniques and meditation to quiet the mind while being active. My mind used to be so distracted with what I had to face at work that I was constantly in a state of anxiety and even experienced what I'd call a panic attack. Yoga helps refocus my thoughts and bring them to the present instead of being fixated on things outside my control. But man, it takes time and practice. You can’t flip a switch. It takes time to retrain your thought patterns.

NTN: Do you have any "new things' on the horizon? New Thing Nurse wants to know!

AR: “New things” on the horizon: moving to a new city, I'll be getting a new job at that time, continuing to work on building The Burnout Book community online and collaborate with others! In the next few years, I hope to pursue my masters degree in nursing education as well.

NTN: Do you have any other advice for our readers?

AR: There are many things that can contribute to burnout that are outside of our control: staffing ratios, meaningful recognition, leadership support, etc. But what I suggest is find the things that ARE in your control and develop a self-care plan that works for you! Maybe it involves meeting your social needs by going out to lunch with a friend a couple times a month. It may look like finding new and fun ways to be active, like taking a barre class or going on a hike. Maybe it will come in the form of counseling, assertiveness training, practicing saying “no”, changing jobs, or getting a medical provider to help you with your physical and mental needs. You can't pour from an empty cup. Put your own oxygen mask on first.

Y'ALL - DOESN’T SHE GIVE THE BEST ADVICE?

Now - check out the Anna & Walter cuteness below!


Want to learn more about Anna Rodriguez, The Burnout Book & Walter, the Corgi?

Email - anna@theburnoutbook.com
Website - www.theburnoutbook.com
Blog - www.theburnoutbook.com/blog
Instagram: @the.burnoutbook & @anna.the.nurse
Facebook: Anna the Nurse
Twitter: @anna_the_nurse

- Sarah @ New Thing Nurse

About the Author - Sarah K. Wells, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL is an educator, speaker, blogger and owner of New Thing Nurse, a professional and academic coaching company for the nursing world. New Thing Nurse is organized to provide support and guidance to aspiring nurses, newly graduated nurses, and veteran RNs looking to make a change in their life.

Whether it’s a new school, new job or new idea,

New Thing Nurse wants to help with your new thing!



FOLLOW NEW THING NURSE ON INSTAGRAM - @NEWTHINGNURSE

Going Dutch: An Interview with Joop Breuer

I have always loved the phrase - "Going Dutch."

Wikipedia defines "Going Dutch" as a phrase the means that each person in a party splits the cost of an activity instead of one person paying for the cost for everyone. Everyone does their part to contribute to the success of the group. Wouldn't the world be better off if everyone went Dutch on things? #deepthoughts

I also love the phrase "Going Dutch" as this year in May, I got the opportunity to visit the Netherlands for a little vacation and blog research. My Emergency Nurse Association (ENA) connections helped me land a dreamy tour of Leiden University Medical Center's (LUMC) emergency department and ICU with one of my favorite international ER nurses, Joop Breuer, a staff nurse and Educator for the LUMC emergency department.

Joop was kind enough to show me around and educate me to the many similarities and differences between emergency nursing in the Netherlands versus the United States. Joop also readily agreed to my requests for an interview for the New Thing Nurse Blog! I am excited to share the following interview with you and think that you will all want to "Go Dutch" by the end of this post. :P


Sarah @ New Thing Nurse (NTN):  I have had the pleasure of knowing you through the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) for some time, but can you introduce yourself to our New Thing Nurse readers? 

Joop Breuer (JB): My name is Joop Breuer, an ER nurse from the Netherlands. I started nursing school way back (for some in the prehistoric years) in 1976 and graduated in 1980.  After that, I did a year military service and after that, started training as an ICU nurse. Worked on different ICU`s for 9 years but after these 9 years, I was kind of “finished” with ICU.

During the summer, I was asked as an ICU nurse to do a 6-weeksrotation in the ER.  They were experiencing staffing shortages. After 2 shifts in the ER, I knew: “THIS IS IT.”  I immediately applied and got hired. I did my CEN and have been working on the ED ever since. And I still Love my job.

