Merge Mentorship Program

WELCOME!

Disease Discussions

Disease Discussions

For a new nurse, trying to competently care for patients with complicated diseases is like drafting a high school band trombone player into the Boston Orchestra. The trombone player is not accustomed to managing the complex music pieces, thus is destined to experience many disappointments and failures. But with an instructor and over a period of time, the note combinations can appear less confusing and less intimidating. Likewise, new nurses too must learn to juggle symptoms and medications treating complex diseases and having some insight from nurses who have cared for those type of patients will give them the upper hand in their upcoming career.   

Question to Answer: When you are assigned a patient with a certain illness, what do you keep in mind while caring for them?    Tell me at least one tip, hint, or word of wisdom.

1. COPD and ASTHMA   

2. STROKE and PARALYSIS

3.RENAL FAILURE   

4. PATIENTS in ISOLATION

5.GASTRO INTESTINAL BLEEDS    

6. DIABETES 

7. PLACENTA PREVIA 

8. PATIENTS RECEIVING CHEMOTHERAPY 

9. ALCOHOLISM AND DRUG ABUSE  

10. MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION

11. HEART FAILURE 

12. PRECLAMPSIA 

13. SICKLE CELL CRISIS  

 14. DOWNS SYNDROME 

15. MENTALLY ILL    

16. CYSTIC FIBROSIS

 

Perks of Nursing

Perks of Nursing

What would nursing be if it did not offer great benefits and satisfying rewards?

From your time in nursing, describe a perk or a satisfying moment that you’ve experienced during your career in nursing?

 

Balancing Stress and Conserving Energy

Balancing Stress and Conserving Energy

All nurses can agree that nursing is one the most stressful and emotionally charged professions. With angry patients, demanding family members, difficult co-workers, and the occasional upset physician, nurses have to create and develop ways to keep the energy up and the stress down if they plan to make a lifelong career in nursing. From sharing stories and swapping experiences to spending a day at the spa, there are several ways to best relieve stress and unload the emotional burden.  Many times just stepping out of a hectic environment, taking a real break, or even eating lunch can help alleviate the stress. It is undeniable nurses, including fresh, bright nursing graduates need to develop coping mechanisms quickly if they want to prevent painful burnout and continue to be passionate about nursing.

Answer the questions below and describe what specifics you do to keep your energy up and stress to a minimum?

1.    Name something you do in general to keep your energy up?

2.    What do you do at work to maintain a healthy life style?

3.    Share something you do to relieve stress?

4.    What’s your take on taking breaks?

5.    Specifically, how do you feed and pump up your emotional inner self?

6.    Specifically, how do you feed and pump up your spiritual inner self?

7.    When the environment is stressful and you're about lose it, what’s your next action?

8.    How do you keep your attitude in check?

9.    If you have you come close to burning out, how did you recover?

10.   Any tips for taking care of your back?

 

Professional Growth

Professional Growth

Moving forward in a professional career requires motivating that inner drive to “know more and be more”. According to a well known nurse theorist and researcher Dr. Patricia Benner, when transitioning from a novice, beginner nurse to competent, proficient nurse, one needs to develop professionally by making and meeting career goals, expand medical knowledge, and commit to continue a lifelong progression in learning. From nursing conferences, being involved in committees, to volunteering in the community, the nurse as well as the nursing profession greatly benefits when he or she is professionally growing and moving forward.

 Answer these questions and tell of what ways you benefited from pursuing and ensuring steady professional growth.  

1.   Did you develop career goals for yourself?

a.   If yes, How did that timeline work out for you and did it lead you where you wanted to go?

b.   If no, would you advise a student to make career goals? Please explain.    

2.   How do you increase your professional literacy?

3.   If you read nursing journals, what made you choose that particular one?

4.   What’s your thoughts on continuing/furthering your education?

5.   Most facilities are always offering optional education classes, What’s your take on attending those classes?

6.   How do you feel about nursing conferences?

7. What what can improve the conference experience?

8.   Are there any “do’s and don’ts” when attending conferences? If so explain.

9.   After years of working as a nurse, did you do something like a “career makeover” or “career lift” to spice things up? Describe what you did.

