Welcome to our blog! Keith Carlson has worked as a nurse since 1996. He received an Associate Degree in Nursing from Greenfield Community College in 1996, and a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2001.
Monthly Archives: April 2012
Five Ways to Support New Nurses
In my last post, I wrote about four reasons why we should support new nurses as they enter the field. In this post, let’s look at five concrete ways in which you can actually offer support.
Four Reasons to Support New Nurses
Yes, it’s true. Nurses do sometimes eat their young (even after all these years). However, the tide is turning and more nurses are realizing that supporting our new nurses as they enter the field is really the best thing to … Continue reading
Nurse, Hydrate Thyself
When you’re running around the unit, working in home care, or otherwise working hard as a nurse, staying hydrated is one key to maintaining your health and taking care of yourself at work. Do you hydrate enough?
“High-Touch” Areas and You
In every hospital, there are hundreds of so-called “high-touch” areas that receive the lion’s share of traffic when it comes to human hands. We all know that human hands can carry a plethora of bacteria and viruses, and these bacteria … Continue reading
Three Things to Love About Home Care Nursing
I have to admit that I have a positive bias towards home care. In my sixteen years as a nurse, I have spent a number of those years working in home care or hospice, and it’s a very special type … Continue reading
Do You Know A Wounded Nurse?
Chances are, if you’ve been a nurse for a while, you know—or have known—a “wounded nurse”. A wounded nurse is a nurse who goes through life in pain. He or she may suffer from addiction, burnout, extreme stress, codependence, compassion … Continue reading
Networking, Networking, Networking
In my most recent post, I wrote about the dire warnings that are being forecast about the nursing job market. Prognosticators give mixed messages, stating unequivocally that nursing is “the #1 job for 2012” while also telling us that there … Continue reading
Mixed News About Jobs
The recent news about nursing jobs seems mixed. On the one hand, we hear that nursing is the #1 job for 2012, and then we hear that the shortage is over and there won’t be many new jobs until 2020. … Continue reading
Three Ways to Increase Your Engagement With Patients
When we’re busy, we nurses can sometimes forget that there’s a person behind the diagnosis, so to speak. Under duress, the patient becomes just another body with a disease that necessitates a variety of nursing tasks, and we lose touch … Continue reading