I am now working in Leiden in the Netherlands (a beautiful town by the way, birthplace of RembrandTt) at Leiden University Medical Centre, a level 1 trauma centre about 20 miles south of Amsterdam. I am married, no kids.. living just outside Leiden, close to the beach.

NTN:  I love hearing about other nurse's professional journeys. How did you fall into nursing? And what area of nursing did you start in and where do you work now? 

JB: During high school I didn`t know what to do after graduation. My older brother was working as a nurse, and I thought: “Well why not? Why not try nursing?”  And I loved it. Nursing is such a rewarding profession.

NTN: The focus of New Thing Nurse is supporting nurses as they find their "new thing." As an ENA member, you were an early advocate of the Trauma Nursing Core Course (TNCC) process and course when it came to the Netherlands for the first time. What was your experience like in helping introduce such a new process to the Netherlands emergency medical community? 

JB: In 1995 TNCC was brought to the Netherlands, by instigation of the Dutch Equivalent of ENA. I was one of the first to take the course (given by British Nurses), and I was stunned by it, how well this program worked. In the Netherlands you cannot apply to become an instructor, you are asked… and I got the honour of being asked.  I still am an active TNCC instructor, Course Director, and since 2008, responsible for all TNCC matters in my country.

NTN: What helped you motivate you to take on such a large project as your "new thing"? 

JB: I still am convinced TNCC is the best program for nurses around. And I always feel so proud when after a course, candidates say that they really learned something to be used in day to day practice.

NTN: Do you have any tips for anyone out there who might be considering jumping into a "new thing" of their own?

JB: If you start a new thing on your own, be well prepared, read about it, and share your excitement with others.

NTN: I love nursing professional organizations. You are very involved with the Emergency Nursing Association (ENA). What can you tell our readers about ENA, and how it has enhanced your nursing career? What is your current role in ENA? 

JB: ENA is by far the biggest organization for ER nurses worldwide. This is reflected in all ENA has to offer to its members: education, research, grants, etc.  Having been to an ENA conference, I was impressed by its member - their commitment and professionalism.

Over the years, I have become more involved in ENA in different positions and many, many members have become dear personal friends. Being a member of ENA has brought me many good things and being part of such committed group of nurses makes me very proud. 

NTN: As an ER nurse in the Netherlands who is also very familiar with the United States' approach to emergency nursing, what are things that you find similar? What aspects do you find different? 

JB: Similar to the US as in the Netherlands, ER nursing is a strenuous job. But also a job once you are infected with it.. you will love it for the rest of your life. Problems facing ER nurses in both countries are quite similar: staff shortages, boarding patients, increasing age of nursing staff, aggression of patients to name a few.

What is different I think is the working hours - we don`t do 12 hour shifts at our ED. In the ICU, they do. We as ER nurses also don`t have any techs around. We do our own respiratory, circulatory and also plasters etc. We also do not care about insurance in the Netherlands… everybody gets treated. Our healthcare system is quite different than in the US.

NTN: You have told me that in addition to being a nurse educator at your ER, you still frequently work as a night shift Charge Nurse too. What keeps you at the bedside in addition to your Educator role? 

JB: The combination of charge/stretcherside nurse and nurse educator is very important to me. I couldn`t imagine a job where I wasn`t working “stretcherside”.  It also gives me a lot of valuable input which I use in my educator job.

NTN: Do you have any "new things' on the horizon? New Thing Nurse wants to know! 

JB: I am running (again) in this year’s ENA Board of Directors election. I want to be elected as a member of the Board of Directors of our organization.

Currently I am a member of ENA’s Position Statement Committee. After publishing the position statement on the use of social media by ER nurses, (I was the lead author on that one), I am excited that the joint ENA and the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) position statement on human trafficking is nearly finished. Together with a Forensic Nurse, Diane Daber from IAFN, I am the lead author of this one as well.

NTN: How can our readers find out more about you and your work?

JB: You can find me on Facebook and on LinkedIn.

I also published 2 articles in the Journal of Emergency Nursing (JEN): one in the September 2013 issue called: “Working Together, Training Together,” and one in the July 2015 issue called: “Going Dutch, Emergency Nursing in the Netherlands”

NTN: Do you have any other advice for our New Thing Nurse Blog readers?

