0:05

Welcome to the Ambitions Nurse podcast

0:07

, where I provide tips , tools

0:09

and resources for the experienced nurse

0:12

to put in your career bag to

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help you be a better person , a better

0:16

leader , a better professional and

0:18

, most of all , a better nurse . I'm

0:21

your host , bonnie Meadows , a career

0:23

coach and a clinical nurse specialist

0:25

with over 18 years of experience

0:28

in health care and nursing . It's

0:30

my passion to help experienced

0:33

nurses develop their careers to

0:35

impact health care and their communities

0:37

. Hello

0:44

and welcome back everyone . It

0:47

is 2024 . It

0:51

is a new year . It is

0:53

not January , but it's a new year

0:55

. It's a fresh start . It's

0:57

all that and things , and

1:01

this episode is likely

1:04

coming out in February of 2024

1:06

. And I want

1:09

to touch on the word

1:11

love , the two

1:13

major things that usually we

1:15

focus on in the month of February and

1:17

love , whatever

1:21

love that is , whether that's Godly

1:24

love , whether that's friendship

1:26

love , whether that's romantic

1:28

love . We focus on love

1:30

. But I am going to

1:33

kind of walk through

1:35

your

1:37

love of the profession of

1:39

nursing and just kind of talk about

1:41

that and then try

1:44

to give you some tips

1:46

on how to figure

1:48

out how you if you love it or

1:51

if you like it , if you just like it do

1:53

you love nursing , or do you just

1:56

like it ? And

1:59

then , how do you nurture that

2:02

or where do you go from there ? So

2:04

this topic came about because

2:06

I'm an avid

2:09

sports lover and my

2:11

main sports that I usually watch

2:13

pro football

2:15

, pro basketball , college

2:18

football , college basketball

2:21

, I dabbling

2:23

, a little bit of baseball , I

2:25

dabbling track and field , I'm

2:28

all about the Olympics Like

2:31

, yeah , I even watch

2:33

golf a little bit of tennis

2:35

. Golf is some good napping

2:37

content it really is , but

2:39

I actually follow the game and so

2:42

I know a few of the players . I'm

2:45

usually watching on , like that Saturday

2:47

and that Sunday , to see what's going on

2:49

. So I am

2:51

an avid sports lover and

2:53

sports is my drama . If someone's

2:56

talking about they are

2:58

watching new episodes of something on

3:01

Netflix , I am looking

3:03

forward every day to catching

3:05

up on what happened

3:07

on the sport shows of the day and

3:09

what was the sports news of the day . So

3:12

all of that to say . I

3:16

am a lover of Dion Sanders . I've

3:18

been following him ever since he

3:21

was a pro football player

3:23

, pro baseball player at

3:25

the same time , and

3:27

I've been following him in his journey with

3:29

the University of Colorado , jackson

3:31

State University , and

3:34

I usually watch his press conferences

3:37

pretty much after every game , because

3:39

I just love his consistency . If there's

3:41

anything about Dion I

3:44

love his consistency of

3:46

, he is always who he is

3:48

, but you don't have to guess

3:50

if Dion is going to be this way

3:53

or if Dion is going to be that way . He

3:55

is always consistent in

3:57

who he is and I love that

3:59

. And

4:02

so after one of the games , this is

4:04

on their loser streak . He

4:06

mentioned something about the fact that

4:09

you know the players . They really have

4:11

to figure out do

4:13

they love it or do they like

4:15

it ? And more so he was talking about

4:17

the game of football , playing

4:20

college football at

4:23

that level , division One , Power

4:26

five , conference . Do you like it or do you

4:28

love it ? And

4:30

so he went

4:32

, he was talking about some other things and a media

4:35

personnel kind of backed him up and they

4:37

said so

4:40

, what should the team

4:42

focus on in the next 24

4:44

hours ? And that's when he said do you like

4:46

it or do you love it ? And then the media personnel said

4:48

well , what ? What was

4:51

? How do that ? How would they figure

4:53

out ? Do they like it or do they love

4:55

it ? He could be pretty much asked another probing

4:57

question to figure out what Deion

5:00

meant by well , do they like it or do they

5:02

love it . And he said he told

5:04

the team that when you love

5:06

something , you give to it unconditionally

5:09

. You give everything you

5:11

have to it , but

5:13

when you like it , that's

5:16

just the button you push and it lights you

5:18

up . He said that's what

5:20

we do on social media . And

5:23

so that got me to thinking about

5:26

nursing and

5:28

nurses and

5:31

how , in

5:33

my 20

5:35

years in July career in nursing

5:38

, I've seen

5:40

the ebb and flow of people who like

5:42

nursing versus people who love nursing

5:44

. People

5:47

who love nursing , they

5:50

give to it unconditionally and

5:52

that does not mean give

