Champions for Community Health

Champions for Community Health

I recently sat down with a leader in my community who participated in a recent analysis of the health disparities in our city.  This conversation was part of a school assignment, otherwise I most likely would not have found the time for this in my busy schedule.  The meeting was scheduled for 15 minutes, but we talked for over an hour about some of the challenges in the community and what a few brave individuals are doing to make a positive difference.

This discussion evoked a strange combination of surprise and dismay at the health disparities in my community, but I was also encouraged to know that there are steps we can do to change things. 

One important piece of information I gathered from this meeting was how important it is for members of the community to reach out to each other.  Being told about the importance of exercising during pregnancy, for example, is more valuable to a teenager when hearing about it face to face from another pregnant teenager.  Being told this same information by a health official, who is miles away, does not have nearly the same impact.

As nursing students we have a valuable role of being advocates and champions for health in our communities.  Not only do we have a role of promoting health to our patients, but also to our neighbors, friends and community members.  We can do this by having conversations about health promotion and holding meetings about key topics that specifically address our community.  This could involve a presentation about stress management and health to our fellow students, for example.

The meeting made me aware of the importance of staying active and involved.  I plan to do this by getting to know my neighbors better and staying active in my own neighborhood.  Hopefully by doing this I will soon have more opportunities to engage and promote health to those around me.

How are you involved in your community?  Do you have tips or examples of how to impact your city and increase the health of its members?  I look forward to your thoughts!

A Matter of Degrees: ADN to BSN or MSN

Receiving an associate’s degree in nursing (ADN) allows for entry into the nursing profession without the need for taking many prerequisites, or being in school for a solid four years. Its primary focus is to create nurses with the skills necessary to be safe and successful within a 2-year timeframe. If you pass the NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination), you will still be given the title of registered nurse (RN). Many students choose this option rather than the four-year bachelor’s of science in nursing (BSN), because they would rather be done in two years and start working as a nurse right away. Depending upon the student’s location, it may also be the only option for becoming an RN within the area.

Many nurses are able to find jobs with an ADN and start working right away in the area they choose. Some nurses discover later on that it is more difficult to land their dream job with an ADN. More and more hospitals are now choosing to hire only BSN nurses, which can only add to the frustration.

Fortunately there are many options for nurses with an ADN to further their education. Some colleges now offer the ADN to BSN program, which primarily focuses on leadership classes and nursing theory. There are even options to do this all online, since graduates with an ADN degree have already done their clinicals and practical courses. This is a great opportunity for nurses who are working full-time as a nurse and just want to become more marketable and knowledgeable with a BSN.

If you are planning on receiving your master’sof science in nursing (MSN) degree to practice as a nurse educator, nurse practitioner, or nurse midwife, there are also schools that have bridge programs to take you from your ADN to an MSN. This bypasses the BSN altogether, but still covers the important theory and leadership competencies necessary. Frontier Nursing University (www.frontier.edu) has a great program that allows students to do this completely online, while doing clinicals within their own community to become a women’s health nurse practitioner, family health nurse practitioner, or nurse midwife.

Do you have an associate’s degree in nursing? Have you thought about getting your BSN or MSN? Or have you already gone through the process? Please share your experiences with us!

[Editor’s note: More information about furthering your education can be found on NurseZone’s Education and Career Development page.]

See One, Do One, Teach One

The old saying of “See one, do one, teach one” has been told over and over again to me, in nursing school and in practice. The idea is that after seeing a procedure done correctly (as in starting an I.V.) you will then be able to do it correctly. Then, by teaching another person, you solidify your understanding of the procedure.

I think this motto is an absolutely accurate one, but what happens when you see things done incorrectly?

Nurses sometimes get into the bad habit of cutting corners, or maybe not doing things “by the book.” An example of this would be starting an I.V. with the finger of the glove cut off in order to feel the vein better. While this absolutely helps in starting I.V.s, it poses an infection hazard to the patient. I remember learning this technique from an experienced nurse, and it was very difficult to “unlearn” and have to keep correcting myself. It would have been much easier if I started off doing IVs correctly.

Having a good foundation in your nursing skills will help to make you a great nurse. If you feel as though your preceptor or educator has cut corners, or maybe showed you incorrectly how to perform a skill, I would strongly recommend correcting the problem before it gets worse. First, I would consult your textbook for the precise steps in completing the procedure. Then, have someone show you how to perform the task. Seek someone out if your preceptor or educators haven’t followed the right steps.

You might even find a DVD included in your textbook showing the correct way to complete the procedure, or a video on the textbook’s companion site.

Next, teach another person to do this procedure correctly. Whether it is your nursing school classmate, coworker, friend, family member, it doesn’t matter. Just go through the steps with them so that you are able to really develop a solid framework in your brain, so that you will be able to easily recollect the steps and make it an easy part of your nursing practice.

Have you experienced “See one, do one, teach one?” How do you feel this has helped you in your education? Was it a positive experience or a negative one?

NCLEX Coming Up? Don't Throw Out Those Class Notes Just Yet

During nursing school I remember wanting to get rid of every trace of my notes after finishing a class (specifically the classes I didn’t enjoy). Fortunately, I fought off this urge in most cases and kept many lecture notes, note cards, PowerPoint slides and books from my completed classes. This proved invaluable as I sat down to study for the NCLEX (the National Council Licensure Examination).

