I went out this morning with my Health Officer Karen to discuss the process of interviewing for a new job. The audience was a group of final semester BSN students ready to launch into the world of nursing. Karen did a great job of sharing what makes a GREAT impression in an interview. The high points were:
Do a little self-reflection and realize which talents will equip you for the RIGHT nursing career.
Dress professionally
Bring a (brief) portfolio tailored to what makes YOU right for the job
Be positive about your past job experiences
Answer the questions honestly
Realize that even if you do everything correctly you may not win the job. In that case...follow up! You may have another shot at it in the future!
I added my own insights from past interviews. Namely:
Leave any discussion of benefits, vacation, time off, etc. Until AFTER you have an offer on the table
Learn how to shake hands (manager tools has a great podcast on this here), and introduce yourself. Be enthusiastic and energetic!
Hopefully we spoke to some future public health nurses in the room!
Friday, October 1, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Global interests and local hospitality
This week we have a couple staying with us from Costa Rica. What fun to their faces light up with they first saw our little acreage! The cameras came out quickly as they saw the hay field in the back. It was a reminder of the blessing of living in Wisconsin. Living in such a mountainous region makes our wide open spaces and wide-wide roads an amazing site in their eyes. We talked about local customs and the differences between our driving habits (like Midwesterner's aversion to using their car horns).
What is very interesting is that both our guests work in Costa Rica, but their jobs are located in the states. One is a software engineer for a Dallas company. He and I sympathized with each other about the complexity of getting everyone to turn their time sheets in on time, as he handles the Texas payroll! She works for the U.S. Department of Treasury and is working with American partners in developing the infrastructure for transportation in her country.
This week has reminded me that cultural differences are no different than other interesting conversations we face in nursing. Whether it is teaching someone to care for their child, relating ways to live healthier lives, or learning about life in Costa Rica, this is all done best over a cup of coffee, talking one to one. Listening, reflecting, relating. We are at a tremendous advantage having this firmly entrenched in our own professional culture. Viva Nursing!
What is very interesting is that both our guests work in Costa Rica, but their jobs are located in the states. One is a software engineer for a Dallas company. He and I sympathized with each other about the complexity of getting everyone to turn their time sheets in on time, as he handles the Texas payroll! She works for the U.S. Department of Treasury and is working with American partners in developing the infrastructure for transportation in her country.
This week has reminded me that cultural differences are no different than other interesting conversations we face in nursing. Whether it is teaching someone to care for their child, relating ways to live healthier lives, or learning about life in Costa Rica, this is all done best over a cup of coffee, talking one to one. Listening, reflecting, relating. We are at a tremendous advantage having this firmly entrenched in our own professional culture. Viva Nursing!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Are you the "Family Nurse?"
If you are a nurse you know what I mean! It is a special joy to be of service to our family and friends when they are getting through an especially tough health crisis. My Dad had hip surgery last February and I loved getting to know some great hospital staff. I think they loved me too, and they used me for some leverage. "Yes, Mr. Cook you need to take a pain pill. Your daughter is coming in 30 minutes." Ha!
Some things I always recommend when asked:
1. Get an expandable file folder (I usually buy these myself for my friends, they're cheap). This is to put information from doctors, hospitals, insurance, equipment companies, etc. in the divided areas. The amount of information on paper multiplies and gets out of control FAST.
2. Tell them about the people that are caring for their loved ones. People like CNAs,nurses, therapists of all sorts. Try to help clarify their different roles. Ask them to get to know the nurses caring for their loved one by name. Give them some little cards and help them to write a short note of thanks to give to staff while their loved one is being cared for. Never hurts to let them know they are appreciated.
3. Tell the family never to enter the hospital, clinic, or join a meeting without paper and a pen. They will need it more times than you know. Doctors and others can quickly draw a picture to explain something. Pictures help bridge a big gap between medical terminology and plain 'ole language. So much else.
4. Care conferences/meetings can get very big very quickly. There are often a dozen people around the table. Counsel your friends to always start a meeting by asking for everyone to introduce themselves. Ask for their business cards, or ask them to sign in on a pad of paper with their title and contact information. This empowers the family to have the opportunity for consultation later.
