How to Become a Nurse:
Your Nursing Career Guide

Why Incident Reports Are So Important for Nurses“To err is human, to cover up is unforgivable, and to fail to learn is inexcusable,” states Professor Liam Donaldson, World Health Organization (WHO) Envoy for Patient Safety.Two words: Incident Reports. Ask any nurse about them and you will probably not get a happy response. Groans about the time they take, uncertainty about what to include, and worries about being punished. May ...

There is SO much to learn and memorize in nursing. Not just for NCLEX, but in everyday practice. Thankfully, mnemonics can come to the rescue!Amnemonic (“nuh-MAH-nik”)is a tool that helps to remember facts or large amounts of information.It’s usually a short phrase or word. Also known as a “memory aid,” it’s a way to improve and assist memory. Remember learning to sing the “A-B-C” song? That is ...

Every nurse knows they must give equal care to their patients, regardless of the patients’ status or situation. They also know they must regularly examine their own attitudes to recognize negative opinions and perceptions regarding certain types of patients. If discrimination is present—whether intentional or not--it can significantly impact the quality of care.Discrimination is defined as the unfair or prejudicial treatment of pe ...

Every new nurse dreads making a mistake. Any experienced nurse will tell you: It’s not “if” but “when.” Mistakes happen in every part of life. We miscalculate how much money is in our bank account and we overspend. We don’t notice the car in front of us has stopped suddenly and we cause a fender-bender. We forget about the birthday cake in the oven until the smoke alarm reminds us. Our careers are no differ ...

As you study for your NCLEX, it can be a good idea to use several resources to help you retain information. YouTube has become an effective way to review nursing content for your exam. A paper by Clifton and Mann stated, “We found that the use of YouTube videos increased student engagement, critical awareness and facilitated deep learning.” Adding YouTube to NCLEX studies has benefits YouTube provides a wide range of videos to supplem ...

Black Box Warnings: What Every Nurse Should Know Black Box Warnings: Just the words sound serious. And they are. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires a Black Box Warning (also called a black label warning or boxed warning) to be placed on medications that carry critical safety risks. It’s the FDA’s strictest labeling requirements that the FDA can mandate for prescription drugs. The name comes from the black border sur ...

You graduated from nursing school. The only hurdle between you and your new professional career was passing the National Clinical Licensure Examination (NCLEX). NCLEX has only one purpose: to evaluate the ability of new graduate nurses—both RN and PN—are capable of providing safe care to patients.The NCLEX is not an easy examination. It covers the entire range of your nursing education. Questions—called test items—are ...

It’s inevitable. As a nurse, you will witness death. You will sit with a dying patient; you will support a grieving family. You’ll cry at times with them, as well as with co-workers and by yourself.One of the hardest aspects of nursing is dealing with death: knowing what to say to someone whose life is ending and how to comfort those left behind. Then there is caring for yourself when death can happen daily, and you’re expec ...

One of the biggest challenges for a new nurse is to learn to navigate through a busy shift. There’s so much to do: patient assessments, passing medications, doing treatments, preparing for procedures and discharges…and that’s without the inevitable urgent events that can happen at any moment. How can so much be squeezed into 8 or 12 hours?Time management is essential from your first day on the job. In a recent ANA webinar ...