Passive job seekers have time to be choosy People who worked in the continuing education department in the ‘90s may remember that I advised them to always have a current passport and resumé. “You never know when you’ll w Read More

Leaders have a role in thwarting workplace violence An outpatient being assessed for mental health issues becomes verbally abusive and combative. Before the staff can initiate the appropriate safety measures, he kicks one of th Read More

Find out if you're in danger of becoming the perpetrator If you have exhibited the following behavior toward a colleague, you may be on your way to becoming a bully. Review the following bullying “weapons” to find out if yo Read More

Differentiate between this type of lateral violence and incivility It’s the end of a grueling workday and you’re still on edge, not yet recovered from the sting of a colleague’s tongue lashing. And it’s not the first ti Read More

Safety risks for nurses exist in homes and neighborhoods Workplace violence is a recognized hazard in healthcare that is defined as any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation or other disruptive behavior t Read More

I received an interesting email from a nurse who recently graduated from her nursing education program but who was not permitted to sit for the NCLEX unless she agreed to be reprimanded for a DUI from 11 years ago. She did pas Read More

Nurse safety remains an issue in healthcare Allison Boreham, RN, a charge nurse in an emergency department at an Omaha, Neb., hospital was six weeks pregnant in October last year when she took a kick to the stomach from a drunk Read More

Eliminating workplace violence and nurses' safety should sit high on everyone's list of priorities “Got stabbed in the neck,” is all I heard, as a colleague explained why Grace, a popular OR nurse, wouldn’t be joining us Read More

Keep a copy of nurse personnel record Readers often ask how to obtain a copy of the personnel record kept by their employer. Because the ability to do this varies from state to state, it is always a good idea to have a copy of Read More

Millennials, the generation born between 1982 and 2000, have surpassed baby boomers as the nation’s largest living generation, according to 2016 population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. As baby-boomers retire, managin Read More

A reader asked about my blog on March 22, 2017, “Can an RN sue her nurse manager for defamation,” in which I wrote about filing a grievance using the employer’s policy. The reader wanted more general information about g Read More

According to an Amarillo Globe-News article published June 7, a nurse practitioner has been granted full practice authority in the state of Texas. Charlene Seale is a certified nurse practitioner at the Thomas E. Creek VA Medic Read More

Building a strong nurse network of "stars" can brighten your nursing career possibilities. Another shift done, Sara stumbled into her apartment. Catatonic, she sat in her kitchen, tired of her job, sick of her boss and unhappy Read More

A reader asked about a situation in which an African-American patient wanted only African-American nurses to care for her. The employer went along with this request. Nursing staff of other races were hindered in their ability to c Read More

Readers have submitted many questions about nursing boards’ decisions concerning the discipline of nurses for violations of their state nurse practice act and/or their rules. In the following case (Holmes v. Louisiana State Read More

5 leadership styles and how they impact staff and patient care Being a nurse leader is a complicated thing. When all is said and done at the end of their nursing careers, the majority of nurses could say they either became a nurs Read More

Learn about your prospective employer before and after nurse interview When you come home from your first day at a new job, will you be energized by its possibilities or feel slightly sick to your stomach and anxious that you’v Read More

Nurse sees bruises, suspects child abuse I ran across an online article from a newspaper in Alaska that told a true story about a school nurse and a 7-year-old student in her school. According to the article, a nurse at the Al Read More

25 legal tools no nurse should be without Which specialty should you consider? Do you want to teach or practice? In which practice setting do you think you could best contribute your skills and expertise? As a nurse, you have cou Read More

Falsification of credentials on business cards raises red flags A reader asked about a nurse colleague who had business cards made that falsely indicated the nurse colleague had a BSN degree when she did not, nor was she enrolle Read More

Be a Jen, not a Nancy, during nursing interview Before a word was spoken or attire evaluated, the two new 2017-model graduate nurses seemed to be identical job candidates. But upon interview, Jen was a career-seeking missile, wh Read More

Back in the '70s I recently heard some students brag about how they were going into nursing "for the money.” This brought me back to my own beginnings as a new grad back in the ’70s. Starting at $10 an hour, I was one of the Read More

Helping a troubled patient If you are an emergency nurse, you practice within the requirements of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. However, the nurse in the following case made a patient care decision that m Read More

Workers comp: What's the purpose? A reader submitted a question about her inability to resolve a three-year-old case she filed under her state’s workers’ compensation statute. Nothing seems to be progressing and she believes Read More

Details of the defamation claim A reader asked if she could sue her nurse manager over false oral statements about her nursing care that resulted in a transfer to another unit and a four-week leave of absence cause by the stress Read More

My opinion on men in nursing You might find it surprising, but some of my female colleagues think a big bolus of testosterone (I’m paraphrasing) would improve the nursing profession. They think more male nurses would take this Read More

Those of you who work as an agency nurse know all too well the ins and outs of that role. Some of you may work at a particular facility on a particular unit for weeks or months at a time. In contrast, some of you may work at a dif Read More

(Editor's note: This post, originally published in February 2017,  was updated with new information.) There was a time when milking chest tubes and bathing children in alcohol were standard practices. Although at the time the Read More

(Content provided by The DAISY Foundation.) The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that by 2022, there will be 1.05 million positions open for nurses to fill due to healthcare demand and replacement needs. Nurses with clinic Read More

Best-selling books have been written about what makes a leader great. Ivy League graduate business schools have designed their curricula around the question, and many award-winning movies and documentaries have featured the making Read More