Tag Archives: Health

At The New Grad Nurse Interview: Be a storyteller

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how to get a new grad nurse job - be a storyteller Your interviewer loves stories. In fact, you love stories. Everyone loves stories. So it only makes sense to become a great storyteller. To secure your first job as a nurse, you have to perfect the art of storytelling. About yourself.

I royally screwed up telling the story about myself. Twice! My first interview, I wasn’t prepared at all and just said whatever came to my head. My second interview, I didn’t focus my story about being a clinical nurse and drifted off into ‘health policy’ –that was a no-no.

I got better after learning the hard way. For my third interview, I started to focus my answers and got the job at a nursing home. By the time my current employment interviewed me — my fourth and fifth interview — I had some real nursing experience and relied on that to come up with some great stories.

So what’s the difference between a tale and a story?

A tale is simply stating something that happened. People don’t usually care about what happened. However, a story has a moral, a meaning, a takeaway point to it. We care about the 3 major things – the ‘bad situation’, the ‘thing you did to make it better’, and the ‘aftermath.’

Here’s an example for a question: Tell me how you dealt with a difficult situation.

A tale: a women wouldn’t take her medications. Later she did after I convinced her.

A story: a women wouldn’t take her medications. After thinking about why she wouldn’t, I realized that she wanted more control over what was happening to her. Instead, I gave her a choice and asked her, “would you like to take your medications in 10 minutes or 20 minutes?” She replied, “in 10 minutes. Thank you.” 10 minutes later, I went back to her to give her medications and she took them like a champ. Giving her the options allowed her to gain some control but not complete free-reign. This compromise allowed me to accomplish my goal (to give her meds) and made the patient happy.

Here’s another example: Tell me about your greatest strength.

A tale: I ask a ton of questions because I always want to learn.

A story: As a new nurse, I know that I have a lot to learn. I understand that sometimes I will be asked to do something that I’ve never done before but I am not afraid to ask questions to make sure that I’m competent the next time it comes up. I wasn’t sure how to put someone on a bedpan so I asked the ancillary staff. The next time I did it with someone. Another time I wasn’t sure if I heard the breath sounds correctly so I asked another nurse to confirm what they heard. Asking questions is my strength and understand that this is key to learning fast.

Here are some common questions. Think of your clinical experiences and come up with a story for each question.

  • What is your greatest weakness?
  • “Tell me about yourself.”
  • What made you interested in nursing?
  • What do you like about nursing?
  • What was your favorite clinical rotation? Why? (please relate this directly with the position you applied for)
  • Tell me about a time when you had to prioritize.
  • Tell me about a time when you had to delegate.
  • Tell me about a time when you had to problem solve.
  • Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
  • Do you have plans on going back to school?
  • Tell me about ‘x’ experience that you wrote about on your resume.

Work on becoming a great storyteller and you’ll find that you’ll use this skill over and over again during every handoff report. And hopefully you’ll get a job offer! Good luck! Let me know if you have something crafted but would like a little help looking it over.

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I wrote this article as a part of the “Most Marketable Skills” Campaign on Webucator. I have to thank Bob Cleary for letting me be a part of the campaign! While I personally haven’t utilized their resources, they look helpful! Currently they are offering a free Microsoft Word 2013 class that involves learning about advanced formatting, using Word 2013 drawing tools, creating and managing tables, and working with column layouts. Each month they offer a new free course, so check it out even after this post is long done.

In case you missed the campaign, here are some of the other blogger’s input:

Achieving Success in the workplace – What is your most marketable skill? by @cjperadilla

What makes you marketable by @amandastrav

Self Brand Marketing : Social Proof To Boost Your Career by @CustomerRivet

Preparing for the workforce: Why learning to write well is worth your while by @moses_says

The Success of Mimicking by @Lbee27

I wish I knew that before

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2013 was the best year of my life.
Independence rang true – new apartment, new car,
new nursing career from the nursing home, to tele and ortho, to ICU.
(wow, I sound like a typical millennial* look at the table below)

My family and friends started new careers too,
life is getting sweeter.

The stats were an all-time high,
Getting emails and comments all the time,
About NYU Nursing
Advising and inspiring future nurses.
To me, there’s no greater praise.

Last year’s theme was ‘New Nurse Blog.’
But now I’m no longer a fresh fresh nurse.
I’ve got one year under my belt!

For 2014 I’m changing it to
‘I wish I knew that before.’
“I” can be me, a friend, or you.
Health, Food, Money and Rights are my passions

So here it goes!

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This table is from a Medscape Nurses article about how to manage a 4 generation gap nursing workforce. You can sign up for a free account to read the article.

Generation What They Want Strategies
Traditionalists Less demanding schedules (part-time; shorter shifts)
Reduced stress or workload
A job well done		 Use a personal touch
Provide traditional rewards
Use as mentors
Offer less physically demanding positions
Boomers Recognition for experience and excellence
Positive work environment
Good pay and benefits
Continuing education		 Give public recognition
Find opportunities to share expertise (precept, mentor)
Promote “gradual retirement”
Xers Career advancement
Shared governance
Autonomy and independence
Work/life balance		 Provide opportunities for skill development and leadership
Involve in decision-making
Avoid micromanaging
Millennials Meaningful work;
Stimulation, engagement, involvement; multitasking
Skill development
Socializing and networking
Impatient for promotion
“Move up or out”		 Encourage teamwork
Offer a supportive work environment
Begin leadership development early
Provide feedback
Provide access to social networks; build on technology strengths
Develop skill base

If you have a serious illness, should you get palliative care?