5. If it is appropriate, offer to attend the meeting with the family. Smile big! Handshakes all around! Be supportive and explain your role to the staff. You are not there to supplant the family, but maybe take notes and look for areas that need explanation. If you know the family, you can see by their expression when they are getting lost in the terminology. We can help facilitate better understanding. But be nice!
I know there is more, maybe if you read this you can comment on other ways you have lent your nursing expertise to friends and family. It has been a special joy to bring comfort in this way.
At Cape Coral Hospital they have a special website where you send "web well-wishes" to a patient and give them a get-well greeting. The first day Dad was in the hospital I put that site up on my facebook page and so many people sent him love and good wishes. This was a great service since cards couldn't reach him fast enough by mail to get there while he was in the hospital. A nice lady visited with a big stack of paper with sweet messages and even cool color graphics on each page. The link to the service is here if you want to check it out: http://www.leememorial.org/cards/index.asp
You may find it tough to be the "family nurse" at times. To me it is a great joy to help people I love through a difficult time. Courage!
Some things I always recommend when asked:
1. Get an expandable file folder (I usually buy these myself for my friends, they're cheap). This is to put information from doctors, hospitals, insurance, equipment companies, etc. in the divided areas. The amount of information on paper multiplies and gets out of control FAST.
2. Tell them about the people that are caring for their loved ones. People like CNAs,nurses, therapists of all sorts. Try to help clarify their different roles. Ask them to get to know the nurses caring for their loved one by name. Give them some little cards and help them to write a short note of thanks to give to staff while their loved one is being cared for. Never hurts to let them know they are appreciated.
3. Tell the family never to enter the hospital, clinic, or join a meeting without paper and a pen. They will need it more times than you know. Doctors and others can quickly draw a picture to explain something. Pictures help bridge a big gap between medical terminology and plain 'ole language. So much else.
4. Care conferences/meetings can get very big very quickly. There are often a dozen people around the table. Counsel your friends to always start a meeting by asking for everyone to introduce themselves. Ask for their business cards, or ask them to sign in on a pad of paper with their title and contact information. This empowers the family to have the opportunity for consultation later.
5. If it is appropriate, offer to attend the meeting with the family. Smile big! Handshakes all around! Be supportive and explain your role to the staff. You are not there to supplant the family, but maybe take notes and look for areas that need explanation. If you know the family, you can see by their expression when they are getting lost in the terminology. We can help facilitate better understanding. But be nice!
I know there is more, maybe if you read this you can comment on other ways you have lent your nursing expertise to friends and family. It has been a special joy to bring comfort in this way.
At Cape Coral Hospital they have a special website where you send "web well-wishes" to a patient and give them a get-well greeting. The first day Dad was in the hospital I put that site up on my facebook page and so many people sent him love and good wishes. This was a great service since cards couldn't reach him fast enough by mail to get there while he was in the hospital. A nice lady visited with a big stack of paper with sweet messages and even cool color graphics on each page. The link to the service is here if you want to check it out: http://www.leememorial.org/cards/index.asp
You may find it tough to be the "family nurse" at times. To me it is a great joy to help people I love through a difficult time. Courage!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Public Health...boring???
Usually nurses that think public health is boring are imagining endless paperwork and government regulations. I love all kinds of nursing, but nothing beats public health nursing. What's exciting? Try face to face with your clients. Knocking on the door of that new Mother for the first time and wondering how the journey will unfold. Visiting a local head start and watching the kid's faces light up to see their "nurse". Helping the emerging language learner connect with vital services in the community. Deciding what your community needs for better health and then having the autonomy to plan and implement a program at the grassroots level. Watching the community in your care stop smoking, drive safer, put their babies to sleep safely, avoid disease, eat better and on and on!
The most gratifying and terrifying moments in my nursing career have most definitely been during my career in public health! Boring Schmoring....get with it!
The most gratifying and terrifying moments in my nursing career have most definitely been during my career in public health! Boring Schmoring....get with it!
Monday, March 15, 2010
I know why they call it "March"
Because you have to keep your chin up and just put one foot in front of the other to get through this month! If you don't live in the Midwest you won't know the gloom of March. It is a sloppy mess of grey skies, dirty snow and cruel hoaxes in the weather report every day. We hearty souls have it hands down in the "delayed gratification" department....unless you count brownies.
