The Best Advice For Your Nursing Career, EPS 150

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To celebrate our 150th episode, we delve deep into the advice that we’ve received along the trajectory of our nursing careers. Meanwhile, RNFM Radio cohosts Keith Carlson, Kevin Ross, and Elizabeth Scala also dish their own advice, whether it be for nursing school, your bedside nursing career, or a journey into nurse entrepeneurship!

This podcast was inspired by a wonderful post written by Elizabeth over on Linked In. Elizabeth also published a related post on her own website, as well. What a treasure trove of inspiration!

Here are some tidbits from our conversation.

On nursing school:

• Keepo your ears open and be a sponge
• Be willing to do what’s right in front of you, and be present in the moment
• Know that, as a nurse, you may need to fulfill many roles (carpenter, plumber, etc)
• Go after what you want, and be open to what that role has to offer
• Begin building your professional network the very first day you sit in that classroom
• Begin using Linked In as soon as you decide to go to nursing school
• Join nursing associations (Elizabeth was just elected to the Board of the AHNA!)
• Be courageous enough to go against the grain of the myth that new grads have to get Med/Surg experience in order to be viable nurses
• Elizabeth recommends checking out Denetra Hampton, a nurse educator who she admires. Find her on About.Me and Twitter for starters

For the clinical nurse:

• If you’re working in units where patients may be volatile, never allow a patient to get between you and the door
• When working in home care, be ready for anything
• Look at the bigger picture, not just the minutiae
• Prioritize your own self-care and well-being. Don’t just cover shifts and work doubles because you think you “should”. Stay balanced.
• Consider planning for retirement and your financial well-being
• Don’t worry about getting pigeonholed in a particular specialty or practice area. Do what you love, move on when you’re ready, and do the next thing that floats your nursing boat

On nurse entrepreneurship:

• Build on your strengths and experiences
• Look at the broader picture of what skills and experiences you’re bringing to the table
• Patient care is customer service—you have that experience already
• So many nurses have skills that can be applied to the business space
• Nurses need to own what they do and what they know
• Credentials and degrees, are important, but not necessarily essential to business
• Offer the solution to a problem that people want solved
• You don’t have to jump head first into business; you can also do small projects, which some people call “profit projects”. Be willing to think small, if that works for you
• Position yourself as an expert in what you feel you’re expert in!
• Be aware of regulatory, licensing, and scope of practice issues if you’re offering medical advice or coaching
• Don’t do stuff that you don’t want to do
• Be willing to hustle and do what you love
• What’s simple is not always easy
• Consider it it’s fun. Ask yourself if you want to do it every single day
• Do you wake up every day and feel inspired?
• Be the nurse that’s inside of you

This was episode 150 of RNFM Radio, and we look forward to the next 150! Stay tuned as we continue to grow the platform and move towards our own bicentennial when we reach episode 200! We hope you’ll be with us to celebrate when that day comes!

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