5:54

up all your time , give

5:57

up , give up all your resources

5:59

working over time . All of this Because

6:01

there are people who work overtime and are always

6:04

at work and they just like nursing because

6:06

they like the money . But

6:08

there are people who love nursing . They love

6:11

the care of the patient , they love taking

6:13

their time with patients and with families

6:15

and digging into making

6:18

sure that we are doing those things that are right

6:20

for our patients and making

6:22

sure that we're following through on things

6:24

and looking at policies and

6:26

procedures . And they don't have

6:28

to have a PhD in the thing

6:30

, but they understand

6:32

the implications of

6:34

there is better care to

6:36

be provided to the patient , and

6:39

that care that I provide is

6:41

a reflection of

6:44

my love for nursing

6:46

and my love for patients

6:49

. They understand

6:51

the complexities of

6:53

healthcare and they

6:56

rise above that . They

6:58

might complain about it , or

7:00

shall I say , be passionate

7:02

about it , but they understand

7:05

the value that nursing brings

7:07

. Those that

7:09

love it understand

7:11

that value . And so I will

7:13

tell you . I've been in that position

7:16

of trying to figure out do I love nursing or do

7:18

I like it ? When I was

7:20

still at the bedside , probably

7:23

about two years in , I decided to

7:25

go to med school and I probably told

7:27

us the story before , but every time I tell it

7:29

I think I'm probably going to tell just a different

7:31

iteration of it . But it applies

7:34

to this . I started taking

7:36

classes from med school pre-med classes . I

7:39

was very good in science . I

7:41

was the person who made like

7:43

an A or , but I think I made a B

7:46

in biochemistry and an

7:48

A in physics , and these are all classes

7:50

like . I had already had my bachelor's degree in nursing

7:53

, and so I

7:55

took these classes like one one

7:57

a semester , all

8:00

of those things that are needed for prerequisite for

8:02

med school . And I'm studying for the MCAT

8:06

and recognizing that everyone who applies

8:08

even people who have been passionate about going

8:11

to med school since they were gay high

8:13

everyone who applies does not get in

8:15

on the first try . And so I did all

8:17

of those things . I

8:21

took the MCAT and then I applied and I didn't get

8:23

in . And

8:27

I was also at the cross

8:29

point of it's time for me to leave the bedside . I'd given

8:31

my all , I'd been there . Now

8:34

I know I recognize there may be some

8:36

who are listening to me , who have been at the bedside

8:41

for maybe over 15 , 20 years

8:44

. I

8:46

knew , coming in to nursing , that

8:48

I was not going to be that

8:50

person . I love those people

8:52

. I want you to stay where you are because

8:54

that's where your passion is . I just

8:56

want you to grow in that space . I

9:00

knew I wasn't going to be that person . I

9:03

knew myself . That was my self-awareness

9:05

and I

9:07

was at a crossroad of okay , I need

9:09

to do something different . If

9:11

I'm not going to med school , then what is

9:14

going to be my , what's

9:17

going to be my plan ? And really it was the question of

9:19

am I going to reapply

9:21

or am I going to make the most

9:23

of my nursing career ? So

9:27

you could pretty much say at that juncture , when

9:29

I was going through all of that , I

9:32

was liking nursing

9:34

, loved healthcare , but

9:38

I wasn't in love with nursing . And

9:40

so then I had to make a decision what

9:43

am I going to do ? Because

9:45

it's definitely time for me to leave the bedside

9:47

, but what ? Do

9:50

I reapply to medical school or

9:52

do I go another route

9:54

in nursing ? I always

9:56

knew that I loved healthcare administration

9:59

. So I said you know what ? I'm

10:02

going to make the best of my nursing career and

10:04

I'm going to go back to school and get a master's

10:06

degree . And I decided to get

10:08

a master's degree in nursing

10:11

, with a focus in healthcare systems

10:13

management . That was

10:15

definitely the best decision that I'd ever

10:17

made and it helped

10:19

me to cultivate my love

10:21

for nursing . And so

10:24

from there , I just

10:26

said , you know what ? I

10:29

haven't looked back since , and so I started getting

10:31

involved in my professional

10:33

nursing organization , my state nurses

10:36

association , and

10:38

the love just continued to grow and grow from

10:40

there . And so if

10:42

you find that

10:45

you are evaluating , do

10:47

I love nursing or do I like

10:49

nursing , then I have a few things for

10:51

you on the back end of this podcast . So

10:54

stay tuned , and

10:56

I will also say , if you do love

10:58

nursing . That love needs to

11:00

be nurtured . So

11:02

let's first talk about how do we nurture

11:04

our love for nursing

11:06

, and

11:09

