At the turn of the century,  my mother's family lived through the 1918 flu pandemic in Kansas where it was first reported.   My mother was born in 1916.  Before her birth, one of her older sisters had died at the age of 2 from the flu and pneumonia around 1914. My mother's older surviving sisters told a story about how they as  little girls slept outside all bundled up in a tent in the cold to avoid continuous exposure to their baby sister's fatal disease. I can only imagine the level ...

The AMN 2019 Nurse Survey Results are out and highlight Opportunities for Progress. This AMN study shrinks our challenges down to a bird's-eye view. The Top 2 Positive Influences on RN Quality Care: Improve safety practices Improve engagement of nurses There you have it ... Safety and Engagement How are Engagement, Safety and HWEs Connected ? Engagement science is the foundation of the AACN Healthy Work Environment (HWE) Standards.  Nurse engagement is framed like this: N...

What Is A National Caring Science Affiliation? To become an National Caring Science Affiliate, an organization must demonstrate deep-rooted and sustainable commitment to integrating caring science within practices and policies, seeking to transform and broaden the notion of health and healing for its staff as well as the patients, families and communities it serves. Over the past several years, WCSI in partnership with CNO Affiliate leaders, new caring science criteria have been established,...

I just attended the ACNL Annual Conference (Association of California Nurse Leaders) in Rancho Mirage (Palm Springs) It was worth every penny.  Here is a list of speakers that I strongly recommend, should you be searching for good presenters.   For a Big dose of Positivity Science / Resiliency,     Buck Davis is the one you want! Fun fact:  Buck started out by pitching products on QVC!  Now his focus is Inclusivity and Positive Leadership Buck Davis https://www.youtube.com/wa...

Which are you? A new nurse leader, overwhelmed by job demands, and with no clear picture in how to personally and positively impact nurses and their authentic caring? A seasoned nurse leader struggling to engage with nurses around authentic caring in everyday work settings in spite of the never-ending staffing, budget and time constraints?  Or maybe ... A nurse leader wondering what nurses need, want or if they have time for deep, authentic connections with you, or patients for that m...

How Do We Help Our New Nurse Leaders?  When I was a new nurse and then a new nurse leader, I was overwhelmed with the demands of the jobs.  Right away, I felt the reality shock of healthcare’s BIG competing demands as a clinical nurse and then as a new leader — charge nurse, supervisor, manager, etc. The challenge was, How to remain open and sensitive and compassionate when I was drowning everyday — especially given my level of emotional and organizational intelligence. What made this...

Quick ( Conscious-Self ) Rounding & Conversation Tips THESE TIPS AREN'T GOING TO BE QUICK IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR INTENTIONAL CONSCIOUS - SELF INTO GEAR ...  Start here Step #1     Take control of your mind/thoughts Acknowledge & set aside the pressures and burdens you carry:  never-enough staffing; constant changes in technologies, acuities, pharma, supplies, regulations; the impact of egos, conflicts, and emotional un-intelligence around you. Step #2     Think: "This is my t...

In my signature talk with nurse leaders, I ask them to first set aside the pressures and burdens they carry of ... ... never-enough staffing; constant changes in technologies, acuities, pharma, supplies, regulations;  the egos, conflicts, and emotional un-intelligence. Instead I ask them to consider, Who Are We ?  Who are we as nurses and nurse leaders? What do we represent ... to ourselves? and to nurses? And then I ask them to consider, How can we make a difference everyday amid the...

The Ancient Wisdom of Conversations will be my theme in 2020 laced with Florence Nightingale wisdom. In 2019, I wrote Getting Real About Caring: What I discovered about authentic caring as a nurse leader and one step forward.  In 2020, I'm having more conversations with nurse leaders and nurses about their authentic caring conversations. 2020 — being the Year of the Nurse,  prompts me to read, learn and write  about Florence Nightingale  (something I have always wanted to do). Being ...

What surprised you in 2019? Yes, I have asked this question before.  And each time this question takes us beneath the surface of our daily lives. It's a question posed by Mark Nepo, author, poet, and philosopher.  Here is a response to this question he describes in his book,  Seven Thousand Ways to Listen. p,3 Two Breaths That Changed His Life  When asked what surprised Marco during this last year, his voice began to quiver. He’d witnessed two breaths that had changed his life. As ...