15 Lessons Learned During My Nursing Career

1. Just when I think I’ve seen or heard it all, something else comes along.
2. To be really successful, you must learn to be the master of multitasking.
3. Don’t ever pass up the opportunity to use the bathroom—you might not get another one for a very long time.
4. Losing my sense of smell at age 15 has served me very well in many situations during my career.
5. Family, friends, neighbors will call you at all hours asking you for expert medical advice on any and all ailments, and you will be expected to know the answer—immediately.
6. I have a great appreciation for nurses that work the night shift.
7. I’m a terrible patient.
8. I love Dansko shoes.
9. Learning to accept that you can’t always be all things to everyone at all times.
10. When people find out you are a nurse, they tell you everything—and I mean EVERYTHING.
11. Always carry a blue or black pen.
12. Don’t write your family notes that contain medical abbreviations—they will have no idea what you are talking about.
13. Patients trust and need you.  Do everything you can to respect and maintain that trust.
14. Listen to your intuition.
15. You should expect and look forward to learning something new everyday.

Are you a nurse? What are some of the lessons, tips or tricks that YOU have learned during your career? Leave them in the comments section below!

Not a nurse?  But know one? Be sure to thank your nursing friends TODAY!

Two of our managers had some great things to say…

Dana Greenwood, RN, is the nurse manager at our Pediatric & Adolescent Care Center, downtown in Methodist Tower:

HealthNet is an organization that is closely connected to our mission. I have never worked with a more supportive team of caregivers, who are here to serve our patients and the communities in which they live. In our pediatrics clinic, the nurses are some of our brightest stars.  They are role models to their peers and spend countless hours providing care to our patients through additional telephonic consultation and follow-up from routinely scheduled appointments.  I am thankful to work with them each and every day!

Working at a community health center is often challenging, but also very rewarding at the same time. Our patients are often very sick and in great need of assistance.  We focus our treatment on the whole person, not just their immediate crisis. What I find most rewarding, is that our patients and their families return to us for care.

Joyce Neal, RN, BSN, is the shift coordinator at our Eastside Health Center, on the Far Eastside at 38^th & Post Rd:

I believe without a doubt that working in a community health center, serving the underserved and special needs population, is one of the most rewarding nursing jobs one could have. We as nurses, have an opportunity to make very difficult circumstances just a bit more bearable by very simple acts. Special thanks to my Nurse Manager René Kougel and my Triage/Charge Nurse Maritza Johnson. YOU GUYS ROCK! 

Are you a nurse in a community health center?  Do you know someone who is a nurse at a community health center?  Share a story or a kind word of thanks in the comments section below!