Lorie A Brown, R.N., M.N., J.D., Author at Empowered Nurses

Your Nursing Mindset

August 25, 2022 6:58 pm Leave a Comment

What are your biggest concerns about being a nurse? I bet it’s the feeling that there’s not enough time, not enough resources, not enough staff, not enough support, etc.

All of these are based in lack. Unfortunately, hospitals want you to be in lack. They want to keep you in fear so you will stay. They want you to be afraid to leave.

This is a ploy by hospital administrators to keep nurses where they’re at and to disempower them. However, to be empowered and to have choices in our profession, we need to change our mindset to one of abundance.

What if you went to work and felt you had all the time to get everything you needed to get done for your patients? What if you felt like you had all the support you want to do everything for your patients? How different would your day be?

As nurses, I suggest we change our mindset from one of “lack” to one of “abundance.”

I have heard nurses say things like, “I can’t work elsewhere because the next closest hospital is hours from my home.”

You always have a choice!

When you live in lack, you will always be in lack! Something outside of you has your power. When one has lack thinking, they frequently accumulate debt because there is never enough money. So why not focus on abundance so you have choices to make more money.

I really hope that you and other nurses will rethink your mindset and make the necessary changes in nursing to create the abundance so that patients get the best care.

Nurses’ Whistleblower Protection

August 18, 2022 11:32 am 1 Comment

Many states have statutes to protect whistleblowers in the medical field. However, there was an interesting matter where a hospital nurse, licensed and working in a Texas hospital reported a situation to CPS (Child Protective Services), she was terminated 2 weeks later.

The hospital nurse was assigned to work with a pediatric neurologist. One young patient, whose divorced parents shared custody, was suffering from seizures. The father brought the child in for his/her appointments.

The hospital nurse received a call from the child’s mother who claimed that both parents were seeking treatment for the child from their individually selected neurologists. The recommended treatments were different from each other.

The greatest concern for the hospital nurse was that the child was receiving different medications depending on which parent had custody at the time.

The hospital nurse called the child’s middle school nurse to discuss her concerns. The school nurse said that there had been some increased behavioral issues and the child had since been placed at an inpatient psychiatric center in response to these issues.

The school nurse warned the hospital nurse to be on the lookout for worsening behavior or increased incidences of seizures. When the hospital nurse contacted her supervisor to provide advisement of the circumstances, she was told that if she believed that the child was in danger, she needed to report that issue.

The next day, the hospital nurse followed her supervisor’s suggestion and issued a report to CPS that the child was being treated by 2 separate neurologists resulting in 2 different sets of medications being provided to the child.

The hospital nurse was terminated 2 weeks later. The nurse sued for wrongful termination.

The trial court dismissed the hospital nurse’s claim, but the appeals court overturned that decision, sending the case back for trial.

The statute required a professional to make a report within 48 hours upon discovery of suspected child abuse or neglect. Texas code says should an employee be suspended within 60 days of making a report, it is assumed that the employer was discriminated against for making the report.

To overcome this presumption, the employer must show that there is no connection. The report from CPS was included in the hospital nurse’s termination documents, thus preventing her from challenging that the CPS report had no bearing on her being fired. Here, the employer clearly put the CPS reports in her termination papers.

I hope this matter can be resolved. Nurses need to feel that they are protected and, when suspected, able to report abuse or other wrongdoings without fear of retaliation.

What are your thoughts? Please let me know in the comments below.

Hospital At Home

August 11, 2022 4:04 pm Leave a Comment

I have written previously about the concept of “hospital at home.” I read in a recent issue of Becker’s Hospital Review an interview with Michelle Mahon who is the Assistant Director of Nursing Practice at National Nurses United.

Ms. Mahon expressed concerns, as have I, about hospitals at home.

Did you ever have a patient who you knew, by the feeling in your gut, had something seriously wrong with them even though when you took their vitals, everything looked fine?

I had one such patient, a young woman, who I sensed was experiencing something that was wrong and shortly thereafter, she started screaming at the top of her lungs as she was having a stroke.

