A nursing story. A walk down memory lane.

I was sorting through my photos the other day (yes old school real life photos) and found a bunch of old photos from me as a student and also from my new grad years. 

They reminded me so much of everything I have gone through in the last decade as a nurse. I just thought that I would share them with you!

Oh wow, this brings back so many memories. The truth is, this was after one of my first OSCAs. An OSCA is one of the practical assessments the uni does in their labs. It was in my first year. I loved nursing but totally went to jelly in this assessment. I just scraped a pass. My confidence was shaken. I remember the assessor being cold and not encouraging.  But I tried to laugh and joke with all my uni friends as they told me how well they went. 

Ah, another one. Finishing my grad year. The whole world lay at my feet. I was so pumped and excited. I had already had a few emotional knocks that year. I wish now looking at this excited young lady that I had started working on stress and burnout. But I didn’t. It wasn’t discussed. There was no warning. It would build up until one day crying in the toilets at work, I questioned if it was time to quit. 

This is a more recent photo! Like night and day. To me- speaking from the inside. Would you believe this picture was taken in April at the height of the pandemic. But I was back in scrubs and thrilled to feel like a ‘real’ nurse again. But this time it was different. I was prepared to calm my stress post shifts and also I had found my place in the nursing world. I am happy! 

Wow, it’s amazing how things have changed for me. If someone had told me in the past that I would be where I am today, I would have just smiled politely in disbelief.

I am so grateful for everything that I have gone through… even the failures! It was horrible back then and I wouldn’t wish for anyone to experience what I have been through, but my experiences have made me so much stronger.

These photos may seem like random photos to you, but they hold so much significance for me. They show me the times, places and feelings that I can draw on to help people. I think student nurses need my support. I think new grads and experienced nurses need my support. It is those at the start of the journey or really anyone, anywhere along the path, who can benefit from stress prevention, which I am really dedicated to providing. 

Anyone reading this who feels they need some help should start here with our Love Your Work course. Click here for more info. 

Thank you for going down memory lane with me.  Here’s to creating many more memories with you all.

Myths to bust about stress in nursing

Today, we will cover the 3 toxic myths about stress in nursing, that all student nurses and more experienced nurses MUST break away from in order to achieve career happiness. 

Getting your mindset right is truly the #1 thing you have to conquer if you want to succeed in nursing. As the popular saying goes, ‘You are your worst enemy and best asset’.

From coaching many nurses and student nurses from all walks of life over the last couple of years, I can tell you that the best and most content nurses are those with the right mindset, attitude and belief about managing stress at work. 

It's myth-busters time my friend! Time to realign your perspectives and make things right 

 Myth #1: All work stress is bad.

 Everyone talks about trying to get rid of all work stress. This approach will not help anyone. It is never going to happen and will just lead to disappointment. People think this as many people talk about stress in nursing from only one negative angle. 

But in our work, stress and its by products can be a really helpful motivation. Your patient is coding. That little buzz of stress and adrenaline is what is going to help you survive that shift. But obviously too much stress for too long will make you sick. 

Myth #2: You cannot control stress

 Now this one is SO not true. People also say that stress and nursing are an inevitable pair. This is because people are taking on and staying in jobs which just aren’t right for them. Career clarity can really help here. While it is not always possible to control the source of stress in nursing, there are some really simple and helpful coping strategies which can make a big difference. Shift recovery techniques like exercise and scheduled fun in your diary are just a couple of examples of ways which are really effective stress busters.

I have personally worked with some nurses who have used the RCA formula for career clarity with the specific task of decreasing stress in their work. I know that you can too!

Myth #3: Stress is the same for everyone.

Again not true. We don’t all experience stress the same way. It’s different for everybody. You may be stressed out by a high-pressure job, while your coworker thrives on it. This is also where using RCA can really help you find your place. 

 Myth #4: No symptoms, no stress.

I can totally understand why someone would believe this as I’ve been there myself. I have seen time and time again that despite not having any outward symptoms people are still experiencing stress which needs to be managed.

 Many people believe that just because they feel they aren’t experiencing stress then they can’t be stressed! Stress can impact people in a psychological and/or physical way. 

Common physical signs include feeling anxious, run down or short of breath. Feeling overwhelmed, disorganized and having difficulty concentrating are all signs of psychological stress.