JB: Always use your critical thinking skills, stay curious, always ask yourself - “Why?” and I always say to my students: “BE the nurse you would want to take care of your loved ones”


Want to learn more about Joop?

Check Joop out on social media (Facebook & LinkedIn) and his ENA election video on YouTube.

- Sarah @ New Thing Nurse

About the Author - Sarah K. Wells, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL is an educator, speaker, blogger and owner of New Thing Nurse, a professional and academic coaching company for the nursing world. New Thing Nurse is organized to provide support and guidance to aspiring nurses, newly graduated nurses, and veteran RNs looking to make a change in their life.

Whether it’s a new school, new job or new idea,

New Thing Nurse wants to help with your new thing!



The Future of Nursing is Looking BRIGHT!

The next generation of nurses is looking strong.

I had the opportunity to give a workshop to members of the East Bay Student Nurse Association in Hayward, California this week. There was a great turnout of enthusiastic recent graduates and current nursing students. They were excited. They were eager. They were looking for help on how to jump headfirst into their nursing careers.

The title of the workshop is “I survived nursing school! Now what?”. It focuses on how to navigate that stressful transition from nursing school to new grad nurse in regard to self-care, stress management and all things related to getting that first job – networking, the job search, resumes and interviews. It was a great session. The participants were so interested in how to shift from successful nursing student to successful new nurse.

I love working with nursing students. In my opinion, nursing students are the toughest, most flexible and resilient students out there. They are asked to do the impossible – manage full-time clinical rotations, class time and personal lives – all while paying for the privilege to do it. These students were no exception. They arrived telling me stories of how they juggled their clinical rotations, nurse internships, volunteer work, classes, and part-time jobs. Each of them had incredible perspectives on patient care and the ever-evolving landscape of the American healthcare system. I was overwhelmed with their passion and determined spirits. The future of nursing is looking bright.

How can we help future nurses?

The major need that I hear from nursing students everywhere is that they need more opportunities. Nursing students need good preceptors and clinical rotations. If you are approached to precept, think about offering to help. New graduate nurses need to be considered for nurse positions. There needs to be more new nurse training programs and budgets to support them. New nurses need good mentors.  If you work with a new grad nurse, offer supportive guidance and a sympathetic ear when they need to talk to someone. Help them grow and avoid the burnout that so many new graduates face in their first jobs.

Our next generation of nurses is excited to get to work. Let’s help them be the best nurses that they can be.

- Sarah @ New Thing Nurse


About the Author - Sarah K. Wells, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL is an educator, speaker, blogger and owner of New Thing Nurse, a professional and academic coaching company for the nursing world. New Thing Nurse is organized to provide support and guidance to aspiring nurses, newly graduated nurses, and veteran RNs looking to make a change in their life.

Whether it’s a new school, new job or new idea,

New Thing Nurse wants to help with your new thing!



March - A Blue Month for Colorectal Cancer

Most people think of green, four-leaf clovers and leprechauns when they think of March.  

But since November 2017, March only makes me think of blue.

March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, represented by the color blue. Colon cancer became a very personal topic for me in November of last year when my mom was found to have a cancerous tumor in her colon at age 57.

My mom, Debra, is an awesome human.

She is a vibrant, funny, ass-kicking lady. She has always been her own boss. Mom owned her own store for nearly 30 years, then decided to open her own wholesale business so that she and my stepdad could live life on their own terms. Debra is amazingly cool, if you haven’t drawn that conclusion on your own yet.

As a patient, it was hard for my mom. She likes to be in control and suddenly, she was not. But Mom could control how she approached cancer, so she did it with an amazing sense of humor.

I give you her social media post soon after her colon cancer diagnosis –

Mom: “I look forward to my phone's predictive text suggesting ‘colorful’ rather than ‘colorectal’. #EffCancer

Mom also started a line of buttons from her business The Word Emporium to sell to people who want to tell the world how they really feel about cancer.

My mom was also incredibly lucky.

She had an amazing GI surgeon who did a partial colectomy that not only removed ALL of the cancer, but also left mom without the need for a colostomy. Mom also did not need radiation or chemo. She is scheduled for annual imaging and bloodwork screenings to ensure early notification if the cancer does come back. My mom is happy and healthy. I could not be more grateful.