In a hospital nowadays, a Rapid Response team is available to help this patient. At home, nothing is available.

If a patient is sick enough to be hospitalized and requires nursing care, a private home cannot deal with a complication such as pulmonary embolus, a blood clot, or a heart attack, it means that the patient is at risk by treating them at home.

When they are at home, there are untrained personnel who rely solely on the monitors and an untrained person’s assessments. They may send out an EMT or a home health aide, but these caregivers cannot take the place of nurses.

Nurses’ assessments are valuable, and patients deserve quality care! We all know that complications can happen at any time.

Before rolling out the hospital at home, there should have been peer reviewed clinical trials to ensure that it is safe. Yet, none were done, and the patients now are the “guinea pigs” of these new care models.

While my preference is to recuperate at home rather than in a hospital, I know that I trust the nurses in the hospital and that would be the best place for me.

Please leave a comment below to let me know your thoughts on the “hospital at home” concept.

How To Become A Nurse Business Owner

July 30, 2022 8:36 pm Leave a Comment

The Risk Of Travel Nursing

July 28, 2022 7:12 pm Leave a Comment

Since the onset of the pandemic, the pay rates for travel nurses have doubled. However, federal money for COVID-19 has dried up because there are far fewer hospitalizations for the disease. As a result, the need for travel nurses has decreased by one third.

In addition, some travel nurses are starting new contracts to only find out that the arrangement has been cancelled. Some are finding that in the middle of their contract, their fees have been reduced. As a result, I am frequently called about these problems.

I want to see nurses sticking together in these matters, particularly in negotiating contracts to be in your favor in the area of fees and cancellations. I suggest focusing on language that the traveling nurse agencies can neither cancel contracts nor unilaterally decrease their fees for the travel nurse’s work.

There is still a future for travel nurses, but I think it will not be such a large portion of the marketplace as it has been except for another, heaven forbid, disastrous pandemic. [Story] Hospitals are looking into ways to hire their own staffs and to compensate them properly. They also are adapting to methods to retain staff and to decrease the need for outside help. However, despite their efforts, there remains the issue of a huge nursing shortage.

I would love to hear your comments below.

Nurses’ No-Complaining Challenge

July 7, 2022 5:25 pm 1 Comment

“There is no way to happiness – happiness is the way.”

– Thich Nhat Hanh

A couple of years ago I conducted an Empowered Nurses Boot Camp. One of the challenges we undertook in that camp was to avoid any complaining. When we complain, we attract more complaints. How can you possibly be happy if you are complaining or in an environment where the people around you are complaining?

I was not surprised to hear that when nurses became conscious of the amount of complaining going on in their environment as well as how much they, themselves, do, they were stunned.

Therefore, I now throw down a gauntlet to challenge you and other nurses to a 7-day period of no complaining! I learned of this from T. Harv Eker. I would like to offer you the same task and to take it day-by-day.

DAY 1 – Focus on no complaining, blaming, or justifying at all today. Every time you find yourself starting to complain about something, just stop yourself. Get really conscious when you are complaining, blaming, or justifying. When you hear others doing any of those three things, remove yourself from the situation.

DAY 2 – Observe others complaining. You will be surprised how rampant complaining is in nursing activities. Take note of about what they are complaining. Many times, there is actually nothing that can be done about a situation. One can simply accept the circumstances and move on or choose to come up with solutions.

DAY 3 – Be aware of any negative thoughts that come up throughout the day. When you are harboring negative thoughts, that leads to unhappiness. Remember, you have a right to be happy. It is a way of being and it’s an inside job. Things outside of you should not affect your level of happiness.

DAY 4 – Watch what you say in the form of complaints, note how many times you have that thought and actually verbalize it. If you complain, what do you think you are creating in your life?

DAY 5 – Turn any negatives you are experiencing during the day into positives. This way you get to focus on what you want rather than on what you don’t want.

