Survival Tips for the New Nurse: You Can Do This!

Well you made it through nursing school. Congrats! That is a huge accomplishment. Whether your NCLEX exam is behind you or still in progress, you are on your way! Here are some tips to help you be successful for the long haul.

Choosing a Specialty in Medical School

Deciding upon a specialty can be one of the most difficult tasks faced by medical students during their training. As if the stress of studying for cardiology was not enough, now you’re being asked to select rotations and to make some of your elective choices based on what your chosen specialty will be. For many students, this added layer of anxiety comes without a clear idea of how to choose a specialty. While we have guides that tell us how to examine patients, how to take tests, even how to grade a patient’s stool, the medical school curriculum doesn’t seem to offer much in the way of a systematic approach to selecting the specialty you will dedicate your life to. What follows are some simple first steps to aid you in this process, and to hopefully help you find your dream specialty.

5 Tips on How to Succeed as a New Nurse

Starting your first nursing job may seem overwhelming. You have finished one of the most difficult undergraduate educations that exists, but starting to put what you have learned into practice presents a whole new set of difficulties. Thankfully, there are several things that you can do that will help you to not only survive, but to thrive in your first year as a new nurse…

Is Nursing Leadership Right for You?

No matter where you see yourself in the spectrum of nurse leadership, it’s critical that you understand a few of the qualities that successful nurse leaders possess. Here are a few characteristics of successful nurse leaders that will help you decide if nursing leadership may be a good fit.

Dealing with Bad Patient Outcomes

Working in a high-liability specialty for the past nine years, I have received the news of bad outcomes several times. It never gets easier—and frankly I think that if it does, it’s a good sign that I should probably quit clinical medicine.
Below is the process I go through and a few tips I wish I knew earlier on…

The Benefits of the Locums Life: An Option at Any Stage in Your Career

Locums tenens literally means “place holder,” and to many physicians, locums jobs have been just that—a temporary position until something better comes along or the only option for those unable to maintain a permanent position. But times are changing, and more physicians realize that locums tenens is far more than a desperate search for sub-par opportunities…

Self-actualization in Medicine Part 2: Identifying Potential Complications

Doctors, especially long-established doctors, are tempted to treat their junior partners like children. It’s a variation on the “what do you want to be when you grow up?” and senior physicians are self-appointed gurus for how you should practice medicine. It’s not dictatorial or mean-spirited, however. You must remember an established practice has a good reputation for good reasons. Nevertheless, senior physicians expect their subordinates to be obedient and productive and not upset the course of the practice.

When intolerable limitations aren’t known before committing to a practice, they can brew like an ugly abscess, inflamed and painful. It’s no fun being the foreign body that initiates a practice’s innate immune system against you. This is a psychological burden that is unexpected while you’re trying balance risks vs benefits, follow a therapeutic flow sheet, or even concoct an empiric regimen. Can this burden be avoided? Just what are the warning signals?

Musings from My Mentors

Perhaps the quickest way to accelerate progress in life and career is to find a mentor. Another is to hire a coach. I did both. Here are a few lessons I learned along the way.

Finding and Working with a Mentor

Having a mentor can make a massive difference in your career. You will be introduced to influential people outside your circle, rapidly gain knowledge, and accelerate professional development.

Data shows that young professionals who have mentors ultimately have higher career satisfaction, autonomy, and financial reward.

Don’t have a mentor? What are you waiting for?

What are My Options if I’m Tired of Medicine?

There are many op-eds stating how you can leave medicine and make almost as much money doing other jobs. I don’t find this to be true at all. Yes, there could be a few jobs that meet the level of income from practicing medicine, but they are few and difficult to get. Be realistic about the loss in income when you leave medicine. Plan ahead for this change. If it were easy to leave medicine and retain the income, a significantly higher percentage would be leaving.