As we celebrate this time of year, I always like to look back on the past twelve months of my life to witness the growth that I’ve made.  As a business owner, I am so busy looking at where I’m going and how I can better serve my clients that I don’t take time to appreciate where I’ve been.

Whether you’re a business owner or a professional, it is so important to look back on your life and take stock of where you’ve been, what’s working or not working in your life, so you can decide if you want to make any changes in 2018.

I am grateful this year for losing weight, hiring an associate and moving to San Diego.  I’m looking at what’s working in my life and what’s not.  By taking inventory, you’re able to make the changes you want to make for next year.

Now, some things to think about as we bring 2017 to a close,

1. What was your greatest accomplishment this year?
2. What was the best decision you made in 2017?
3. What was the best lesson learned?
4. What would be your 3 most significant events this year?
5. What is the name of the person who made the greatest impact or most influential in 2017?
6. What was your biggest failure?
7. What fears have you conquered this year?
8. What or who do you need to forgive? (it may be yourself)
9. What was your most important relationship in 2017?
10. Who made the biggest influence on you this year?
11. What were you happiest about?
12. What did you do this past year to improve yourself?
13. How did you stand up more for yourself in 2017?
14. Now, next year at this time, in looking back on 2018, what would you like to say about yourself?
15. What kind of year do you think you will have in 2018?
16. If you knew you could NOT fail, what would you attempt in 2018?
17. How can you be kinder to yourself next year?
18. How will you move through your fears in the upcoming year?
19. What would be one word or phrase that would be your theme in 2018?

2017 was my year of change. The upcoming year, 2018, will be my year of growth and ease: personally and professionally.  I did a personal growth program called Lifebook where you look at 12 categories of your life and get in touch with creating the life you want.  I credit Lifebook for these questions, but took some editorial liberties.

YOUR MISSION, should you choose to accept it, will be to answer these questions.  Very few take a look in this detail to determine where they are and for growth, improvement, celebration and accomplishment.

If you do this exercise, you will be one of few who actually do the necessary work to have the life you want.  After all, you’ve worked so hard and you deserve it.  I would love to hear your takeaways in the comments below.

You read and we listened!  Here is a list of what you say were my top blogs of 2016.  If you missed any of them, you have another opportunity to check them out by clicking on the article titles, which will take you to those writings.

I always try to balance my articles between something that is empowering and something that is protecting.  Interesting though, all the top 10 blogs actually involved license protection.

NUMBER 10: “You Can Get Another Job but You Can’t Get Another License”

This title is one of my favorite sayings and this article discusses how two long term employees sued their hospital regarding age discrimination.

I’m sure it was very difficult for these nurses, both emotionally and financially, to sue their employers.  What we can take away from their case is to keep copies of ALL of employment evaluations including any time that you might have been written up.

I applaud these two nurses for speaking up against poor care in court.

NUMBER 9: “Is Your License Safe?”

This article discusses how an L.P.N. fraudulently upgraded her license to an R.N. by stealing another nurse’s identity.  In Indiana, it is relatively easy to get such information on another nurse.  To access your personal data online, or anyone to access your data, one needs only to provide your license number and the last 4 digits of your social security number.  It would not take much effort for some nefarious person to access a nurse’s account and information.

I heard that this procedure will be changed but, yet, that revised protection for nurses in Indiana has not occurred yet.

NUMBER 8: “Having Missed Your Lunch Break”

This details a Houston lawsuit against an employer for not paying a nurse for lunch breaks during which she was forced to work.

The facility’s policy was for nurses to clock in only when they arrived and when their shift ended.  The bookkeepers then deducted the ½-hour lunch break from their payable time.  If your facility requires you take a lunch break and to ensure you will be paid, let your supervisor know, in writing, when you are not able to take that break.

However, it is even more important for nurses to take the breaks they need because, as health care providers, we are so busy taking care of everyone else that we don’t really take care of ourselves first.  Our cup needs to be full in order to provide care for others.

NUMBER 7: “The Downside of Electronic Medical Records Documentation”

Tips and strategies are provided to protect yourself regarding electronic medical records because, as the adage goes, “if it isn’t documented, it is not done.”  This also is a reminder that all charting can be tracked in an audit trail.  So, if think you have removed something, it STILL can be found.

NUMBER 6: “Short Staffing in Nursing”

A topic near and concerning to all of us, this article discusses how nurses are placed between a rock and a hard place by being denied the right to refuse assignments.  If one does refuse, that’s called “insubordination” and the nurse can lose their job as well as face a possible complaint of patient abandonment.

