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How To Deal With Death & Dying as a Nursing Student
Ok, we aren’t all me (alright, that was a dumb statement). We didn’t all get into nursing to work in palliative care. But regardless of what area you end up working in as a nurse, you will encounter death and dying. So how can you handle it as a student? Not everyone is as comfortable with death as I am. Actually, the vast majority of people probably are not as comfortable with death as I am. Let’s say you are part of the 99.9% of society that has a hard time talking about, thinking about or emotionally dealing with death: how do you deal when it is a very real…
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How To Pray Before Starting a Clinical Day
Folks, I am so excited to announce that I am going to be working for a local University in the fall as a clinical educator! I am also going to be working in the simulation lab for an intensive palliative care course. I can’t wait to get back to being with students, which has to be my favourite part of nursing. So, in light of this, I was thinking back to my student nurse days and how I used to prepare for the start of my clinical day. This almost always included prayer. Here are a few prayers you can pray before you start your clinical day: The Lord’s Prayer…
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How To Succeed At Preceptorship (without even trying).
….guys. I’m kidding. You have to try. But I may have just tricked you into becoming a better nurse and that’s basically the WHOLE POINT of this blog to begin with. So let me lay this out for you. I have had a lot of students. A lot. And there are a few things that sets good students apart from mediocre ones. I can usually tell within the first few hours or so who is going to impress me and who I am going to have to work with a bit more to be successful. So let’s get at ‘er. Be professional. I cannot stress this enough. Don’t talk about my patients behind…
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Is Nursing Sexist?
Today is International Women’s Day. It has got me thinking a lot about the profession of nursing and how it has impacted women for hundreds of years. Historically, nursing was one of the few careers that women could actively pursue, generally giving it up when they married and had children. But it is impossible to deny that because women are the most represented in nursing, this profession stands in a unique space where women have had a voice in influencing the health care field for hundred of years. But does that mean that we have gained equality? And what does “equality” look like when the vast majority of nurses are…
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The Nervous Nurse: Anxiety and the Clinical Environment
I remember being in my third year of Nursing School and wanting nothing more than to puke (and then take a nap). I was in a peds medicine rotation and clinical was awful. I had a brutal instructor who had a big chip on her shoulder about not having a degree but educating those of us who were working towards one. I remember being so terrified of making a mistake that I was pretty much guaranteed I would. I was an A-student and always had been. But then this rotation. My instructor threatened to put me on what my university called a “learning contract” which is basically the last ditch…