Sadly, colorectal cancer is on the rise.

By going through this experience with her, I learned a lot about colorectal cancer that was extremely disheartening, especially as it relates to patients under 50 years of age. Here are some fast facts provided by the incredible Colorectal Cancer Alliance -

  • Young-onset colorectal cancer is on the rise in the United States.
  • 10% of new colorectal cancer patients are under 50 years old.
  • Young-onset patients are often misdiagnosed due to vague symptoms and assumptions that young patients are not at high-risk for colorectal cancer.

Then in December of last year, I became acutely aware of just how young patients dealing with colon cancer can be.

While helping my mom recover from her own colon surgery, I learned about the achingly early passing of a high school classmate, Christopher Roberts, from colon cancer.

In high school, Christopher and I were in several honors classes and band together. He was one of those rare adolescent male specimens who was an extremely nice guy that also played on the football team and had incredible intellect in the classroom. We lost touch after graduation, but learning of his death made my heart hurt. It would make anyone’s heart hurt.

Christopher was only 31.

It was only after his death that I found out that Christopher had been battling colon cancer very publicly. He was interviewed for the Colon Club blog and in the New York Times. Christopher candidly shared his story and helped reach many young people who might otherwise not be aware of the risks of colorectal cancer.

I cannot thank him enough.

Christopher continues to help educate the public. He taught me. Read about him here so that he can teach you.

The New York Times - Colon and Rectal Cancers Rising in Young People

The Colon Club - Christopher Roberts

Let’s think of blue this March.

I write this for my mom, Christopher and all the others out there battling colorectal cancer.

Consider making a donation to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance. This organization works to support the needs of patients, caregivers, and survivors, raise awareness of preventative screening, and fund critical research.

You can donate in tribute of those who have lost the fight with colorectal cancer. Last year I donated in the memory of Christopher Roberts. I will again this month. Want to join me?

-       Sarah @ New Thing Nurse

More resources about colorectal cancer -

The Colorectal Cancer Alliance

CDC - Colorectal Cancer Awareness

Fightcolorectalcancer.org


About the Author - Sarah K. Wells, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL is an educator, speaker, blogger and owner of New Thing Nurse, a professional and academic coaching company for the nursing world. New Thing Nurse is organized to provide support and guidance to aspiring nurses, newly graduated nurses, and veteran RNs looking to make a change in their life.

Whether it’s a new school, new job or new idea,

New Thing Nurse wants to help with your new thing!



FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM - @NEWTHINGNURSE

Nurse Mental Health - Let's Talk About It.

I have been sitting on this post.

I wrote this post recently, but was not planning on sharing it. I was not sure how I felt about sharing my personal story on the blog. There is a lot of stigma related to mental health in the healthcare community (and world) and while I am pretty open about my own nursing journey, I was not confident yet that I was ready to put my mental health story out in the great, wide world of the interwebs.

However yesterday there were some comments made on the New Thing Nurse social media that reminded me why it is so important to share our stories. There is an expectation that nurses need to have a "thick skin" to be successful in medicine, or it might not be the career for you. That people with anxiety or depression or other mental health diagnoses cannot be strong, capable & amazing nurses.

I THINK THAT IS CRAZY.

Nurses don't need thicker skins. They need better support. They need better coping strategies & stress management techniques. They need better work conditions. They need to know that their job is hard, that what they're feeling is normal, and that it is OK to admit if you're struggling and to talk about it.

Nurses, like all humans, have mental health. We should be concerned about their mental and emotional wellness. Nurses have to take care of themselves, so that they can take care of others.

Now, let me tell you a story.

Let’s start with a story, my story.

I was born a baby ER nurse in 2011, and it seems like only five minutes ago. 

I remember being a newly-minted nurse, hyperventilating on my way to those first night shifts. I had finished nursing school in an accelerated 16-month, master’s-entry program. It was disorganized. It went by way too fast. I did not feel prepared to save lives.  

During nursing school, I was anxious.

