“You are a healer, a friend, a team leader, a collaborator, a communicator, a physiologist, a chemist, a missionary, a minister, a manager, and a whole person. You are a nurse!”
-David W. Woodruff, MSN, RN, CNS, CEN
President, Ed4Nurses, Inc.
Encouragement. Although I do not profess to be a dictionary nor do I know anyone named Webster, it seems to me that the word “encouragement” means more than to just support.
I’ve heard the word “courage” defined as: “acting in spite of fear.” Instead of being fearless, the courageous one may be afraid but she doesn’t let it stop her. Taking a certification exam when you are afraid of failing is one way to be courageous. The Encarta dictionary describes courage as the “quality of being brave.” I’m not sure that the nurse taking the certification exam would consider herself “brave,” but she is “acting in spite of fear.” Either way, she is not letting fear control her.
It has been said that F.E.A.R. is an acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real. In other words, you are interpreting the situation as being dangerous, difficult, uncertain, or painful. Another person might interpret the same situation as being enjoyable or exhilarating. Taking a certification exam is probably not enjoyable, but many people will interpret it as merely inconvenient instead of being difficult, uncertain, or painful. The key is that most of the fears that keep you from achieving your dreams are “false evidence.”
The prefix “en” means “to put into” or “to cause to be.” To “encourage” could be defined as “to cause to act in spite of fear.” Please take note of the fact than it says “to cause to act;” not simply to support. So with my definition of “encourage,” you would have to go beyond simply being nice and supportive; instead you would have to provide sufficient amounts of inspiration, motivation, and support to cause the other person to act.
Words alone will probably not inspire a sufficient amount of courage to act in the face of fear; but your actions often can. When you act in spite of fear it inspires others to do so; and when they see how much you have changed as a result of acting with courage it motivates others too.
Mary, a 74 year-old critical care nurse, studied for the CCRN, took the test, and passed it! Even though she was planning to retire at 75, Mary wanted to be a role-model for the other nurses in her unit. Mary was afraid that she would not pass the exam (that’s why she was at my CCRN class), but she acted anyway because her desire to make a difference and inspire others became more important to her than her fear. In other words, she acted in spite of fear so that she could encourage (cause to act in spite of fear) her co-workers.
What’s holding you back? Is it the False Evidence Appearing Real; or is it the lack of a desire to make a difference? When you act in spite of fear and display courage it inspires others to do so too. What have you accomplished that you can share with others to “encourage” them to act in spite of their fear so that they can make a difference?
"The only opinion about your dream that really counts is yours. The negative comments of others merely reflect their limitations - not yours." -Cynthia Kersey, Author of Unstoppable
Best wishes,
David W. Woodruff, MSN, RN, CNS, CEN
President, Ed4Nurses, Inc.
www.Ed4Nurses.com
www.DWoodruff.com
Philosophically nurses know that research is important to clinical practice. In a recent study by Donna Jo McClosky, nurses agreed that research helps to build a scientific knowledge base for practice and that research is needed to continually improve nursing practice. Nurses would even change their practice based on research findings. Yet, those same nurses that were surveyed stated that nursing research is not conducted in their hospital and that occupational therapists and physical therapists would not support their use of clinical research; nor would nurses support the use of research findings for their peers.
Most nurses also said that they did not have access to research findings at work and that there were no in-service programs presented on research findings at their hospital. There was also the feeling that there was no time to read about research at work and that colleagues didn't bring current research to the attention of staff nurses.
As a staff nurse, these findings should make you a little uncomfortable. If, as the survey indicates, research is important to your practice, then you ought to be finding ways to bring research to work to share with your colleagues; and to base your practice on research principles.
As an educator or manager, understand that many nurses in the clinical setting do not see evidence of your dedication to integrating research into practice and that your institution needs to make sure that research efforts are visible and that the results of both internal and external research needs to be clearly evident to the nurse practicing at the bedside.
From: McClosky, D.J. (2008). Nurses’ perceptions of research utilization in a corporate healthcare system. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 40:1039-45.
Best wishes,
David W. Woodruff, MSN, RN, CNS, CEN
President, Ed4Nurses, Inc.
www.Ed4Nurses.com
Lead, follow, or get out of the way. Okay, so maybe that is a little harsh. But when you think of the three options it makes you wonder which one you are actively involved in. As a nurse are you leading? Are you a follower? Or are you just going to throw in the towel and get out of the way.
I think the phrase was originally written for those people who resist leadership and instead of participating in leading, or instead of supporting their leaders, they try resisting leadership attempts. So, the message in this phrase is either take on constructive leadership of your own, support the leader, or get out of the way. In the past, most nurses either got out of the way or resisted the leadership. They felt disempowered to be able to provide any leadership of their own and they didn’t like the current direction that the leadership was taking them.
It is important to understand that every nurse is a leader. You are currently leading your patients, their families, and your peers whenever you work. So let me suggest another paradigm instead of lead, follow, or get out of the way. That would be to actively lead by acting on strategies in order to improve healthcare. Actively and enthusiastically follow by providing your time, energy, and support of leadership efforts. Or, if you don’t agree with the leadership efforts, rather than resisting the leadership, lead from where you are.
You don’t have to have a management position in order to be able to lead. You can lead by setting an example. You can lead by becoming the nurse that you want to be. If you actively pursue clinical excellence and critically analyze your knowledge, skills, and professional practice and take steps to improve in every area; you will be leading your peers and yourself toward better patient care and in this way will be leading from where you are.
Think about your leadership. How are you demonstrating your leadership to yourself, to your peers, to your patients and their families and begin to critically analyze how you can develop better leadership skills in your own life and as an example for those people that you work with. By doing so, you will become a positive example and a powerful influence on healthcare and on everyone around you.
Best wishes,
David W. Woodruff, MSN, RN, CNS, CEN
President, Ed4Nurses, Inc.
I was taught that experience is the best teacher. Instead, I would like to suggest that experience, by itself, is not the best teacher and in some cases may actually delay learning.
We all know someone who has practiced for 20 or 30 years and their skills are no better than the new graduate with one year experience. It is important what you do with your experience. Many people will have one year experience that they repeat 20 times. Other nurses will get 20 years of experience. There's a big difference.
If you reflect on the experiences you have, learn from them and identify your shortcomings so that you can strengthen those areas, then experience is valuable. On the other hand, if you repeat the same experience over and over again without reflecting on what went well and what didn't then you are unlikely to learn from it.
Reflecting on experience involves learning your shortcomings and endeavoring to learn more about your craft and develop a plan for future professional development. In order for experience to be valuable you must make time for reflection. Better yet, plan your reflection time along with a mentor to identify your strengths and weaknesses and to find meaning in the experience.
It is when you examine and reflect upon your experiences that experience becomes valuable. Simply having the experience will do little to improve your professional practice. Make experience your best teacher by finding a mentor and reflecting upon your experiences with their help and guidance. With every experience look for one thing that you could improve upon before you have that experience again. It is the process of examined experience that will lead to higher levels of professional growth, better professional practice and more personal satisfaction with your career.
Best wishes,
David W. Woodruff, MSN, RN, CNS, CEN
President, Ed4Nurses, Inc.