Why is believing in these 4 myths problematic?

 Because believing in these 4 myths will stop you from taking the right action for you. Your confidence is affected, you don't seek guidance and subsequently, you can't transform love for your work into a thriving career as a result.

 As someone who helps people manage their work burnout for a living, I have seen breakthroughs and I know that it is not difficult for you to again love your work. IF you have the right guidance.

Many people search fruitlessly for information online and when that doesn't work, they give up. I don’t want you to give up because I can do this with you!

You can do this! Don't for a second doubt yourself.

Next week we look at real life stress busters for you to include in your life. 

Pre Shift

Your alarm goes off. What time - 5? 6? Likely your morning shift starts at 7 am or 7:30 am right? Are you feeling rested? Are you mentally alert to safely handle the changing status of your patients over the day? 

What are you going to do in the next hour or so before your shift? Have you thought about this? 

Same for an afternoon or a night duty (Bless you! I didn’t last long on night duty!) what are your pre-shift behaviours- outside of putting your scrubs on and chucking your phone in your bag?

I want to make the pre-shift hours easier for you. Nurses who feel sufficiently recovered have less near misses and certainly make fewer mistakes at work. Quite literally what you do off shift can make a huge difference to someone's life. 

A rushed and uninspired pre-shift can create a negative and unproductive shift. No thanks. 

So now with this new knowledge that your pre-shift behaviours can have a huge impact are you going to spend a few minutes assessing what you do? Will you look at including some more intentional and conscious behaviours to your pre-shift party?

I’ll share what is quite truly one of my most important pre-shift behaviours. 

• On my walk from the car to the hospital, I play an upbeat and vibrant song. Something that lifts the spirit and makes you strut a little. I have a Pre Shift Pump Up playlist on Spotify if you want to peek. Click here. 
• Write my 3 most pressing tasks for the day
• Say a mantra in my mind while I get settled i.e. ‘It’s going to be a great day’ (I change the words most days!)

Share with me some of your pre-shift behaviours. Do it here or on my latest insta post. You just may inspire someone. 

What next?

Next week we will look at post shift recovery.

Also The Phoenix Protocol is a membership for nurses seeking guidance with life skills to cope on shift and off shift. The membership involves monthly masterclass videos, worksheets and much more. 

Click here to join our mailing list for when the doors are opened again.

The one thing to make a difference

I wanted to write this blog to share something I've learned with you. This is something I work on daily and I want you to do the same thing. Some time ago I felt trapped and tired in my role. Then I started working daily on this one thing and that is when the magic happened. 

Trying to be a nurse on someone else’s terms gets tiring after a while. It happens to the best of us. I was at the point of leaving nursing or doing something drastic. I had the opportunity to go on some leave so I went for it. On this leave I had a chance encounter with the following quote:

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer”  - Albert Camus.

Albert and I had first met when I studied The Outsider in my last year of high school. (If you have not read this then do yourself a favour!!)

Reading this quote when I felt down switched a light on in me. And I realised that it all began and ended with me. That I could change and that I shouldn’t expect everything else to change. 

After that realisation, I felt so refreshed and gained so much clarity on how to love my work again. My life outside work was pretty amazing but I was letting this part of my life, which I wasn’t managing, take over the good parts. 

I realized that there’s this ONE thing that made such a big difference for me when it comes to getting career clarity.  And this one thing isn’t taught in our schools (well it wasn’t when I was at school!) and it certainly wasn’t taught to me when I was at university studying nursing.

Have you guessed it yet?

Yes, it is….

Growth Mindset!

Without a growth mindset you allow yourself to stay small. You don’t allow your space to grow and thrive and learn and grab the best that career and life can offer you. You will see any bad shift as a knock and allow it to take a little piece of you. Growth mindset is about acknowledging how life  sometimes gives you a lemon and then making that into lemonade. I fear for the people who haven't found this little life gem yet. 

Here are some of the fav ways you can start on your growth mindset journey.

●Embrace imperfections. 

●View a challenge as a learning opportunity not as a negative. Think ‘what can I learn from this’?

●Dissociate lack of improvement from failure. Someone telling you that you can’t do something doesn’t mean you never can. 

Now it's over to you my Angels. 