I was nervous about classes and tests. I was terrified during my first weeks of clinicals. The first time I went to take vital signs on a patient, I went with my classmate to record a blood pressure, heart rate, SAO2 and respiratory rate. We divided and conquered the tasks, and I almost passed out while trying to put on the patient’s blood pressure cuff. I am sure that the poor patient thought we were completely inept, but she was kind enough not to tell me to buzz off during the encounter.

Most people would say that some academic anxiety is normal. Sure. It probably is, but I have always been a nervous person. My anxiety was magnified by a million in nursing school. Because everyone kept telling me that it would get better, I shook off the fact that I cried constantly when I was alone and stress ate like it was going out of style. I once showed up at my classmate’s house and just ate a whole cheesecake. That isn’t normal.

Then I started my first job.

I was working nights, like everyone does when they start out, and was SO excited about being in the ER. It was my dream, and I was working in a great department with a very supportive staff. Yet I was barely sleeping. I was still stress eating, and sometimes I liked stayed in bed for days at a time when I was not working. When out with a crowd, I was usually fine, but I was frequently tearful at home. My then boyfriend, now husband, dealt with extreme mood swings and many crazy, sleepless days/nights. I thought it was all because I was working night shift, so I made excuses and soldiered on.

I moved to California and worked as a traveler, then as a staff nurse at several ERs. I continued to work nights. I had a terrible time sleeping, continued to be anxious and tearful when home alone and had many days where I could not get out of bed. I blamed everything and everyone for my continued anxiety and down moods. There was no way that I had a problem. It was always situational, at least that is what I continued to tell myself.

Then one day about three years ago, I was at home, an anxious, hot mess.

I was working 4-6 shifts a week at two jobs that I was juggling while trying to pay off my student loans. There had been a string of really brutal patient cases that had made me sad to the core of my being. I had not worked for several days yet at home that day, I was jumpy and crying. My husband was away on a business trip. I started looking for something to blame my mood on, but I could not think of anything - I had stopped working nights. I had gotten married. I had an amazing community of family and friends. I had a job that I loved.

So, I did what any good nurse does. I got a consult.

I found a therapist. She changed my life.

Through a lot of talking, time, exercise, mindfulness work, self-care and medicine (YES – I take medicine for my mental health), I have come to realize and accept that I have problems with depression and anxiety. For most of you reading this, you probably could have told me that years ago just by reading my story. That would have been great! But when you are on a journey of mental health self-assessment, it usually takes a lot of time to come to accept help and realize the deeper causes of your problems.

But I work in healthcare, so why didn’t I figure this out sooner?

Nurses and other healthcare workers historically HATE talking about their own mental health. We will diagnose and treat others ‘til the cows come home, but we will not discuss our own feelings for a million dollars. ER nurses may be some of the worst. We are so cowboy and pride ourselves on our ability to see the saddest, grossest, most traumatic cases and just keep going. That’s why we like to binge eat/drink/exercise/Netflix/craft. Call it what you want, but a lot of that is coping mechanisms in the extreme. I mean, have you ever seen any stress eating like a night shift pot luck? Think about it.

Things are changing.

The healthcare community is starting to talk more and more about the relationship between our work and our mental health. There are many organizations and foundations working to advocate for increased awareness of healthcare workers’ mental health needs (see below). Self-care and stress management is becoming more a part of the conversation, in addition to the need to combat compassion fatigue and burnout. This is a positive evolution for nurses and other healthcare providers everywhere. The world is starting to take note of the toll that our work is taking on us.

What else can we do?

I personally have made stress management and self-care a part of all of my education for both nursing students and veteran nurses. While awareness is the first step, we have to actively engage in self-care to protect ourselves from the negative effects of the stress of our jobs. Humans are incredibly resilient, and nurses are super stars in the resiliency game. However even super stars can burn out. We have to take the steps to not just continue to make nurse mental health a part of the conversation, but also to actively work to making self-care, mindfulness and stress management a part of our daily nursing and personal practice.

So, am I all better?