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caregivers

Yes. Palliative care provides an additional level of support while still providing curative treatment. Hospice care, on the other hand, also provides support but focuses on pain management and a good quality end-of-life care. Coming from NYU, I’m aware of the NICHE program (Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders). One thing it does is provide caregiver resources especially useful while you or your loved one is at the hospital. Here is their guide for helping you determine if you need palliative care.

1. Do you have one or more serious illnesses?

Such as: • Cancer • Congestive heart failure (CHF) • Kidney failure • Liver failure • Neurological diseases (e.g., ALS, Parkinson’s) • Dementia • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, lung disease

Yes___ No___

2. Do you have symptoms that make it difficult to be as active as you would like to be, or impact your quality of life?

These symptoms might include: • Pain or discomfort • Shortness of breath • Fatigue • Anxiety • Depression • Lack of appetite • Nausea • Constipation

Yes___ No___

3. Have you, or someone close to you, experienced the following:

• Difficult side effects from treatment • Eating problems due to a serious illness • Frequent emergency room visits • Three or more admissions to the hospital within 12 months, and with the same symptoms

Yes___ No___

4. Do you, or someone close to you, need help with:

• Knowing what to expect • Knowing what programs and resources are available • Making medical decisions about treatment choices/options • Matching your goals and values to your medical care • Understanding the pros and cons (benefits/burdens) of treatments (e.g., dialysis, additional cancer treatments, surgery, etc.)

Yes___ No___

5. Do you, or someone close to you, need help with:

• Coping with the stress of a serious illness • Emotional support • Spiritual or religious support • Talking with your family about your illness and what is important to you

Yes___ No___

If you answered yes to more than one of the questions, palliative care is something you or your loved one may need. If you feel you may benefit from palliative care, please talk to your healthcare provider today.

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Update from April 24, 2014
To spread awareness about COPD and raise money for the COPD Foundation, you can write your story and Healthline will donate $10. The top 5 stories will receive a $75 American Express card.

Education Day 2: Communication and Delegation

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Today was our second “Education” Day. The first Education Day that happened one month ago covered medication errors and IV insertion. Today, we talked about communication, delegation and the electronic health record.

Communication among the nurses, patients, doctors, and ancillary staff are crucial for good patient outcomes. We communicate to convey  messages to other people. What do you think is the most important part about communication? Take a guess first!

  • Words
  • Body Language (facial expressions, hand gestures)
  • Paralinguistic (the tone; the way that the words are said)

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It’s body language, which accounts of 55%. Words account for 7% and paralinguistic accounts for 38%. Body language shows your attitude and shows how you feel.

There are different ways to give and receive information. Even though we spend 7-12 years of our education on learning how to write and read, we spend less than 1-2 years of formal education on how to speak and listen. This is almost counterintuitive, considering that over half of our communication depends on LISTENING to each other.

We broke out into 4 groups and discussed about traits of good listeners vs bad listeners.

Good Listeners:

  • Eye contact
  • Gives feedback
  • Not rushed

Bad Listeners:

  • Interrupts
  • Has a reply or rebuttal before letting the other person finish speaking

Etc, etc, it can go on and on. To show that we care,

  1. Look at the patient in the eye (not at the WOW all the time; let the patient know you’ll ask a series of questions on the WOW so they know you’re not purposely trying to not give eye contact)
  2. Sit down next to the patient to show that you’re not rushed
  3. When they are concerned about something, ask them for more details (especially regarding pain!)

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As for delegation, it is something that new nurses struggle with. The most important takeaway messages I got was:

  • Be specific
    • Example: Take that patient for a walk vs
    • Take that patient for a walk for 80 feet. 1 assist with a walker and oxygen is needed at all times. It’s the first time the patient is getting up so take a pulse ox before and after he goes for the walk. When that’s completed, please tell me what happened.
  • Vital signs and I/O
    • “Please tell me any abnormal vital signs that you see. And for these specific patients (congestive heart failure, post-open heart patients, renal), please document intake and output.”
  • Change priorities as needed
    • Some ancillary staff may think that cleaning equipment or doing the bedtime bundle or whatever it is that they are doing is more important than a patient’s change in condition. Sometimes when you say, “please go do a fingerstick stat” or a “EKG stat” or something else that’s more urgent (such as compromised patient safety aka a patient getting out of bed without supervision especially if they want to use the bathroom or go for a walk but forget or don’t want to call you!), the PCA takes their time to do what you asked them to do.
    • It may help to say: “That isn’t important right now. Right now, it’s more important for you to take a set of vitals on this patient.”
  • If there is an isolated problem (they don’t know or just forgot), it is important to address it right away in private (never in front of the patient!!). Sandwich a compliment, criticism, and compliment. If it is a continuous problem (due to attitude or laziness), then still address it but also bring it up to management.
  • Give feedback. Everyone is valued and needed on the unit. Using their name and saying thanks goes a long way.

 

Reasons for Action – Eat Plants to Live Without Disease

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Plant-Based Nutrition book
In nursing, everything we do has a reason. Each action has a purpose. For example, in the nursing intervention and clinical skills book, for each step in the procedure written on the left column, there was a compelling reason for that step written in the right column.

I think that most people don’t eat whole foods is because they don’t understand the reason for eating whole foods. In school, nutrition is barely grazed on in physical education class. Instead, school teachers are asking students to merely memorize and that does not give students a compelling reason to eat in a way that promotes healthy bodies.

Last Saturday, I watched Fork Over Knives on Amazon Prime (it is also available for steaming on Netflix). This documentary gets into the scientific studies done that promotes a whole food plant based diet. This diet decreases cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and weight. I personally feel that this is a great start for people to change their diet and their health. I just borrowed the book called The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition by Julieanna Hever. It provides great information in laymen’s language so that it is easy to understand.

Prevention of health conditions such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer all starts with eating a whole food plant based diet. Watch the movie. Read the book. It will change your life.