Empowering Nurses at the Bedside and in Business

Be The Source In Your Nursing Practice

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.

 

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