DAY 6 – For the entire day, use only positive words. When you use positive words, you feel positive. It affects your happiness and things happen for a reason to support you when you are positive and optimistic.

DAY 7 – Express gratitude for all the blessings in your life. I start every day B.I.G.! Begin In Gratitude! Gratitude sets how I feel each day and when I begin in gratitude, my feelings are affected (but it comes from inside), setting my day on the right course.

So, it’s up to you on what you decide to make yourself feel better. What do you believe makes you feel better about yourself? Complaining all day or being happy and grateful? The choice is all up to you.

What Would Lorie Do?

June 30, 2022 2:20 pm Leave a Comment

I own 4 successful businesses for which I am the CEO of each. When I am about to take an action, I won’t ask myself, “What would I do?” Rather, I ask, “What would Jeff Bezos or Tony Robbins do? Both men are remarkably successful CEOs of a number of businesses.

When we make decisions from where we are, we always will be at that place. We cannot create new results without moving outside our comfort zone.

So many nurses are afraid to invest in themselves because the money is not there, this just means the money is not there now, but it is on its way. The only way to grow is to do something outside your comfort zone. Whether that would be investing in yourself, investing in software or supplies for your business or investing in a program, the money probably isn’t there or it is not a good time. Ask yourself, what would a CEO that you respect do? Would they delay something that would really help their business grow and provide a return on investment or would they wait until they had the money. It is important. Your business will not grow or at least not as fast without thinking like a CEO.

Tony Robbins’s mentor was the late Jim Rohn. I would encourage you to listen to any of Tony Robbin’s materials or, for that matter, that of Jim Rohn.

There are so many successful people in the world and there is a predictable pattern for success. Why reinvent the wheel and make it harder for yourself?

It took me 5 years to become successful with my legal nurse consulting practice. It was a long 5 years. I was reluctant to hire a mentor because I did not have the money since at that time, I was a single mom with 2 kids. However, once I finally took that leap and hired a mentor, my business growth was exponential. In fact, when I started my 2^nd business with my law firm doing professional licensing defense, I was able to exceed my legal nurse consulting income within 9 months.

As nurses, we tend to sabotage ourselves because we are so busy giving to everyone else. However, you need to come first. This your life, no one else’s. This is all we have.

I wish I had back those first 5 years of my business because when your business does become successful, it leads to freedom and you have money to give back and help those less fortunate.

If you are interested about fast-tracking your growth and your business, let’s schedule a CallWithLorie.com.

Stretch Yourself!

June 23, 2022 8:27 pm Leave a Comment

What do I mean by “stretch?”

Stretch means doing something different, something hard and going past what you believe to be your limitations.

We nurses tend to get stuck in our comfort zone. We are at the top of our game as a nurse, yet we tend to stay there without pushing ourselves to be, do or have more.

Your comfort zone is like a thermostat in your home: when the house gets too warm, the air conditioning kicks on and, conversely, when it gets too cold, it engages the heat.

The same is true of our individual weight. We all have a weight thermostat which is why people striving to lose weight eventually regain what they’ve lost.

To go past these predetermined limits, such as those of our comfort zone, it is important to stretch yourself. You can stretch yourself in small ways by trying new things that open your mind.

However, if you do NOT stretch yourself, it’s like Ground Hog Day. You wake up and even though the patients may be different, everything is pretty much the same.

We really are creatures of our habits. We all get up and many of us start our day at about the same time. Many have the same or similar breakfast. We shower, brush our teeth, and typically have the same grooming routine. Everything is “old hat” and it’s like you are on autopilot.

The only way to break out of this cycle is to stretch yourself.

I stretch myself to prove that I can do more and it allows me to think differently about my capabilities.

When I broke a board with my hand, my fear was instead I would break the bones in my hand and no longer be able to use my computer. More frightening was when I “ate fire,” I could see myself in a burn unit.

Sometimes our own mind is our own worst enemy. Our mind thrusts all kinds of fears upon us that are not real. As a result of the board breaking and eating fire, I did not hurt myself!

