The Pulse – October 2018
We love engaging with our nurse community, now totaling over half a million! We’re here to celebrate the work you do, recognize your pain points, and build solutions to make your life as a nurse better.
Blog
How to Recruit the Best Nurses
The country’s demand for healthcare providers shows no signs of slowing down. But this peak demand is making it difficult for nurse managers to find the help they need on the floor. Learn how nurse managers can find and hire the best nurses around.
The Benefits of Interprofessional Care Collaboration
While interprofessional care collaboration and peer review have long been the backbone of the healthcare industry, some care providers can fall out of step with their colleagues as they get set in their ways. But doctors and nurses should remember to reach out to those around them for advice and support to make sure they’re using the best treatment methods available.
The Challenges of Being a School Nurse and How to Resolve Them
If you’re working as the school nurse at a learning institution, you’ll quickly realize that practicing medicine outside of a healthcare environment comes with its own unique challenges.
What RNs Should Know Regarding Choice of RN to BSN Programs
Due to the demand, more and more RN to BSN programs are springing up – including online programs which allow nurses to earn their degree while continuing to work.
Tips for Caring for Those with Alzheimer’s
This September is World Alzheimer’s Month, a global event designed to raise awareness for dementia, how it affects patients around the world, and how individuals should care for those struggling with this disease.
Update! New Colors Available for Your Schedule Calendar
NurseGrid Mobile is getting an updated look! With beautiful, rich new colors for your worksites, you can pick new ways to customize the look of your favorite calendar app.
The Nurse Scheduling Problem and What to Do About It
One of the many struggles that go along with managing a nursing staff is the dreaded nurse scheduling problem. As a nurse manager, you have a lot of positions to fill at any given time, all the while juggling the concerns and demands of your administrator and your staff members.
What Nurses Need to Know About Cord Blood
Did you know: Cord blood or the cells found in the blood of the umbilical cord can be used to treat and develop treatments for a wide range of diseases and conditions, saving the lives of patients and advancing our understanding of medicine.
Obesity Is on the Rise: What Can Nurses Do to Help?
Obesity is on the rise in the U.S., and it shows no sign of slowing down. While nurses aren’t specifically responsible for the weight of their patients, they can help patients improve their diets and eating habits to reduce the risk of obesity.
Infographic: Nurse Recruitment & Retention
Check out our infographic to read more about how hospitals are tackling recruiting and retention among their staff.
Educating Patients and Nurses About the Dangers of Group B Strep
Because awareness about Group B Strep is so important, take the time to learn more about it and help your patients know about the dangers and signs of this bacteria.
Nurse Recruitment & Retention: For Love or Money?
In the face of these market conditions, numerous facilities are resorting to creative strategies to recruit and retain staff. Are the trending financial rewards and other incentives the best investment for hospitals looking to hire the right long-term fit or are they merely plugging holes for a costly, short-term fix?
Calling Off When You're Sick vs Going into Work to Avoid Write-Ups
When you’re a nurse, calling out of work comes with a lot of unintended consequences, including forcing your coworkers to pick up the slack, inhibiting a patient’s quality of care, and making your healthcare facility less efficient. But you’re a human being, and sometimes calling out of work is your best option.
Compassion Fatigue: Nurses at Risk
Nurses tend to exude a lot of compassion when they’re on the job. They have to comfort those that may be sick or injured, their family members, and deal with all kinds of difficult, emotionally complex situations.
Managing Your Department’s Schedule Just Got Easier
Today, we are excited to announce a big update and new features to NurseGrid Manager. With the release of our new Reassign, Split Shift, and Convert to Open Shift features, NurseGrid customers have even easier ways to manage their schedule.
How Nurses Can Address and Prevent Violence on the Job
Running a hospital is never easy, but nurse managers and supervisors need to do their part when it comes to protecting their nurses and colleagues. The healthcare industry has experienced a rapid uptick in violence on the job in recent years.
How Healthcare Workers Can Better Deal with Moral Distress in the Workplace
Life isn’t easy when you’re a nurse. But it’s not just the long hours that can be tough. Most nurses also have to deal with moral distress at some point during their careers.
What Nurses Should Do When Asked to Violate Board Statutes and Rules
What if the patient or supervisor asks a nurse to do something that would violate Board Statutes and Rules, such as falsifying medical records, performing a procedure that could harm the patient, or even assisting in criminal activity?
5 Valuable Lessons Every Nurse Must Learn on the Job
Being a nurse can be mentally and physically exhausting, especially if you’re right out of nursing school and you just landed your first job. If you’re just starting out as a nurse, use these lessons to make the best of your new position.
7 Reasons You Should Use NurseGrid to Manage Your Schedule
For years, hospitals have used outdated schedule distribution processes, making it hard for nurses to effectively balance their work and life. Here’s how the nurses, designers, and engineers behind NurseGrid modernized processes to healthcare scheduling and staffing.
How to Announce the Death of a Patient with Compassion
Nurses aren't numb to pain every time a patient dies on their watch, but every nurse needs to learn how to cope with death. That includes having the ability to speak to the deceased’s relatives and next of kin to let them know that their loved one has died.
