Nurse Insights

By Alexandrea Weis RN-CS I’m often asked what drove me to pursue a career in writing. Like most things in life, there is no easy answer. I started writing poetry and short stories at the age of eight. Words mattered, and finding the right ones that imparted emotion became an obsession. I excelled at writing, … Continue reading “Putting Down the Stethoscope and Picking Up the Pen”

By: Erica Deery, LPN If you want to be a nurse but are scared or don’t know where to start, I GET YOU. I was 24 and completely lost, with no idea what direction I was going in, career wise. I wanted to be a nurse but was afraid to start. I was convinced I … Continue reading “CNA to RN: My Nursing Journey”

By: Samantha Huron BSN, RN, CCRN   Have you ever thought about going back to school to get an advanced practice nursing degree, but haven’t decided which profession is the one for you? Well, you are not alone and I am here to tell you about a day in the life of a student registered … Continue reading “A Day in the Life of a SRNA”

By: Mallori Walker MSN, RN, CPNP Professionally, I am a pediatric nurse practitioner, a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advocate, and a nursing educator. In my professional work space, I am 1 of 1. I have been told by a patient that they did not want me to provide their care because of the color of my … Continue reading “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace”

By: Paige Randolph, FNP-C I’ve thought long and hard about when I was first introduced to the concept of nurse abuse, and I don’t think I truly understood it until it happened to me. In nursing school, I had this vision that it would be all sugar plums and rainbows when I would eventually interact … Continue reading “Nursing: A Dangerous Profession?”

By Carolyn Minks, FNP Raise your hand if you ever heard any of your nursing cohort announce that they wanted to work in Med-Surg when they graduated. I’ll wait. The answers in my class (from day ONE) went something like: ICU, PICU, NICU, pediatric oncology, ICU, PICU, PICU, ED. I quickly adopted my own answer … Continue reading “From ICU to Home Health: How Did I Know I Wasn’t Where I Belonged?”

By: Anonymous ICU Nurse Manager Get in, sit down, mask off…breathe.  As I sanitize my hands, I exhale the stress of the day while listening to the silence of my car.  The COVID ICU is loud.  These thirty seconds of silence at the end of my day are my favorite.  It’s here that relief, anger … Continue reading “Managing a Pandemic”

By: Hannah Lease BSN, RN Have you made the decision to go to school for nursing and are worrying about how you’re going to survive?  You are not alone, my friend!   A quick little backstory about me… I recently graduated from a 16-month accelerated BSN program in December and took my NCLEX in early February.  … Continue reading “Surviving Nursing School and Beyond: Mental Health Edition”

By Brittney L Wallace, BSN, RN After seven months of floating around the hospital and working the frontline, COVID finally got me. I had awful body aches, excruciating headaches, and chills for over a week. On day ten, it was like a light switch—I felt like my old self again, which meant: it was time … Continue reading “The Day I Got My Label”

Paige Randolph, FNP-C When anxiety sets in, I feel emotionally smothered. It becomes hard to concentrate, to feel emotion, or even think clearly enough to get through day to day tasks. From March to May of 2020 I was working in a major hospital COVID ICU with thirty-six beds. I have never been one to … Continue reading “Feeling Smothered: One Morning in a COVID ICU”