I don’t believe it is particularly necessary to RE-study all of your notes from all of your classes, but I do think it’s useful to go through them again as a refresher. I also found it helpful for those particularly difficult subjects such as pharmacology and acute care nursing to have some basis from which to start. For lab values, terms, and definitions I found that some of my old note cards worked best to quickly run through in the midst of studying more difficult subjects. Most textbooks also have NCLEX questions at the end of the chapter to review, so it might be worth holding onto some of those old books instead of trying to sell them right away.

Of course there are many other great ways to study and prepare for the NCLEX (most of which I have covered in previous blogs). Today I just wanted to remind those of you who are either just starting out in nursing school or are in the midst of the program – don’t be too quick to clean out your desk. Keeping this material as you go through the program (and even studying as you go) is one of the best ways to prepare successfully for the exam. It helps if you are familiar with the material and the methods of studying (such as your note cards in your own handwriting from previous exams) and can easily decipher the information rather than wading through a lot of new information.

Have you successfully passed the NCLEX? What advice would you give students in preparing for NCLEX during nursing school? What notes and information from previous classes helped you? Please share your thoughts!

Nurses Start To Occupy

As the Occupy Wall Street movement gains momentum, more and more people are joining this loosely organized group of people – including many nurses. Nurses in San Francisco are joining forces in support of a tax that could help fund health care services, while nurses in Washington, D. C., marched in support of the government taxing banks to increase revenue to taxpayers and their patients, of whom many are unable to pay for their own medications. On Wall Street, the National Union of Nurses (the largest union of nurses in the country) marched in support of the movement and the need to hold the financial district accountable in order to provide for the poor, unemployed, and uninsured in our country.

The original idea of Occupy Wall Street is based around the concept that 1% of the nation’s population controls over 40% of the nation’s wealth and that the gap between the wealthy and middle class is growing exponentially. Although there are no apparent leaders in this movement, nor does there appear to be a specific agenda, the idea is that it is a movement by the people for the people to grab the attention of the rich and powerful in order to promote change.

As future nurses in our country, how do you feel about the Occupy Wall Street movement? Do you feel like this is a movement that nursing students and nurses should get behind? Why or why not? How is this topic important to you as a student nurse?

Look for the Seal of Accredidation

I recently read an article about a woman who started fraudulent nursing schools and scammed many would-be students out of thousands of dollars of potential tuition. I remember how poor and broke I was when I started nursing school, and can’t imagine what a setback that would have been for me in that situation. This made me wonder … how could so many students be duped into this scheme? And did they know what to look for in an accredited nursing school?

Accredited means to be officially recognized or authorized. For nursing schools there are two organizations that do this: the National League of Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC)and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). Their primary goal is to ensure that nursing programs meet the standards and criteria laid out before them for their particular program (diploma, associate’s, bachelor’s master’s, etc.). If for some reason a nursing program does not meet these standards laid before them, then they are not accredited. Or, in the case of the aforementioned woman, there was no request to be accredited in the first place.

The importance of going to an accredited nursing school is that it is nationally recognized and confirmed to meet the standards expected of that particular program. It also allows you to sit for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) in order to get your license. If you do not go to an accredited school you may not be able to become licensed (check with your state board of nursing), and then you would not be able to get a job as a nurse. It would also mean that you could not transfer to an accredited school if you decided to get your master’s degree, for instance.

So how do you know if your school is accredited? Most nursing schools proudly display their accreditation on their websites or in their information packets. But, you may also look up your particular school on the NLNAC website (www.nlnac.org) or the CCNE website (http://www.aacn.nche.edu/accreditation/) to make sure it is accredited.

How important is accreditation to you? Did you know your school was accredited before you applied?

What Nursing Students Can Do Today To Help Land That Future Job

We all choose to go to nursing school for one simple reason – to become a nurse. So while you are in nursing school the job market becomes a very important and real scene as you begin to scope out you future career.

My main advice for finding a job as a new nurse involves starting earlier rather than later. It is a good idea at the very beginning of nursing school to realize that every little thing you do, from your involvement with faculty and school functions to your job and grades, affects your ability to get that dream nursing job when you graduate. The importance of getting good grades is self-explanatory, but beyond that you should try to tailor your assignments to your future dream job. If you’ve been eyeing a job in the ICU,for example, tailor that big paper or large PowerPoint presentation to patients on ventilators,for instance. Begin to put these assignments in a portfolio that you will one day provide to a potential employer that is specific to their unit.

Use your preceptorship and internship as a method to land a job on that unit. Be professional and as excellent as you can be while you are there, because the nurses will take notice and most managers prefer to hire nursing students they know rather than complete strangers. Don’t be afraid to talk to the nurse manager about upcoming positions. They usually know well in advance if they will have an opening, and you could have an “in” before the job is actually posted.

Working as a certified nurse’s aide, patient care technician, etc., while you are in nursing school is a great way to get into the hospital. Most hospitals prefer to hire from within their own hospital rather than looking outside of it. It is also a great way to supplement your nursing education by working within the healthcare field while you are in school.

I have talked extensively about doing a nurse-residency program in other blog posts, but again, that is a great way to get your foot into the door of the hospital and unit where you want to be. Remember that it is okay to pay your dues on a unit that is not your first choice. Although your dream job may be in a different unit or field, take this opportunity to improve your nursing skills and build your resume up with experience. You may even end up liking the area and changing your career goals. Take it as an opportunity and not a disappointment.

Finally, use your contacts. If you have friends (nurses or not) who work at the hospital where you want to land a job, talk to them about how they got their job and what potential interview questions will be asked.

What experiences have you had in trying to find a job as a nurse? Have you used any of these tips? Do you have any others to add?