10.   What has your experience been volunteering your medical skills within the community? 

11.  What do you suggest doing to renew your commitment to nursing?

Connecting with Doctors

Connecting with Doctors

Communicating with physicians on a professional level is easier said than done. Putting your new knowledge to practice with physicians whose knowledge depth seems endless can be both challenging and intimidating. Unfortunately no single technique will work to gain respect from all doctors since each doctor’s personality and boiling points are different and unique. If a nurse wants to form a connection with the doctors, he or she must put aside personal feelings, remain assertive, collegial, and professional.

With careful word choices and using ones best tact to communicate, chances to develop a mutually respectful relationship with the physicians increase. No worries, all nurses eventually will experience relief from the fear of communicating with doctors.

Answer the questions to the best of your ability describing in what ways have your learned to develop a relationship with physicians and be the best communicator you know how to be.

 

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

1.    How have you gained the respect of a physician?

2.    What would make a doctor not trust you?

 

The Intimidators

 

3.    Why you think some doctors intimidate nurses? Explain your thoughts.

4.    What’s your approach to speaking with a doctor who you feel is unapproachable or intimidating?

 

The Angered Physician

 

5.    Whether an overlooked order or a procedure not completed within acceptable time limits, physicians can get angry. Is there any way to diffuse their anger before it escalates too far?

6.    Is there a “good” or “bad” way to tell a physician about a mistake? Describe.

7.    When a doctor is mad and you find yourself at the center of his/her insults, what’s your plan of action?

8.   What can you describe as a major “don’t” when dealing with an angered physician?

 

Just the Facts Ma’am

 

9.   How do you best approach a physician to discuss patient care problems?

10.   Physicians want the fast facts. How do you stay brief and refrain from telling the physician the whole report from beginning to end?   

 

Difficult Discussions

 

11.   There will always be a time when you have to approach a doctor with a controversial issue and suggest different treatment or plan of care. Describe your most recent or prevalent one and how did the situation get resolved.

 

12.   Is there a wrong way to approach a physician concerning a controversial issue? Explain.

13.   Think of a situation when a physician did not change his/her mind and in the end everything did not turn out well, what did you say to the physician?

Think Before Dialing

14.   What’s your advice about ensuring a successful conversation with the physicians over the phone after you paged him?

15.   How do you know who to call when a patient has nine different doctors on their case?

16.   If you had to give one piece of advice to a new nurse regarding calling a physicians, what would you say?

Residing Residents

 

 

Residing Residents

17.   When dealing with residents, what should a new nurse keep in mind?

18.   Describe a situation where the resident made things less easy?

19.   Describe a situation where the resident made things easier?

Being in Charge

Being in Charge

One of the primary duties of a nurse is to lead others and to coordinate the patient’s care. To be successful, a nurse needs to understand the art of delegation and how to direct others without letting them feel “bossed around” or subordinate. Graduates must not play the game of delegating and disappearing, participating in the workload along side with the ancillary staff members is vital to building strong relationships. As a leader, it is important to motivate others, match appropriate assignments to the appropriate people, and energize the team’s morale.

Being in charge is not easy but please share some ways that you know how to go about being that well-respected team leader.

Delegating

1. Describe your approach in delegating a task to someone?

2. What is an non-cosntructive way to communicate an assignment to them?

3. Upon task follow up you find that the task is not poorly completed or not doneat all, how do you respond?

4. What's a key concept to remember when delegating a task?

Becoming the Leader

5. What obstacles did you encounter when you transitioned from student to nurse?

6. At what point did you gain respect from the ancillary staff members?

7. What are some other ways to becoming a good leader?

 

  

 

Connecting with Coworkers

Connecting with Coworkers  

 

