What kind of nurse are you?

I believe the world needs nurses, nurse educators, and nurse leaders who are idealistic motivators, leading the way for the future of nursing, through education, support, collaboration, and service.

I think I am one of them. My passion for authenticity, integrity, transparency, ethics, advocacy, and tolerance, drives my desire to motivate and encourage new nurses along a similar path.

If we reach nursing students early in their nursing program and hold onto them in a mentor-to-mentee capacity throughout the curriculum, we may be able to introduce them to a world of professional nursing where they still have a solid grasp on compassion and equity in practice and peer relationships. (Image credit: Forbes.com)

There has to be some way to circumvent the cynicism of well, so many nurses. For those who are cynical new grads, maybe you have been mistreated and have experienced what it feels like when "nurses eat their young." Maybe you aren't to blame for your negative, judgmental attitude.

Maybe you are among the misguided who somehow believe that RNs, you know, real nurses, only work in hospitals. Ha! Good grief, give me a break. Real nurses take care of people. All people. No matter the facility, no matter the person. How are you missing that? All I can say is walk a mile, sweetheart, walk a mile!


Cynical nurses are like a vortex...the Coriolis force leading to an infinite abyss of broken spirits. These cynics purloin energy from nurses who believe and practice as I do. They drain the life force of others and even push some to burnout. Since many can't beat you and your nasty attitude, they join you, only to find that there is nothing sweet about the energy created at a negative nancy convention.

Redirect your energy. It's never to late to change your attitude. Life already sucks most of the time, don't make it worse by feeding into the negativity. #EmbraceTheSuck

Where your thoughts are,
your energy is.
Where your energy is,
you will be.
What you think about,
you bring about,
automatically!

Free CEUs for Nurses

Here are a few websites offering a bit of free training and CEUs for nurses! Some are more than just 1 education credit!! FREE! From this list alone, there are more than 25 free CE units waiting for you to grab!

For your first free CE unit, check out my publication, on the use of nutrition supplements and how they enhanced patient outcomes. (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://anhi.org/education/course-catalog/83223D52C57B4343BFF3CEE508A56ABF

Next...here is a website with tons of free CE courses available all the time. They change out pretty often so get them while you can and keep checking back on the site. Just search "free" and you will see a list of free CE available at that time. https://www.nurse.com/ce/free-courses?p=2

For access to additional free CEU courses, check out NurseCEU.com, QuantumUnitsEd.com, and Nurse.com.

Here are a few examples from Nurse.com that were free as of June 19, 2019 (copy and paste the links into your browser):

1) Keep It Clean: Hand Hygiene and Skin Antisepsis (CE Hours: 1.00)
http://ce.nurse.com/RVignette.aspx?TopicId=5133

2) Using Emotional Intelligence to Create the Work Environment You Desire (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/using-emotional-intelligence-to-create-the-work-environment-you-desire

3) Do You Reflect a Positive Image of Nursing? (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/do-you-reflect-a-positive-image-of-nursing

4) Unlock Your Creativity: Be an Innovator! (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/unlock-your-creativity

5) Work Life Balance: Learning to Say \\"No\\" Strategically! (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/work-life-balance-learning-to-say-no-strategically

6) Promoting a Culture of Safety to Prevent Medical Errors (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/promoting-a-culture-of-safety-to-prevent-medical-errors

7) Family Caregivers: Doing Double Duty (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/family-caregivers-doing-double-duty

8) Transitions of Care (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/transitions-of-care

9) The Healing Power of Humor (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/the-healing-power-of-humor

10) Compassion Fatigue (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/compassion-fatigue

11) What's on the Inside: An Overview of Blunt Chest Trauma (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/whats-on-the-inside-an-overview-of-blunt-chest-trauma

12) Motivational Interviewing (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/motivational-interviewing

13) Recognizing Drug-Seeking Behavior (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/recognizing-drugseeking-behavior

14) Evidence-Based Approaches to Pain Control (CE Hours: 2.50)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/evidence-based-approaches-to-pain-control

15) Opioid Use Disorder and Pregnancy: What Does Evidence-Based Care Look Like? (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/opioid-use-disorder-and-pregnancy-what-does-evidence-based-care-look-like

16) Health Literacy and Discharge Education: I Didn’t Understand (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/health-literacy-and-discharge-education-i-didn-t-understand

17) Patient Counseling: Preventing and Combating Opioid Misuse (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/patient-counseling-preventing-and-combating-opioid-misuse

18) Responsible Opioid Prescribing, Chronic Pain, and Addiction (CE Hours: 1.50)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/responsible-opioid-prescribing-chronic-pain-and-addiction

19) Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting as a Barrier to Good Patient Outcomes (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/chemotherapy-induced-nausea-and-vomiting-as-a-barrier-to-good-patient-outcomes

20) Effective Pain Management is More Than Just a Number (CE Hours: 1.00)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/effective-pain-management-is-more-than-just-a-number

21) Meeting the Challenge of Pediatric Pain Management (CE Hours: 2.90)
https://www.nurse.com/ce/meeting-the-challenge-of-pediatric-pain-management

Just keep learning!

My journey to become "educated" has been long and winding, and the path continues far ahead of where I am now. I either can't see the end, or I just don't want to. (Photo retrieved from The Wilderness Road, a blog on wordpress)

I initially went to college at age 17, only three days after my actual high school graduation day. I made it somehow through five semesters of college (Summer, Fall, Spring, Summer, Fall) without having any direction or goals, without a plan or purpose. I married, left college, went to beauty school, moved to another state, had kids, worked here and there, then divorced...

Rough time...through the divorce. I can't imagine it is ever easy when kids are involved. But I had to do something to earn a decent living and provide for the kids, so I decided to go back to school. After all, I was now an experienced adult who could finally appreciate the process of learning.

So, I "restarted" college 15 years ago as a single parent of two. Whoa, that was so hard. Balancing bills, parenting, school, being broke, and being the oldest in class... I don't think I could do that again, as I don't even know how I did it to begin with! I was 32 years old, so that probably helped as far as energy and motivation...but it was still pretty tough!

After completing a certificate program at a vo-tech training center to become a licensed vocational nurse (LVN) in 2005, I decided to continue with school. I worked as much as possible, hungry for stabilized income, but decided to enroll in prerequisite courses for an RN program. I think half of the reason I kept going to school was that I was able to borrow enough money to help with living expenses while I did my pre-req courses, and the other half was that my previous loans were deferred while I was enrolled in school!

And okay, I admit it. I did the same thing when I went to a university where I was enrolled in a nontraditional nursing program. Yep, that's how I survived financially, scraping money together from full time work, financial aid loans, and scrooge-like spending practices. I finally graduated with a BSN degree in 2013. I remember being so excited to finally be accepted and starting in an RN program.

But boy, oh boy! Every single quiz, paper, exam, and clinical simulation, turned into such a high-stakes event--the threat of being booted "out of the program" was such a giant, dark, heavy storm cloud, always looming, even on the sunny days.

I am currently enrolled full time in an MSN program with Education as my designated specialty. I was so gung-ho to start but ooophf -- it is so hard to

stay motivated and see this thing through.

The end is so close but I am so over it! I am in my last semester and I only have two classes left to go. I can DO this, right?


Dare I say that I will probably continue with schooling until I receive a terminal degree in nursing (PhD or DNP)...

Yep, I think I have to. Heck, it sure beats
having to start payments on the student loans I racked up while trying to survive school as an adult (who already had bills, kids, car troubles, and lots of other responsibilities).