I will say one is by being around others

11:11

who love it just as much as you do . You

11:15

may be working in the hospital

11:17

experienced , you've

11:20

been at it for a little while and

11:23

everyone around you might

11:25

be griping about all

11:27

the things . There's

11:29

always a plethora of things that

11:31

we can come line about working in the hospital , but

11:35

there are a plethora of things that

11:37

we can be proud of that

11:39

we can talk

11:42

about . That's uplifting . We

11:46

can talk about the possibilities of what

11:48

you can accomplish within

11:52

where you work , and

11:56

that's how you nurture the love of nursing

11:59

. You speak positively of it and

12:01

you keep your mind and your thoughts

12:03

open to the possibilities of how

12:05

you can improve where

12:08

you work and improve how

12:10

you work together as

12:13

teammates and how

12:15

you work to improve your unit

12:17

, the care that you provide to your patients

12:19

and how you work to

12:21

support one another on

12:24

the unit as nurses . You need

12:26

to nurture that love . That's

12:29

how you nurture . Somebody else is gonna be on

12:31

the same pages with you , and it might be only

12:33

three or four people , one or two

12:35

people . I found

12:38

that I stand alone sometimes

12:40

in my

12:42

thoughts and how I think about nursing

12:45

and what I think

12:47

about nursing , and I'm okay with that

12:49

, because I'm always gonna find a nurse nerd

12:51

or someone who loves nursing just

12:53

as much as I . I just stay

12:56

away from those people who don't really like

12:58

it that much or who always wanna gripe about this

13:00

, that and the other . That's not . I mean , there

13:02

are things that there is a whole lot we can change

13:04

. There's a whole lot that we can't change

13:07

, so let's just focus on those things that

13:09

we can change . So number

13:11

two is by being around others who challenge

13:13

your thoughts about how the nursing profession

13:15

can make an impact in healthcare . So

13:18

you be around others who love it just as much as

13:21

you . You talk about all the great things

13:23

you can do and then

13:25

you start to be

13:27

around others who challenge your thoughts

13:29

about how you're doing things . It's

13:32

those people who are

13:34

your good no people

13:37

. I say they are good , no

13:39

people . There are people who many

13:41

people think that or others think

13:43

that these are no people

13:45

or they're negative people . But if you really

13:47

listen to their language , they're not

13:49

saying no , they're

13:52

saying let's consider some things

13:54

as we are talking about this plan

13:56

or have you considered this

13:58

? Or have you considered that that's what

14:00

they're saying ? They're not saying no

14:02

, don't do it , they're just saying

14:04

let's think through this process . Now

14:07

there's some flat out no people . They're

14:10

not the challenge , it's

14:12

the challenges . Those who

14:14

will challenge you are

14:16

very good for the forward

14:19

movement of nursing . So

14:22

number three and number four kind of go together and

14:25

they're listening to webinars and being

14:27

in rooms with others who you

14:29

find resonate with the thoughts

14:31

that you have had about how to improve

14:33

nursing and how to improve the

14:35

care we provide to our patients . And then number

14:37

four is attending conferences

14:40

and engaging in meaningful conversations

14:42

about how to change nursing

14:45

practice and understanding the impact

14:47

that it makes on

14:49

you individually . As a nurse . I

14:52

tell nurses who have

14:56

gotten to that place of possibly

14:58

being stuck or just really

15:00

not figuring out what

15:02

to do or where to go next

15:04

, or they're

15:06

just like . I feel like I need to be

15:08

doing something . I don't wanna move right now

15:11

, but I'm just kind of stale

15:13

where I am . It's like they don't wanna

15:15

move and do something

15:17

else and I'm good with that , but

15:19

they are very stale where they are . Go

15:22

to a conference . Have some engaging

15:24

conversations with those outside

15:26

of your four walls , or even

15:28

listen to a webinar about what

15:31

is going on outside of your four

15:33

walls , and then talk about

15:35

those things to those

15:37

people who you know will

15:39

challenge your thought process about nursing and healthcare

15:42

and who love it just as much as

15:44

you do . You'll

15:47

be surprised at the possibilities . Your mind

15:49

just shifts and you begin

15:51

to then cultivate and

15:53

nurture that love for nursing

15:55

that you want to do more

15:57

with it . Now I'm not

15:59

suggesting that we exhaust ourselves

16:02

. This is how you

16:04

develop , how to think strategically

16:06

about your direction in your

16:08

career . Five

16:10

advocating

16:13