Establishing and maintaining a good rapport with coworkers is crucial to ease the transition into nursing. From subordinate to equivalent, from student to nurse, it is an art and skill to convince others you are one individual deserving respect and worthy to be a member of the team.   Becoming a respected member on the team can be easy for those individuals who take correction well, always maintain a positive attitude, and remain calm in the face of stress. Unfortunately nobody is fashioned with all these features therefore, a new nurse needs to work hard and discipline him or herself to be aware of their own actions and be sensitive to others. If graduates want to befriend the new team members they must 1. Take notice and quickly adapt to the unwritten rules of the team through observations   2. Consider how coworkers operate and find the best way to synchronize with the established team 3. Avoid the human traps of gossip and overconfidence, as these will surely guarantee failure.  

 

Simply answer these questions and tell me what you would advise to a new graduate concerning how to become an accepted member of the nursing team.

1.    Good first impressions are a must, what are your tips for making a positive impact on your team?

 

2.    From your past experiences what are a few bad first impressions about new employees which initially left you disliking them?

 

3.    When did your opinion change about them?

 

4.    Then working with new team mates, what are some of your do’s and don’ts in communication?

 

5.    How do feel when people open up too much?

 

6.    When is it not appropriate to chat?

 

7.    A person continually volunteers information when not personally asked. Would you consider this team member to be arrogant and a know-it-all or just trying to be helpful answering questions?

 

8.    Where is the fine line between being helpful vs. arrogant?

 

9.    How do you personally feel about rumors in the workplace?

 

10.   What do you say when someone begins gossiping about another co-worker?

 

11.   What are some suggestions to befriend your coworkers at work?

 

12.   Think of your closest coworker, what helped you bond with them?

 

13.   Having a sense of humor is important, what are some ways of you bring humor into the workplace?

 

14.   Each team has an unwritten list of courtesy rules and etiquette which governs the standards and conduct of the team. From whose turn to answer the ringing phone to charting at a specific desk, what are some of your team’s unwritten courtesy rules?

 

15.   There is no I in Team. How is this in action on your unit?

 

16.   What are your suggestions on how to balance giving assistance to other team members with completing your own task list? compromise

 

17.   There is most often one difficult person who can become frustrating and almost impossible to work with. Without naming names, how is that person difficult and what are you doing about it?

 

 

End of Life and Spirituality

End of Life and Spirituality

No matter what type of unit a nurse may end up working, they’re going to confront the matters of death, end of life issues, and Palliative Care. These are emotionally trying times for friends and families when death occurs. Caring can especially become difficult when either the patient or the family fixes their attention on the quantity rather than the quality of life. Trying to remain sensitive while protecting your own unsettled emotions can be a considerable burden and take a good deal of mental effort. It is important that a nurse be emotionally and spiritually ready to be a presence during those critical moments. Let’s hear your experiences with death and dying.

1.    How do you approach family/caregivers when suggesting a different care/treatment plan (Full Code, DNR, or Palliative Care)?

2.    Have you ever failed to respond to the patient’s or family's unique request or preference? If yes, what ended up happening and what could have you done differently?

3.    In some situations a nurse is the one to first break the bad news to the family or caregiver, what do you say?

4.   Is coping and caring at the same time possible? Explain.

5.    Although you gave the best, most superior medical care ever, what was that true thing you think that really comforted the patient?

6.    Recall a time when the atmosphere in the patient’s room was full of fear and trepidation, what do you try to do to ease the anxiety?

7.    Whether young or old, when a patient is in the process of dying, what specific physical care do you try to provide?

8.    How about spiritually and emotionally care?

9.   What are your thoughts on sharing your beliefs with the patient or families concerning death and dying?

10.   What statement do you make to comfort the family dealing with the imminent death of a loved one?

11.   How do you comfort the family dealing with the unexpected death of a loved one?

12.   The stages of anticipatory grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Which phase do you find to be most difficult for a nurse to treat and handle?

