Stress can be emotional, physical, or spiritual. The first step in handling stress is to make sure we understand how we cope with it. As nurses, we can make the assumptions that our personal life and our work life cause us stress. There is really no need to make a list of our stressors, as this might cause us more stress. But, we have all developed ways to handle our stress: Sometimes we develop adaptive ways (yoga class once a week) and other times we use...  Read More »

After a couple of our recent NCLEX articles about waiting for results and finding success, we received an interesting email. Lawrence Underwood, a recent nursing school graduate from Illinois, told us he whizzed through the NCLEX in only 35 minutes. Thirty-five minutes!? We had to hear more. Here’s his story: Two years of school and countless hours of studying and anxiety all boiled down to one simple test: the NCLEX (insert scary music here). After...  Read More »

After a couple of our recent NCLEX articles about waiting for results and finding success, we received an interesting email. Lawrence Underwood, a recent nursing school graduate from Illinois, told us he whizzed through the NCLEX in only 35 minutes. Thirty-five minutes!? We had to hear more. Here’s his story: Two years of school and countless hours of studying and anxiety all boiled down to one simple test: the NCLEX (insert scary music here). After...  Read More »

Some states seem to have the nursing shortage in check. In others, it can be difficult to find a job as an RN. So what’s all this talk about the shortage? Welcome to Florida. A recent study released by the Florida Center for Nursing Care says the Sunshine State is facing a shortage that, by 2020, is "capable of crippling the healthcare system." According to the study, the state was short 11,000 nurses in 2007 and will be short more than 50,000...  Read More »

“As if reading their minds is not enough . . .” And the winner is . . . (drum roll, please) . . . Donna Larrabee! Congratulations, Donna! Thanks to everyone who submitted a caption. They were all hilarious! And, we’ll be back next week with a brand new cartoon! Will YOU be the next winner?   Read More »

Former pilot Gary L. Sculli, RN, MSN, ATP, no longer works in the skies. But some might say he now leads his nursing unit to even greater heights. Aviation safety concepts Sculli learned during his previous career are changing the way his staff members practice nursing at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, TN. Now nurse manager of a 40-bed unit, he has transferred his knowledge and experiences in the air to the bedside in the quest to improve safety in patient...  Read More »