The Opportunities Nursing Brings with Britt Greaves
The opportunities nursing brings are endless. Nursing, as a profession, offers plenty of chances for better careers and many nursing fields that you can pursue.
And while this opens many possibilities to nurses, many are also hesitant to change career fields. There’s that feeling that they cannot do other things than the ones they already know. But this is not true, as nurses, we have the skills to survive anything.
We have the power to choose. Remember that. If you are unhappy with work, it’s time to make room for changes.
Explore new places, try different nursing units, pursue the nursing field of your dreams – take hold of your career and embrace the opportunities we’re given.
Let’s start today.
Our Guest
In this episode, we would like to introduce you to Britt Greaves. Britt Greaves is a nurse who worked in specialties such as Hospice/Palliative Care, and ICU, and traveled for over 5 years in the PICU.
When she isn’t working, you can find her blogging, volunteering on international medical mission trips, or advocating for mental health in the nursing community through her founded safe space, The Debrief.
Transitioning from the bedside, Britt is the Community Manager at Trusted Health, where she now advocates for the health of the nursing community.
We discuss the importance of speaking about your feelings, how to heal, and the debrief.
QUESTIONS FOR GUESTS
The questions below are some we’d like to tackle. We go off-topic all the time so we don’t expect to hit them all. If you have any ideas please let us know. Looking forward to our conversation!
How has your nursing journey been?
You’ve worked in a handful of specialties as a staff and then as a travel nurse to now focusing on projects away from the bedside. How did you slowly transition away from staff to travel?
Is there a time you can recall in or out of nursing that really opened up your mind to mindfulness and mental health?
Can you talk to us about how you began incorporating mindfulness into your life and how it has helped you?
Meditation, what kind do you do?
What were the darkest depths you have experienced as a traveler to rediscover yourself?
Chakras and sound healing, how did you get into it? And how does it help you?
What were you struggling with that turned you to these practices?
What is the Debrief?
How did you get involved with trusted and what is trusted?
ENDING QUESTIONS
Before we end the show, we have one last question we like to ask all our guests. If you had the opportunity to have a Cup of coffee with anybody one last time, who would it be & why?
You can learn more about the opportunities nursing brings by watching the full episode here 👇👇
TIME STAMPS:
00:00 Introduction 02:02 About Brit Greaves 02:43 Exploring other fields of healthcare 05:56 The benefits of travel nursing 07:30 The reasons for leaving the bedside 09:16 The challenges outside of nursing 10:42 Nursing attributes that help through life 13:03 Healing yourself, meditation, and sound healing 20:12 About The Debrief 22:19 Selfcare in nursing and gratitude 27:24 Why is it hard for nurses to take time off? 34:42 Talking about TravCon 35:43 Goals for the travel nursing community 38:28 Opportunities as a travel nurse 40:43 End remarks
In this episode, we would like to talk about our Texas nursing experience. Our Contract is finishing up, and we want to compare travel nursing in California vs Texas vs our Chicago staff jobs.
Last year in 2021, we had the pleasure of traveling nurses to 2 states, working in 3 hospitals & travel to 7 different states.
It’s a privilege to be able to experience many different settings both in and out of work. Since we started travel nursing it increased our overall awareness of the world.
It also improved our communication skills, increased our maturity and confidence, and ultimately cultivated us to be more well-rounded.
Our Travel nursing journey started in October 2020 and extended into a 7-month contract till April of 2021 in Santa Monica California.
Santa Monica experience:
Hospital experience
Travel nurses are being canceled for high rates (Things slowed down in March)
Cali breaks/break nurse
ECMO/CRTs
Nurse extenders
Epic charting
Given uniform in Santa Monica
Carpooling – different schedules
Donors donating food during the pandemic
The Santa Monica contract ended because they didn’t want to extend us for another month. C19 slowed down drastically end of March and there wasn’t a need for us anymore. Things turned out for the better since we were able to try our first-day position.
The transitional part to another contract was quite stressful because the agency we originally were working with couldn’t land us another contract in the area we wanted to.
It wasn’t worth relocating homes for one month so instead, we called our friend that owns a travel agency and was able to hook us up with a contract in Pasadena California for 6 weeks.