Stop what you are doing and head over to my socials and tell me about your experience with growth mindset. Share some tips or tricks you use or which tip you are going to try this week. 

Remember it is not how good you are, it is how good you want to be. 

The REALLY underutilised secret to finding your niche.

The underutilised secret to finding your niche. Drum Roll…..

A nurse mentor!

When done properly a nurse mentor can be life and career-changing. This is especially true of new nurses as a mentor can be invaluable for their education and their preparation as a nurse in the real world (outside uni and pracs).  A nurse mentorship can be formal via your hospital or informal.  

Nurse mentorships aren’t overly common in Australia but they should be.  If there is none offered in your work what then? I am setting you a challenge.  Find someone who you want to be your mentor and ask them!  This shows you are forward-thinking and the person will be incredibly flattered. Yes, it can be nerve-racking BUT is that one moment of nerves not an amazing pay off for the many benefits which can come from a mentor? Yes, it is. 

What is a nurse mentor?

 A nurse mentor is an experienced nurse who volunteers to serve as a role model, advocate and motivator to help new nurses settle into their careers. Mentors serve to provide formal and informal training, support and counselling to new nurses within safe environments, in and out of clinical settings. This relationship can last from months to years depending on how much each party wants from it. 

What does a nurse mentor do?

After completing all your academic work and practical placements, nurses begin their journey into nursing. Once you are in the real-world health care workplace, you may be struck by the pressures and intensity of the nursing profession. This is where nurse mentors are needed to provide guidance and share their clinical experiences to help new nurses gain confidence in their roles.

Who can use a mentor?

Anyone! At any stage of your career really. Mentorships have been found to be a really successful way to achieve professional growth and personal development of new grad nurses but also other nurses who are transitioning into new roles. If you are a nurse you should consider getting yourself a mentor. 

So what makes a good mentor?

Here are 8 key points that help to foster an effective mentorship.

1. Commitment

Mentoring is an ongoing active process. A mentor needs to be willing to invest time and energy in a one-on-one relationship.

If you make a commitment to do it, you must fully commit to it, please. It is not fair for either party if you start letting it taper off. Think of it as a contribution to advancing the future of nursing. 

If we really want to retain good nurses we need to all be giving back when we can and supporting other nurses. 

It is a real privilege to be a mentor- you get to watch someone new grow in their career and in their personal achievements. Amazing!

2. Supportive

A mentor’s role is primarily to support and encourage other nurses to manage their own learning in order to develop their skills.

Mentors need to be approachable, reasonable and competent nurses themselves. They need to be committed to helping mentees achieve the success of which they are capable of. A good mentor not only strengthens the mentee as a nurse but also as a person as well.

3. Role Model

The mentor is the guide, expert and role model who helps develop a new or less experienced mentee. Mentors need to use experience and insights that helped them to help others. The mentor needs to be walking their talk. They should role model the desired behaviours of a successful nurse. 

4. Realistic expectations

It is vital that mentors and mentees have realistic expectations of their joint goals. Set limits for how often to meet and what needs to happen at each meeting. When I say meeting I mean coffee in the cafeteria, this doesn't have to be formal and stuffy! Patience, honesty and collaboration with each other will help foster stronger relationships.

5. The right fit

Mentoring is an ongoing relationship between a mentor and mentee for as long as both find meaning and value in it. It is really important that you click with the person. Trust your gut, don’t pick someone who you know isn't right for you but think they will help you get where you want. If it's not working once you start, then cut your losses sooner rather than later. 

6. Appropriate mentor

It is crucial that the mentor knows what it is like to be in the position of the mentee. They should know the role and therefore be able to guide you with insider info. They can help you by sharing their personal pitfalls and experiences.

7. Positivity

Ideally, a mentor should be someone who is passionate about their career and passionate about sharing knowledge. You really need someone who is positive and enthusiastic. They should have the right motivation for being a mentor. It shouldn't be something for their CV only. Look for genuine interest in both parties. 

8. Know your own limitations

It’s important to be willing to know your limits as a mentor. Admit when you don’t know something and work together to find out the answer. This is great role modelling and shows how to work within your scope of practice.

Action point:

• Think about if getting a mentor may be the right thing for you. If it is then JUMP IN! Ask someone and let me know it turns out.

Email me at beth@autonomic.com.au if you have any questions or hit me up on the socials.