for change and being a voice for

16:15

the nursing profession . We

16:17

talk about advocacy , this and have . I'm gonna

16:19

advocate for my patient . Well , who's advocating

16:22

for you ? And are

16:24

you advocating for you ? Not

16:27

your nurse manager ? Yep , they're gonna do what

16:29

they need to do , hopefully . Are you advocating

16:32

for you with your

16:34

vote , with

16:36

your possible communication to

16:38

your community leaders ? Are

16:41

you advocating for you ? Cause those are the people

16:43

who are making decisions about what you do in the

16:45

hospital . More

16:47

to come on that , but advocating

16:50

for change and being a voice for

16:52

the nursing profession . We're not here

16:54

to put anybody else down , but

16:57

we are here to lift one another up and

16:59

to be able to express the value

17:02

that we bring to healthcare . It

17:05

shouldn't take everybody else trying to figure

17:07

it out . We should be able to articulate

17:10

that to others so they

17:12

can come into the fold and be like , oh yeah

17:14

, this is great and not thinking

17:17

that we just sitting around eating bonbons

17:19

. No , no , no . Number six sharing

17:22

information and being a mentor

17:24

to others Very

17:26

important . It is important that

17:28

in whatever stage

17:31

that we're in in our profession , that

17:34

we reach back and we give just

17:36

a little bit to those who

17:38

are coming behind us and

17:41

that we share with those who are beside

17:43

us and

17:46

that we even share with those who are

17:48

going before us . We

17:50

have a terrible

17:52

problem within nursing of putting one another

17:54

down , of assuming and

17:57

making these claims that they

17:59

haven't put in the work to do this

18:01

, that and the other . Lateral

18:03

violence is a beast . We wanna put people

18:06

in their place and that just

18:08

can't be tolerated . And if

18:10

you love nursing , surely

18:13

that's not what you're doing ? You

18:15

nurture your love of nursing

18:17

by sharing and mentoring

18:20

other nurses . These are

18:22

the people that you want to take

18:24

care of , your family members , so

18:26

you have to nurture them in order

18:28

for them to reciprocate that

18:30

nurturing not only back to you but then

18:32

to others . But even if they don't reciprocate

18:34

it , it is good for you to

18:37

share what you know with

18:39

others . Share that love for nursing

18:42

with others and be a mentor

18:44

to others so that they can see

18:46

the possibilities of what they can do

18:48

and who they can be as a nurse . Lastly

18:51

, or my last point , is

18:54

, take action and make a difference . Get

18:56

involved in your

18:59

unit , get involved in

19:01

your department , get

19:03

involved in your professional

19:06

organization . That

19:08

is where your nurturing

19:11

and your love for nursing

19:14

grows . Once I

19:16

was done with my master's degree , I was away from

19:18

the bedside , I

19:20

was working in

19:23

risk management , and then I wanted

19:26

to do more Because I was like

19:28

I got this master's degree , I need to do

19:30

something a little bit more with it . And so

19:32

then I went to quality and at

19:35

that point in time I did

19:37

so much , but I dealt

19:39

with so much lateral violence for the

19:41

first time in my life that

19:44

I literally hit another

19:46

pivot point and I had

19:48

to figure out what do I love ? Again

19:51

, I love nursing . I'd

19:55

just gone through the leadership

19:57

academy to really

19:59

just that just really opened

20:01

my eyes within my state nursing association

20:04

. It just really opened my eyes beyond

20:06

the walls of where

20:08

I worked , and I really think

20:10

that that is the bread and butter of how you

20:12

develop your love for nursing Some

20:14

of us , we have it innately with us , but

20:17

it is what you see outside of the

20:19

walls of where you work

20:21

, whether it be you looking

20:23

on LinkedIn or you following other nursing

20:25

associations or

20:27

sometimes even other nurses on social

20:29

media to kind of see what they're talking about , what

20:32

they're up to . There are a lot of people

20:34

that I follow on Twitter and I'm like , yes

20:36

, that's it . That's it

20:38

. Like literally I

20:40

was following , I follow a nurse on Twitter and

20:43

we were just talking about

20:45

not we she was

20:48

talking about and just made a statement just

20:50

about the discharge

20:53

process in healthcare and just

20:55

was like we've got to do some

20:57

more because this

20:59

juncture is critical . Boom , then

21:02

you think about patients

21:05

and yes , and they keep

21:07

coming back and how we possibly

21:10

rush them out the door . What do we do

21:12

to get them out the door and how

21:14

much we can do as nurses

21:17

if we just

21:19

spoke up and

21:21

see it . Here's what the process