We’re hoping that through legislative efforts that safe staffing will be mandated in both acute and long-term care.

NUMBER 5: “Documentation Will Save You Every Time”

The article discusses a medical malpractice trial in which the patient’s family won because of lack of documentation.  One of the best practices to protect yourself in such a situation is to review one of your charts 6 months from now to see what you can remember about that patient’s situation and ask yourself, “Did I document everything that could have been documented to show a clear picture of my patient?”

NUMBER 4: “Charting by Exception”

This is another writing about documentation that discusses how copying and pasting between pages can be very dangerous as you could just be recopying what your previous colleague did.  There is something to putting pen to paper and thinking through the patient’s issues to document what you see, hear, touch and smell.

Also important is to make sure all your assessments are documented rather than just checking the boxes on the listing.

Ask yourself if your documentation tells the full story of the patient’s condition, professional assessment and care.

NUMBER 3: “Nurses with Criminal Issues”

This details how two nurse practitioners were criminally charged with 27 felony counts for prescribing phentermine, a schedule IV controlled substance, and phendimetrazine, a schedule III controlled substance, when there was an antiquated statute from the ‘70s, (before there was such a thing as nurse practitioners) saying that these medications could only be prescribed by a physician.

Unfortunately, although Kathy Lynch obtained a “not guilty” jury verdict and the case against Karen Dunning was dismissed, the Licensing Board still took action.

An update on this case revealed that following a lengthy hearing before the full Board of Nursing, Lynch’s advanced practice nurse prescriptive authority and registered nurse license were revoked.  Dunning also went through an extensive hearing resulting in her advanced practice nurse prescriptive authority being revoked while her registered nurse was placed on indefinite suspension for at least 3 years.

Just because a criminal matter is resolved in your favor does not necessarily mean that the Nursing Board will not take action anyway.  Clearly, they can act because violation of the Nurse Practice Act is different than violation of criminal laws.

NUMBER 2: “Injustices in Nursing”

This details how nurses, in order to participate in peer assistance programs, may need to be off all controlled substances if it’s an abstinence-based program.  It also discusses how a nurse may be considered impaired if they are taking a controlled substance for something like chronic pain.

However, the most empowering part of the article is about how to create change.

1. Create a petition on change.org;
2. Talk to your legislators;
3. Talk to your State’s Nurses Association.

These are only a couple of suggestions, but I do believe that nurses do have the answers to the problems in health care, but we need to work together to resolve these issues.

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE!

NUMBER 1: “Perils of Night Shift Nursing”

This quick easy read is about why nurses seem to get in trouble on night shifts and what they can do to avoid such problems and how to make the shift easier.

What’s so interesting in looking at these most-read blogs seems to be that they are ones related to actual cases brought by or against nurses and include practical information on how you can protect your license.

It also appears that many of you enjoyed sharing some of these articles, but did not necessary want to comment on them.

While I truly appreciate your sharing the articles, I also would love to hear your comments.  Your valuable insight is reflected in what you have to say.  So please keep commenting and sharing!  I love to hear from you.

Thanks for being a valued reader.  I look forward to continuing to provide you with very valuable information.

 

After moving into our new building this week, I realized how rooted I have been in my patterns and my environment.  I had been in the same office for 17 years.  Although the move was simple; emotionally and physically I still feel a little out of place.  That’s what inspired me to write this article.

As they say, the only things certain are death and taxes.  But now there is a third thing: change!   Oddly, “change is constant” in that is happening in and around us at all times.  Every cell in our body is different from a couple of years ago and a couple of years before and yet another couple of years before that.  Basically, we reinvent ourselves in numerous cycles over our lifetime.

Even though that change takes place on a cellular level, change needs to take place on the physical and emotional levels as well.

Many nurses are the same way.  They stay with their jobs even though they’re not happy because it’s their “comfort zone” and they want to avoid any change.

Unfortunately, whether they want to or not, many are forced to change.  If you happen to see the proverbial “handwriting on the wall,” make the change yourself before it is thrust upon you.  If you’re just unhappy and there is nothing written on the wall, there still are many other places where you can get into a healthier environment.

I look at change as I would see a river.  You can float peacefully with the current or you can try to swim upstream by holding onto the past and things that no longer serve you.  The choice is yours.

My decision is to float peacefully down the stream in the direction that life takes me but not afraid to use my oars to course-correct if I float toward the rocks and logs that may try to disturb my peace.

Pain is necessary but suffering is optional.  We can take the pain of moving upward in changing our circumstances in a positive way or suffer by remaining unhappy in an unhealthy environment.

Again, the choice is yours.

Please share your comments below.