Communicating Together
While many nurses are personable and able to have conversations, some nurses really struggle. The good news is that the skill can be learned and mastered, allowing for joyful and serious communications to occur without a major event. There are a few key points to mastering the art of conversation and confrontation.
Nursing the At-Home Patient: Special Considerations
If you’re taking care of a patient in their own home, you’ll quickly realize that things aren’t like they used to be. The predictability of the hospital is no more, and it’s up to you to deliver the best care possible in a changing environment.
Celebrate Men’s Health Month by Honoring Our Male Nurses
June is also an occasion to honor our male nurses, who set an example for men’s health awareness every time they come in for work. We have several male nurses on our staff here at NurseGrid, including our CEO!
Healing and Humor
If we do not address the heart, help to support the spirit and coping elements of the patient, we may ‘heal’ a short term medical problem but have ignored the patients emotional resolve to have long term success.
NurseGrid Pride
Today we are changing our logo on the NurseGrid Mobile App and across our social platforms in honor of Pride Month. Though small in terms of changes, we hope it speaks loudly to NurseGrid's support of the LGBTQ+ community and equality for all.
NurseGrid Expands Executive Team in Preparation for Growth
Today we are announcing the expansion of our executive team with two new Vice President appointments, a Chief Technology Officer, two internal Vice President promotions, and a new board member.
How Nurse Managers Can Recognize Signs of Burnout, Stress, and Depression in Their Nursing Staff
As a nurse manager, you know how hard your staff works. With so many long hours, some nurses can suffer from burnout, stress, and even depression.
It's OK to Say 'I Don't Know'
Nurses are the most trusted profession on the planet. But, one challenge that nurses sometimes face is the ability to acknowledge they need help or information before they can complete a task or provide care.
How Nurses Can Cope with Stress, Burnout, and Depression from the Job
If you or one of your colleagues is dealing with some of these issues, learn about some of the ways you can better cope with the stress of nursing.
How to Teach and Learn Soft Skills
One growing concern in the healthcare industry is a desire to help nurses find ways to connect with their patients more. When nurses connect with their patients more, the level of care rises and patients feel as if they are truly valued.
Pay Off Your Student Debt Faster: 5 Ways to Make Extra Cash
If you’re looking for a way to pay off your student loan debt as fast as possible, you can try leveraging your healthcare experience in all sorts of ways.
How Can I Become a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner?
Are you wanting to work in women's health? Women's health nurse practitioners or WHNPs perform many of the duties of a gynecologist and often provide pre and post-natal care for mothers. Here's how to start a career as a women's health nurse practitioner.
Introducing the ‘Nominate a Nurse’ Winners!
After reading through all of the submissions, we chose 5 that stood out. Check out the winners and what their nominators had to say about them.
5 Signs You Were Born to Be a Nurse Manager
Being a nurse manager isn’t for everyone. It’s a tough job that can feel like you’re being pulled in half a dozen different directions. As challenging as this role can be, some people thrive in this position. Here are five signs that your calling in life is to be a nurse manager.
Stand Out in the Job Market with These Nursing Tips
If you’re looking to land your first nursing job or find a better paying position, use these tips to stand out in the job market.
When a Nurse Made All the Difference – Stories from the NurseGrid Team
For Nurses’ Week we are sharing a few stories from our team about times when we were helped and cared for by nurses.
Celebrate All the Nurses in Your Life During 2018 Nurses Week
National Nurses Week is an annual celebration of all the hard-working men and women that have devoted their lives to helping others.
Nurses Week Celebration & Giveaway!
Nurses care for so much more than the just the primary dx, they tend to anxiety, fears, and sometimes anger(!) of all those in the room. That is why we take a whole week to celebrate nurses. And that is why we have a few ways to enter to win some awesome prizes this week.
How Engaged Nurses Can Make or Break a Hospital’s Success
How can you improve the services your facility provides while working with fewer resources and a limited budget? The answer may lie in nurse engagement.
A List of Nurse Rules from the Early 1900s
Medical technology has improved considerably over the last 100 years, and so has the relationship between a nurse and their patient. Take a look at some of the more surprising nurse rules from the early 1900s.
Nurse Burnout – How to Spot the Signs
If you’re worried about some of your nurses, learn how to spot nurse burnout before it’s too late.
Nurses Week 2018 – Enter to Win!
This year, we are honoring the ANA’s theme, of Inspire, Influence, and Innovate. We want to hear how you are inspiring your industry, influencing a colleague, or innovating in your field.
How NurseGrid Helped DaVita Increase Staff Satisfaction
When DaVita was looking for a way to increase their staff satisfaction, they turned to NurseGrid to help create a better way for managers to fill shifts, receive opportunities, ensure coverage, and distribute schedules – all from their phone.
4 Suggestions I Give Every Nurse Looking for a Job
After holding five different positions as a nurse over the last decade, here are a few tips I typically share when asked for advice on getting a job in the nursing field.
7 Ways Nurse Managers Can Boost Staff Satisfaction
The positive effects of increased staff satisfaction in nursing units are well researched. These 7 tips will help you to increase your staff’s satisfaction, making the rest of your goals much easier to achieve.
How NurseGrid is Saving Hospitals Time, Money, and Turnover
We looked at 100 NurseGrid accounts across the nation to see how much time and money we were saving them, and how our technology made an impact. Take a look at what we found.