13.   After death, what do you lead the family to do?

14.   How do you feel after a difficult death or after losing a patient unexpectedly?

15.   How do you overcome feelings of failure if such is the case?

16.   How do you reconnect with your sense of healing?

17.   What would you say to a nurse who states, “It’s too sad, I can’t continue on?”.

 

Challenging Patients and Therapeutic Dialogue

Challenging Patients and Therapeutic Dialogue

One of the many challenges of patient care is caring for a difficult patient or family member. This includes caring for substance abusers, the mentally ill, non-compliant patients, confused patients, and patients with uncontrolled pain. It can even be more challenging caring for those who are socially, culturally, and philosophically different. While nursing these patients can alone become wearisome, don’t forget about the variety of family member and visitor personalities. How do you therapeutically handle the most challenging situations?

1.    What complaints do you typically hear from patients?

2.  How did you respond to a patient communicating their anger and mistrusts?

3.    How do you ensure good pain control?

4.    If a complaint is about uncontrolled pain, how do you respond?

5.    What do you say if a patient communicates an issue regarding another department or another coworker?

6.    Frustrations with patients is inevitable, how do you respond during these interactions?

7.   How do you respond to patients and family members who continually verbalize their displeasure?

9.   How do you manage non compliant patients?

10.   What’s your advice to the new nurse concerning disruptive or abusive patient with inappropriate behavior?

11.   How do you handle the disrespectful, socially inappropriate family member?

12.   How do you protect yourself and ensure “safety” for all?

13.   How do you therapeutically care for the difficult population such as alcohol abusers, prescription medications abusers, and patients who use illicit drugs?

14.   It’s difficult to care for the mentally impaired or mentally ill patient. What is most challenging for you and how do you care therapeutically?

15.   What special considerations do you follow when taking care of a patient who is suicidal?

16.   Do you give into a patients disillusions or reorient the patient? Why?

17.   How do you overcome the communication barriers for those patients with hearing impairment, speech impairment, language, cultural difference, or illiteracy?

18. Listening is the best medicine, but where do you draw the line?

19.  Tell of a time when going above and beyond greatly benefited a patient/family situation.

20.   What are things somethings you should never say to an already upset patient?

Mentorship

Mentorship

According to many journal articles, one of the most important factors contributing to the success of a new nurse is whether or not they have a mentor. It’s undeniably true that new nursing graduates need someone to counsel, make recommendations, guide, and even deliver constructive criticism to make for a successful transition into the nursing workplace. What are your thoughts on Mentors and Mentorship?

 

1. What's a good reason to have a mentor?

2. Is a mentor the same person as your preceptor/orientator? Explain your answer.

3. How did you go about finding your mentor (that person you could trust, learn from, and ask questions)?

4. What if you were in a new job and couldn't find that person to officially "mentor" you, what would you do?

5. Complete these sentences.

 

• My mentors qualities that I most admired were...
• The would always...
• They should never...

6. Who is better at mentoring, a nurse who has been in the profession for ions or a nurse who has only been at it for several years?

7. We all know that "someone" on the unit who is a great nurse but a bad teacher. Tell of a specific incident.

8. Did you and would you recommend getting in touch with other new nurses to develop some sort of "support group"?

 

 

 

Basics of Organization

Basics of Organization

Did you miss out on Nursing Organization 101 in college? Don’t woory you're not alone. Accomplishing many routine tasks in a chaotic, disruptive environment can be frustrating and detrimental to the spirit of a new nurse. An efficient system of organization must be developed quickly for doctors, patients, family members, and other team members all rely on a nurse’s ability to coordinate care. Whether taking report, giving report, charting, or trying to prioritize tasks, the whirlwind of information must be organized to ensure a smoother shift.

Relate your experiences to the graduate nurse concerning organization and keeping information together.

1.    Many nurse have a "brain" or "cheat sheet" which contains pertinent patient information creatively organized on a sheet of paper. Tell me how did you develop your "brain" ?

2.   In a hospital or similar setting, the report at shift change can be a difficult time for both the nurses coming on and for nurses trying to get off. Name some common courtesies that are good for ongoing and offgoing nurses to practice during report time. 

