Nurse Mentor

In 2019, we started a conversation about doing a Post-Doc (or not) . Life happens and so now I'm circling back to continue the conversation in 2020. A post-doctoral fellowship, for nursing, is an additional two to three years of training after you finish your PhD. A post-doc can be a great opportunity to build additional skills and expand your network of mentors. For example, if you did a qualitative dissertation then building your quantitative skills as they relate to your dissertation work is a logical next step in developing your program of research. A post-doc is also the perfect time to publish. Highly competitive candidates for faculty positions at top schools typically have between 5 and 10 publications resulting from their post-doc, sometimes more. To meet that goal, it is an ideal opportunity to go back to your papers that you wrote during your doctoral coursework and see which ones can be developed into papers.  Papers that demonstrate collaboration with your post...

One of the biggest reasons why new nurses leave their first jobs is the culture around how mistakes are handled.  No one wants to work feeling like they can never make a mistake. In fact, most nurses are hyper-aware of the potential of making a mistake and the consequences to patients. We also know that nurses often catch mistakes before they become problematic, yet those rarely get rewarded. A punitive culture around errors is a by-product of both paternalism and maternalism. It is the parental like approach of punishment for the mistake, yet it is often the system that sets the nurse up for mistakes. Good systems look at the root causes of the mistakes and acknowledge that the person who committed the error has probably punished themselves enough. There's a healthy literature about nurses catching mistakes before they happen  and a growing body of literature on nurse surveillance for catching problems before they happen.  Essentially, the evidence is growing about ...

In the last week, I've done more nursing for non-family members than I have in several years. I left hospital practice twelve years ago to focus on research and teaching the next generation of nurses. I suspect there are many nurses out there like me who can contribute in non-traditional ways. Here's some guiding principles for helping reduce public fear and panic and help people be proactive in their self and family care. 1. Evidence-based practice : The CDC is the best source for COVID-19 information as well as the World Health Organization. Neither has a political agenda to advance so you can trust what's reported there. This is critically important for dispelling disinformation about the disease and death rates. 2. Be consistent your information on social media : The more consistently you calmly respond to people's anxiety and fears on social media, they will calm down and make better decisions. We all know that people in crisis make poor decisions and lash ou...

Information Is Beautiful is a data visualization company. They've developed some really helpful infographics about the COVID-19 epidemic and how it affects people. There's good news in there too - most people recover. Check out the graphics here .

In case you haven't heard, 2020 is the Year of the Nurse and Midwife as declared by the World Health Organization (WHO)!  This is the first time WHO has taken this action. They chose to do this to help increase support and recognition for nurses and midwives around the world.  Later this year they will also release the state of the world's nursing and midwifery report which will tell us a lot about our colleagues in every country around the world. What's also really cool is we have a way to connect with our colleagues around the world through Nursing Now!, a non-profit organization based in the United Kingdom that is spearheading the global movement to build youth leadership in our profession, make nurses and midwives more visible, and help us all connect together. You can learn more about and join the movement here .

Emergency preparedness nurse expert Tener Veneema, PhD, RN, FAAN provides a great overview for nurses and midwives about the coronavirus COVID-19.

Over the last ten years, this blog continues to generate traffic so we are back in 2020 to highlight key issues around developing your nursing career and other hot topics related to the profession in the US and abroad. Here's some popular topics from past posts based on the 52,000+ visitors who have found it. Getting your PhD in Nursing  - There are four posts in this series so be sure to check them all out. The Post-Doc Question The Faculty Search Process Loan Repayment Mentoring is about supporting people in their career development and facing the day to day issues of their career. I hope you find this blog useful!

Developing a country's ability to produce nurses as well as grow research led by nurses is an important component of building health system capacity overall. For many nurses who see an academic or policy career path in their future, studying for a PhD is an important career step. If your a nurse who wants to do a PhD in the United States (US), here's some helpful advice to make your application as strong as possible and answer some common questions applicants have when developing their applications. To begin, prospective students may wish to review previous blog posts I've written about applying for a PhD more broadly. These include choosing a program , family considerations , and finances . One thing that is really important for an international student to understand is the difference between a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and a PhD in Nursing. Faculty with a DNP and no PhD are not allowed to serve as primary mentors when obtaining a PhD. This is because most DNPs ...