All growth occurs outside your comfort zone. Life it too short. Going through the motions in my mind is not living. There is so much joy in being the creator of your life. I was so pleased to find out that I could go beyond my limiting beliefs.

Now, here are some things you can do to get out of your comfort zone.

Take a different route to work or ride your bike to work;
Go someplace you have never been;
Read a book on a topic in which you would not normally be interested;
Take a new college class;
Try a new and exotic food;
Go to a social event where you do not know anyone;
Visit a museum with exhibits you know nothing about;
Play a new game;
Go to a concert performing a different style of music;
Watch a sporting event that you do not understand.

You can find many other new experiences that can open your mind and stretch yourself to new possibilities in your life.

A toast! Here’s to stretching yourself today and creating new possibilities.

Please give me examples below of what you have done or may consider doing that will allow you to “stretch” yourself.

Be The Source In Your Nursing Practice

June 16, 2022 6:57 pm 1 Comment

I frequently am heard saying, “You can always get another job but not another license.” Over the past few years, particularly under the duress of the pandemic, nursing has become an extremely difficult profession. If you are not happy in the area where you work, try something new.

We all are conditioned by our comfort zone to which we are so accustomed that we are too afraid to leave it. Yet sometimes the grass on the other side can truly be greener.

If you are not planning to change but want to make wherever you are a more likeable environment, I suggest that you become “the source.”

What do I mean by “source?” It is a place to stand and take responsibility. I am not talking about in terms of fault or blame but in terms of If this is happening, I can do something about it. Choice gives us freedom. We always have a choice but may not like the options.

If I am not happy with something, I know I can do something about it. Some nurses tend to blame everyone and everything else for what is going on. “I have too many patients … There’s not enough staff … I got a bad assignment … I couldn’t get any help …” You can put the excuses in a basket by the handfuls.

When you blame someone else for something that occurs, you give away your power. That means everything is outside of you and you become helpless that nothing can be done.

However, if you take the position of I have too many patients and flip it so that, instead of blaming the situation, you ask yourself how can you do the best with that situation or what can you do about it?

Maybe you can go to your supervisor and say, “I have too many patients and I think that makes my assignment dangerous. Is there any way that you can help me?”

But, doing nothing and being resentful about the situation you have is also not a good place to be.

Being the source, imagine that you created the situation, that it is there for a reason and ask yourself how can I get through it without putting my license in jeopardy?

Let’s take another example: you are the source of where you work. If you are not happy with where you work, you can do something about it. If you are blaming, “Oh, it’s the only hospital near me,” you can always move. Because we have free will, you always have a choice.

Every day I wake up and take the stand that I am the source of my day and I get to create it the way I want it. Typically, I am surprised by the results. When you are intentional about what you want to create and accomplish, it is amazing what you can do. I think the same applies for anything that you do. To be successful, you must be the source.

“If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.”

For example, you cannot be successful in dieting without being the source. You are the source of what you decide to put in your mouth and how much you will exercise.

You cannot be successful in relationships if you are not the source of creating them and achieving workability within them.

I would love to hear your ideas of how you are the source in your nursing practice. Please let me read your thoughts below.

In House Travel Nursing

June 9, 2022 7:07 pm 1 Comment

Hospitals across the country are offering internal travel nurse programs. Did you know that?

What is great about this is that you can make the money of a travel nurse while the healthcare facility does not have to pay the middleman agency for the nurses. Plus, if you love the job, you can possibly get hired full time.

To me, this is a great solution allowing nurses to make more money without having to go through the agency as the go-between.

Nevertheless, I still have a problem about committed regular staff nurses who are making less than the travel nurse who just walk in to contribute their skills for a short period of time.

I have noticed instances of some nursing units that treat the travel nurses poorly who arrive to help in their units. One would think they would be grateful for the extra hands.

Nurses need to stick together, to treat each other with the respect and dignity they deserve, no matter what their respective statuses might be. We do this for our patients, why not for each other?

Author Archives: Lorie A Brown, R.N., M.N., J.D.