3.   What is the advice would give to a new nurse about preparing for shift report? 

4.   Charting is like a chewy candy, do you do it Now or Later?

5.    What's your take on charting and how do keep yourself on track?  

6.   Most nurses must know job specific information such as paging doctors after hours, telephone extensions, diagnostic test protocols, and usual lab turn-around time, how did you know and keep up with all this information on your job?  

7.   How do you prioritize and manage your tasks in a busy environment?

8.   How do you prevent yourself from feeling overwhelmed and avoid emotional overload?

Starting Off Right

Starting Off Right

There are always a few things to be considered when starting a new career, especially in nursing. Simple matters for consideration include choosing a nursing specialty, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the unit, and corresponding the units goals and personality with your own. The new position is also going to require some smaller yet undeniably important preparations.  Equipment such as shoes, stethoscopes, scissors, and pens prove to be invaluable tools for any nurse. Also having healthy feet, legs, and a strong back are important and essential to ensure a long nursing career. What’s a new nurse to keep in mind to best prepare themselves for their new career?

1. How did you know what unit was a right fit for you?

2. Say the new nurse chooses a unit known to others as “difficult”. How do they know the difference between a healthy challenge, pushing you to be better versus an overwhelming, frustrating, poorly managed unit? Give a personal example if possible.

3. A key to being a successful nurse is to quickly get familiarized with the unit and hospital. How did you scope out the scene and learn the routines, protocols?

4. How did you as new nurse get familiar location of equipment and even learning the location of other departments? 

Essentials

1. Do you have any pen preferences?

2. What is your opinion on shoes?

3. Stethoscopes?

4. How about scrubs?

5. Any tips on scissors?

6. Compression Stockings?

7. What are some other on the job "must haves"?

8. Nurses backs, legs, and feet take such a beating at work, do you have a special strategy to relieve some of the pain and soreness?

9. Some nurses have handy references/fact reminders is there is something you have to had and couldn't work without?

The Culture Shock

The Culture Shock

A great culture shock awaits the nursing graduates as they move from the student nurse to registered nurse. New nurses envision grateful patients, easy-going doctors, and helpful, supportive co-workers awaiting them at their workplace. When they realize the responsibilities are greater, the pace is faster, and some attitudes are negative, they are left feeling overwhelmed, disappointed, and frustrated.

The "culture shock" is awaiting new nurses at the door of the hospital or clinic. If they are not ready to handle their new emotions they will experience a longer healing period recovering from the stresses from the transition. Every nurse can name that moment when they thought this is not like nursing school. Help these new nurses brace themselves and move from clinicals to "real world" nursing.

1. Initially, when you transferred from nursing school into your nursing unit you had developed some expectations of how things were going to be and flow. What expectation of yours was not filled and became your biggest disappointment?

2. Name an instance or situation you did not anticipate or expect to encounter.

3. As a new nurse, learning has to happen at the speed of light, tell of a situation when you realized your learning pace needed some speeding up.

4. How did you remember and organize all that information you were supposed to learn for your job?

5. What’s your coping defense in preventing information overload?

6. One must quickly learn to deal the two forces in nursing if they want to survive. They are defined as “what you want to do vs. what you can do”. Tell me how this true in your nursing practice and if you struggled with this when you first started in nursing.

7. Were you shocked when you became aware of how many tasks needed attention, and all at the same time? How did you handle yourself and recommend a new nurse to do?

8. Describe the actual attitudes and personalities of your new coworkers, how were they different/similar than you expected?

9. How about your expectations of “team work”. Better or worse? Please explain.

10. Each nurse has their own limits concerning patience with patients, what weaknesses or strengths did you discover?

11. It can take several weeks to several years before a nurse grasps the concept that he or she is the one responsible for the patient’s life. When and how did you realize this?

12. If you could tell a new nurse the range of emotions they would experience on any given day, what would you say?