How are you settling in to 2018? If your New Year’s resolutions have already lost momentum and you’ve already strayed from accomplishing the goals you’ve set, don’t lose heart. Change takes time and accomplishment is always preceded by hard work. To help maintain motivation in your nurse practitioner career as we kick off 2018, check out these top reads.
1. Tips That Will Make You a Rockstar at Clinic Time Management
Falling behind is bound to happen as a nurse practitioner. But, remaining chronically behind schedule is a major problem. It leaves patients dissatisfied with your service not to mention leaves you prone to burnout. Fortunately, implementing a few time management skills is often enough to solve the problem. The following tried and true tricks help keep nurse practitioners on track. Continue Reading…
2. 7 Bad Practice Habits Nurse Practitioners Should Kick
Once you’ve become comfortable working as a nurse practitioner, or have maintained employment with the same company for a period of time, its easy to let little things slide. You may not notice these bad habits creeping into your workday, but your coworkers, patients, and employer certainly do. Which of these slip ups do you need to watch for in your practice? And, how can you avoid making such indiscretions your MO? Continue Reading…
3. This Leadership Trick Will Revolutionize Your Practice
I’ve talked before about how nurse practitioners inevitably find themselves in positions of leadership. As healthcare providers, we direct a patient care team from nurses to medical assistants, phlebotomists, and office staff. Our education, focused on clinical content, often leaves us unprepared for this role. The managerial aspects of working as a nurse practitioner can be frustrating and stress inducing. A patient care team that’s not on the same page creates an inefficient, disorganized environment. Implementing one simple leadership trick, however, just may change it all. Continue Reading…
4. A Simple Strategy for Breaking Out of Work-Life Balance Frustration
My life as a nurse practitioner can get a little bit crazy sometimes. Balancing a schedule packed with working odd hours in the emergency department, a sig-o, friendships, family members, sleep, household responsibilities, etc., etc. is a constant battle. You’ve been there. Continue Reading…
5. 7 Steps to Finding Your Clinical Passion
In some aspects of life, finding your passion is quite easy. You may have a natural talent or innate interest in a hobby or activity, your giftedness guiding your pursuits. You may be passionate about certain people – your family or significant other. When it comes to our careers, however, passions quickly become muddied with the practical. While this isn’t always a bad thing, it can mean a swift spiral into job dissatisfaction, or a lack of enthusiasm for your career path. Continue Reading…
6. 4 Ways Your Boss is Measuring Your NP Performance
Employers value different aspects of nurse practitioners’ performance differently. Some practices are highly revenue driven, seeking NPs who can see high volumes of patients. Other practices are more customer service oriented, valuing patient satisfaction. Yet other practices evaluate providers based on their clinical know how. While each of these aspects is important to the overwhelming majority of healthcare employers, typically one or two stand out as a focus. Understanding which metrics are most important to your employer helps you know where to spend your time and efforts to be a standout nurse practitioner. Continue Reading…
7. 7 Habits of Highly Effective Nurse Practitioners
Have you read Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? I first picked up the book the summer I graduated from college. Finding it chock full of words of wisdom applicable to all of life’s stages, I have revisited the read several times since. Covey’s words have natural career applications, and as nurse practitioners we can all benefit from looking at his advice in light of our profession. Continue Reading…
8. 6 Ways to Re-energize Your Nurse Practitioner Career
Do you feel like you’ve hit a career slump? The job description of working as a nurse practitioner in a patient facing roll can look pretty much the same week after week, year after year. So, at times, it is necessary to take intentional action to combat career boredom. If you’ve hit a nurse practitioner career slump, here are a few ways to re-energize your nurse practitioner practice. Continue Reading…
9. Yes, You Really Are Making a Difference for Your Patients
I entered the nurse practitioner profession in the primary care setting. As idealistic as they come, at least in regards to my profession, I was ready to jump in and make changes in my patient’s lives. I approached health coaching with enthusiasm, helping patients see where their diets were off track, sharing smoking cessation techniques, and recommending regular exercise. I applauded reported lifestyle improvements. In the face of pressures to see more patients and generate higher revenues, health coaching wasn’t always easy to fit into appointments, but I put a lot of time and energy into the effort. Until I began to lose steam, that is. Continue Reading…
10. 6 Simple Ways to Make Your NP Job Easier
There are times in my job as a nurse practitioner I find myself thinking ‘ugh, not again!’. I may have answered the same question from patient for the fifth time in a row, explained a concept over and over again, or encountered a misunderstanding multiple times in a single shift. While many people think working in the emergency department must be erratic, I identify patterns in my work as an NP. In fact, most of my job is somewhat routine. Continue Reading…
I hope you enjoyed our looking back link pack series to kick off 2018!