It will happen, Spring is almost here....when all Midwesterners remember why they punish themselves for five months out of the year. Hope your tulips are up soon!
It will happen, Spring is almost here....when all Midwesterners remember why they punish themselves for five months out of the year. Hope your tulips are up soon!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Go the distance in your practice!
In it for the long haul? Public health nursing is a tough professional track. I heard recently of a nurse that quit before her first year was out because of the political environment in her agency. So unfortunate! Your success is, at least in part, subject to the reality of your office's political environment. How to survive and thrive? Here are my suggestions:
- When you are new - pay attention! Lay back and put your own expectations aside for a while. Be a sponge, not a brillo pad. Embrace reality.
- Recognize and show an interest in the expertise around you. Ask for your coworker's stories of how they entered public health. Nothing kills a new employee like hearing how they know it all. Yikes.
- Fight your own fear and say an enthusiastic YES! to every assignment. You won't know what you're doing until you get out and do it.
- Fight the urge to join in cynical language you hear. There is a dark humor in nursing, but if you haven't cemented yourself in the role it may not just be blowing off steam, you may really damage your perception of your job. It's bad "self-talk" and I recommend you supplant it with positive thoughts (In the words of Stuart Smalley - "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggonit people like me!")
- Be prepared for a long adjustment. You can't really know what you are doing for a few years. That's unique in nursing. Give it time. The "long haul" view is exactly the same one that you will use to measure the success of your nursing interventions to families you serve.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Onward PHNs!
PHNs are facing a difficult fall season. Usually the onslaught of vaccination is known. Not so this year! Not only does the fall promise to bring a busy season, maybe 3 times busier than usual, but a season with a vaccine that faces a tough sell to our public that needs it the most. Pregnant women and children. In the midst of this, an economy that is shrinking just as our public needs it the most. What to do? What nurses always do!
Assess your population: Are you asking the right question of your public? Are you evaluating what they expect from you and what they will need in a month when we receive the vaccine? Leverage those relationships that you have developed over the year.
Plan: What strategies are available to you to deliver vaccine? Do you have relationships with local nursing schools, EMS and other people available? Use the people around you to enhance your ability to serve the public. Poor relationships? Get with it and get better for the future!
Implement: Don't be afraid, we do immunization all the time! Beef up your staff. Use this time to show that you really care about their talents and abilities. Too late? Never! Ask your staff. They will help you more than you know.
Evaluate: Early in the process take a moment and see what worked. If it didn't, take a look at the next time. Survey your staff. Be there. They will appreciate it.
Redo: Hey, we get a do-over this fall! 2 doses of H1N1 most likely mean that we will get to do it.....again~ What went well? What could be improved? Do it.
Most of all, take courage. We have the opportunity to do, evaluate and study what works with our public. With God's grace we won't see a mutation in the strain. Remember that this may be the very best of the scenarios that we could have imagined. Use it to learn more about the interesting world of public health
Assess your population: Are you asking the right question of your public? Are you evaluating what they expect from you and what they will need in a month when we receive the vaccine? Leverage those relationships that you have developed over the year.
Plan: What strategies are available to you to deliver vaccine? Do you have relationships with local nursing schools, EMS and other people available? Use the people around you to enhance your ability to serve the public. Poor relationships? Get with it and get better for the future!
Implement: Don't be afraid, we do immunization all the time! Beef up your staff. Use this time to show that you really care about their talents and abilities. Too late? Never! Ask your staff. They will help you more than you know.
Evaluate: Early in the process take a moment and see what worked. If it didn't, take a look at the next time. Survey your staff. Be there. They will appreciate it.
Redo: Hey, we get a do-over this fall! 2 doses of H1N1 most likely mean that we will get to do it.....again~ What went well? What could be improved? Do it.
Most of all, take courage. We have the opportunity to do, evaluate and study what works with our public. With God's grace we won't see a mutation in the strain. Remember that this may be the very best of the scenarios that we could have imagined. Use it to learn more about the interesting world of public health
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