My anxiety and depression are going to be my forever friends. Sometimes they hang out with me, while other times they go on vacation. I have to continuously work on the things that keep me mentally well so that I do not backslide into the depths of Depression Town. I see my therapist regularly. I take my medicine. I (try to) eat well, sleep enough and exercise. I have started to try to meditate and stretch more.  I surround myself with positive humans. I travel. I read. I stay engaged with my professional and personal community. I continue to do work that I love – ER nursing, ENA volunteering & of course, New Thing Nurse. However, I am human, and I do not always succeed. I love donuts and cookies. I do not like to work out in the cold. I sometimes get too affected by things outside of my control (i.e. politics, family, donuts). But I do my best and most of the time, I feel like a fulfilled and happy person.

Also, I am, and continue to be, a strong and awesome nurse.

Having my own struggles with depression and anxiety have never made me a weak or bad nurse. On the contrary, I feel that I am a better nurse and advocate for both my patients and colleagues because of it. Additionally I have lead a successful ER nursing career, started a business to support the nursing community, lectured at the local, state and international level, and supported nurses and nursing students all along the way. My mental health challenges have never stopped me from being successful or effective in any role. I just have had to work harder and overcome more to achieve my goals.

Final Thoughts.

If you have read all of this, I commend you and thank you for sharing in my story. I want to make nurses everywhere realize that if you are feeling anything on the spectrum of anxious, self-doubting, irritable or sad, YOU ARE SO NOT ALONE. I have been there. I will be there again. There are so many more of us out there than you think. There are lots of other nurses talking about their own mental health journey on social media. Check them out! Let’s not keep how we are feeling a secret anymore.

Let’s keep the conversation going about our nurse mental health.

Let’s talk about it.

- Sarah @ New Thing Nurse

Want to read more about Nurse Mental Health & Wellness?

American Nurses Association - Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation Campaign

Elizabeth Scala - Nursing from Within Blog

Nurse.org - Nurse Wellness: Not an Oxymoron

The Code Green Campaign - A First Responder Mental Health Advocacy Group


About the Author - Sarah K. Wells, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL is an educator, speaker, blogger and owner of New Thing Nurse, a professional and academic coaching company for the nursing world. New Thing Nurse is organized to provide support and guidance to aspiring nurses, newly graduated nurses, and veteran RNs looking to make a change in their life.

Whether it’s a new school, new job or new idea,

New Thing Nurse wants to help with your new thing!



Nurse Gratitude.

The holidays can be rough.

The hospitals are full with patients who need care, & the staffing is short because of co-workers who are not there....

This holiday season is unusual for me. I am currently with family due to illness, so enjoying doing some private duty nursing & family support this holiday season. But traditionally, this is the time of year when I like to look around the ridiculously full hospital (while I'm doing a million things, haven't had a break & may or may not have peed in the last 11 hours) & focus on all the awesome reasons why I have #nursegratitude.

What is "nurse gratitude"? Great question! Nurse gratitude is the thankful feeling that I get for all things nursing. This can be for simple things like coffee & gloves (essential for each & every shift). Or it can be for things like social workers & child life specialists who make terrible situations more manageable with their wizard-like skills (I LOVE ALL YOU SOCIAL WORKERS & CHILD LIFE FOLKS).  Today, I just wanted to focus on the general aspects of nursing that make me so full of nurse gratitude.

Here is the Top 5 on my Nurse Gratitude List  -

1. Flexibility.

This job has allowed me to travel the world, be available for my family in times of crisis, take classes & start a new business. I have worked full-time, part-time & PRN. As an ER nurse, I have worked ALLLLLL the shifts which has freed me up for many educational, personal & professional opportunities. My colleagues have been able to be daytime parents & nighttime workers, full-time students, fulfilling passion projects & a few have been seasonal athletes while still being fully employed three days a week. There are few jobs with greater flexibility than nursing. Cheers to Saturday on a Tuesday.

2. We have the best stories.

When at a party, dinner out or just a gathering of folks, nurses will always have the best stories. I hate the question, "What is the craziest thing you have ever seen?". Normal folks aren't ready for the real crazy. I usually give them a watered-down rectal foreign body story that gets a lot of giggles & then we move on. What I love is hearing that someone else is in the healthcare field & then getting to compare war stories. Healthcare workers, but nurses especially, have the best, most incredibly, "you can't make this sh*t up" stories. They are best not for general consumption, but get a few jaded nurse hearts together with a glass of whiskey or wine & the night will not disappoint.