21:23

needs to be . Now , some of us have been doing

21:25

that and we've been getting pushed

21:28

back , but y'all . It's a slow process . It's

21:31

slow , people take a little while

21:33

to get it , and guess what ? That

21:36

also goes back to who are making the rules

21:38

about the discharge process . It's

21:40

your politicians . And who

21:43

puts them in office we

21:45

do . So you've got to . You've

21:47

got to pay attention

21:50

to who you're voting for and what they

21:52

are voting about and

21:54

what they are advocating for , because

21:57

if what they're advocating for puts

22:00

a burden on your work , you need to

22:02

let them know , because

22:04

they have no clue of what we do . They're only . If

22:06

you think that they're incompetent , they're only incompetent

22:08

because you haven't told them what you

22:10

do , you haven't informed them

22:13

, you haven't educated them . That's

22:15

for another day . I want to encourage you

22:17

to take a moment to

22:20

figure out whether you love nursing , not your

22:22

job , separate

22:25

. Let's take a step back . We're

22:28

not talking about do you love your job

22:30

, but

22:32

do you love nursing in

22:34

general ? Do you love

22:37

the

22:39

idea of what we can

22:41

do for our patients and

22:45

the idea of what the nurse

22:47

can do to improve

22:49

healthcare and make an

22:51

impact on our patients ? Not

22:54

, do you love the work that you do right now

22:57

? Because if you love nursing

22:59

in general , then you can find

23:01

that thing that will help you

23:03

to make the impact that

23:06

you want to make and fill your cup

23:08

. You can find that your

23:10

job is not the end all be all . It

23:12

is the collective work that you do in your

23:15

career that matters . Don't

23:17

let that be a hindrance . It's

23:19

about nursing in general and the profession

23:22

of nursing and what it has to offer

23:24

your heart . And then think about why

23:27

do you love it ? Do you love it because it pays

23:29

well , or do you love it because

23:31

of how it fills your cup and how

23:33

much you know it can

23:35

do to be such a blessing

23:38

to other people ? If you find that

23:40

you like it but you

23:42

don't love it , then

23:44

what is it about nursing that brought you

23:46

to it ? And is there something

23:48

else that you love , career-wise

23:51

or within healthcare that you could

23:53

do , that you would use your nursing

23:55

skills for , and I'm not just talking

23:58

about clinical skills . You may have a creative

24:00

side to you that might be best used in

24:02

marketing . You might have a technical side to

24:04

you that might be best used in IT . The

24:06

opportunities for nursing are endless and

24:08

your knowledge is valued . Use

24:11

it for the greater good If you're on the fence

24:13

and don't know and can't separate

24:15

nursing in general from your job

24:18

. Feel free to jump on a

24:20

30-minute call with me . I am offering free

24:22

30-minute calls to just kind of walk

24:24

through this process of do

24:26

you like nursing , do you love it , how

24:29

can you separate it from is

24:31

it my job or is it nursing in

24:33

general ? And if you

24:35

just need help working through being

24:38

stuck and just not knowing in

24:40

general , if you like nursing , jump

24:42

on a 30-minute call with me . Or if you need to

24:44

figure out within your specific work

24:46

on how you can nurture

24:49

your love for nursing , I have a link in

24:51

the show notes and you can click

24:53

and set up a 30-minute call with me where

24:55

we can talk through some things and you

24:58

will walk away with some quick

25:00

action items on what you can

25:02

do today , what you can implement today

25:04

, to help nurture that

25:06

love of nursing so that you can grow

25:09

in your nursing career . So I

25:11

hope this was helpful for you . I

25:13

trust and pray that this was helpful for you

25:15

and gave you some nuggets to think about

25:18

and I'll see you the next time

25:20

. Thanks

25:22

for joining us this week on the Ambitious

25:24

Nurse Podcast To review

25:27

the show notes and any links mentioned

25:29

in today's episode . Please go

25:31

to theambitiousnursepodcastcom

25:33

If you enjoyed this conversation

25:36

, follow or subscribe so

25:38

you don't miss a future episode . Also

25:41

, please consider leaving a rating , review

25:43

and or comment about what

25:45

you want to hear . This helps

25:47

more nurses , just like you find

25:49

this podcast . Thank you for joining

25:52

me , bonnie Meadows , on the Ambitious

25:54

Nurse Podcast . I look forward

25:56

to chatting with you the next time

25:58

. And remember you don't have to grow your

26:00

career alone . As iron sharpen

26:03

iron , one person sharpens

26:05

another . Thank you for letting me sharpen

26:07

you as you take this knowledge to

26:09

sharpen the next .