3. Nurses are the best people.

I cannot stress enough how generally amazing the people are who are drawn to nursing. I don't know why, but they are the most passionate, hard-working & funny individuals. Almost all my friends are nurses for exactly this reason. Nurses love to help. They are driven by a crazy passion to get sh*t done. No one is better suited for a high-stress, multitasking needed situation. That's why so many are balancing kids, school & a side-hustle. And nurses are HILARIOUS. Nurses can literally be facing some of the saddest & hardest situations that life can offer, but they can make light of it all. I love me some nurses. 

4. Variety.

Have you ever seen such a variety of roles that nursing has to offer? When I meet clients who are burnt crispy & telling me that they are thinking of switching careers, I almost yell - "WHY?". There is an almost endless amount of manifestations of nursing out there. Just when I think that I've heard them all, I learn about something new. Did you know that you can be a camp nurse? Or a toxicology nurse? Or a nurse podcaster? Or an organ donation nurse? Or a nurse historian? YES!!! These are all real jobs. The list goes on & on, but I encourage you to think about your passions & do some research. There is probably an amazing fit (or at least some swag) for even your nursing & knitting interests.

5. We get to help.

We get to help people. Our patients are often in their most vulnerable time of need, as are their family, friends & other loved ones. We get to help our colleagues & communities by donating to fundraisers or working at the medic booth at the health fair. We go home & help our own relatives by taking all their calls related to - "I have this spot on my back....". Our kids & their friends come to us to help with the owies. My neighbor comes by to check in after his hip operation with questions. Nurses are helpers. I live for the helping.

This holiday season you do have the option of just dwelling on how there were three sick calls, two Code 3's in the last five minutes & a laboring mother in the waiting room (where's the partridge in the pear tree?). But why? All that would do is stress me out & make my shift that much worse. Let's choose to BUMP THAT NOISE & instead find some positivity by remembering all the reasons that we can have #nursegratitude this year.

- Sarah @ New Thing Nurse



The Blog is LIVE!! - Now, What Is New Thing Nurse?

The New Thing Nurse Blog is now LIVE! WOOT!!!

Hello!!!

For those of you who know me - HOWDY!!!

First, thank you for reading & following New Thing Nurse! Our #newthingnursetribe is an amazing community of veteran nurses, new nurses & aspiring nurses - plus so many more in the medical field - that come together to create a supportive platform to help each other with their new things!

For first-time readers to the New Thing Nurse community - WELCOME!!

My name is Sarah K. Wells, MSN, RN, CEN, CNL. I am the Owner & Head Coach at New Thing Nurse & the main writer at our newly launched New Thing Nurse Blog.

What is New Thing Nurse?

New Thing Nurse is -

1. The academic & professional coaching service company made by a nurse for the nursing community to help with your new nurse thing! Whether you are thinking about applying to a new school, looking for your new job or have a new passion project that you need help getting off the ground, New Thing Nurse can help!!! New Thing Nurse offers an array of coaching, document preparation, writing editing & mentoring services to meet your professional & academic needs. Check out our Services page to see how we can help you. 

2. An inclusive & supportive online community for the nursing community who are trying new things. It is a forum to discuss ideas, get motivation & gain insider tips on how to succeed. No haters here. New Thing Nurse was created to lift each other up & fight against nurse bullying & nurse burnout.

3. A blog!! New Thing Nurse is now live with its blog! On here I (Sarah) & occasional guest authors will be diving more deeply into topics & trends that explore the great, big world that is the field of nursing. Many people think that nursing is just working at the bedside. However as you follow our social media & blog accounts, readers will quickly see that the world of nursing is a wide & wondrous world of diverse roles & crazy adventure! 

I created New Thing Nurse after seeing too many smart & talented nurses voice frustrations of the limitations of nursing. Many were burnt out. Others were uninspired. Most did not know the many options that are out there. New Thing Nurse is here to help fix that. I want to create a world of successful & fulfilled nurses and hopefully, this nurturing & collaborative nursing culture will extend beyond the healthcare setting for an enhanced professional & personal experience for all.

Thanks for reading & have a great shift!!

- Sarah, Owner & Head Coach @ New Thing Nurse