Pasadena Hospital:
Transitioning to the day shift from nights
Working our first dayshift
30-minute shorter breaks vs Santa Monica
How this hospital handled C19 ICU nurse had 4 patients, but the extenders did meds and basics ADL’s and the ICU nurse managed the drips, vent, and critical care tasks.
In our 3rd contract of 2021, we ended up going to Austin, Texas. This was our first contract that didn’t go according to plan.
We started on 10/25 instead of 10/11. Things we had to plan out when it came to starting dates are; flights, housing, and transportation.
Austin Hospital:
Back to working nightshift
Paper charting
Meditech vs Epic
Overall patient care
Tips for travel nurses:
3-4 weeks to start considering the next travel nursing contract
What is your desire? What type of nursing?
How many hours do you want to work as a travel nurse? 36,48,60?
Stand up for yourself, if you feel like you are getting treated unfairly, high-acuity floated too much, and the transition of care.
Here’s how our travel nurse experience in Cali and Texas went, click here for the full episode 👇👇👇
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Introduction 0:52 Cup of Nurses Introduction 2:40 Episode Introduction 8:10 Our Santa Monica California Experience 13:39 The Difference of Santa Monica Hospital 17:00 Cool Santa Monica Uniform! 19:49 Break Nurse Experience 25:03 Why We Don’t Get Extended 27:43 Our First Day Shift Experience: Pasadena 28:15 Working with Small Travel Nursing Agency 30:35 How Pasadena Handles Covid Patients 39:33 The difference between Pasadena & Sta. Monica 43:32 For the first time, things didn’t work out 🙁 52:23 Advice on Travel Nursing
In this episode, we welcome our fellow nurses, Ryan Cogdill and Emily Cheng, talking about their experiences as travel nurses and as nurse entrepreneurs.
Join us as we discuss the ups and downs of working in this nursing field, the role of travel nurses in the healthcare industry, the future of travel nurses, building a travel nursing community, and many more!
Build more nursing communities by watching the full episode here 💪
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Introduction 0:29 Cup of Nurses Introduction 2:35 Episode Introduction 2:43 Meet Our Guest – Emily 3:06 Meet Our Guest – Ryan 3:30 How do you do IV Therapy? 4:13 Do you also do Vitamin C Therapy? 4:42 Does Vitamin C Therapy Work? 5:36 Why did you transition to travel nursing? 6:58 What’s the hardest part of travel nursing? 9:00 What’s the hardest part of transitioning from night to day shifts? 11:03 Favorite Travel Nursing Assignment 12:30 Why do you do travel nursing? 13:43 Where do you want to settle after travel nursing? 15:53 Where do you think the future of travel nursing is going to go? 19:48 How did you become Entrepreneurs? 20:06 What is the MedVenture App? 24:38 What can you expect in the MedVenture App? 31:13 What is the process of developing the app? 33:04 How do you transition from being a nurse to being a leader? 34:21 How do you handle being an entrepreneur and a nurse? 37:50 What do you do in your free time? 40:13 What is your current obsession? 42:48 Where can people find Emily & Ryan?
Life after you graduate nursing school seems a bit overwhelming, but with proper guidance and helpful tips, you can manage it too.
Where do you want to work? What are the key takeaways from nursing school? What do you need before you step into the unit? It can be tricky to find the right opportunity.
To ensure you are happy with your first decision, take your time and explore the market to learn about the types of opportunities that will be best for your career goals.
Understanding Different Opportunities
Finding a hospital to work in after you graduate from nursing school is often the main goal of many nursing graduates to start their careers.
Other career opportunities (non-bedside): Legal Nurse Consultant, Hospice Nurse, Public Health Nurse, Occupational Nurse, Dialysis Nurse, Nurse Educator
Research the facility you will be applying for to learn more about the role you’re applying for. Answer the following questions:
What are the facility’s mission, vision, and values?
Do you know what the facility’s designation is?
What population do they serve?
Do you know if they have been awarded or recognized?
Different Units – What Unit Do You Want to Work On?
How would you describe yourself?
Lead the team?
Do you love to collab?
Do you work best alone?
What does your ideal workday look like?
Consistent, likes to plan ahead?
Something new every day to keep you on your toes?
A mix of this and that?
Who is your ideal patient?
Elderly, acutely ill, new mom and infant, children?
When it comes to patients, the best way you can help is?
You can use this opportunity as a stepping stone to advance internally up the specialty ladder.
For example, starting in Med/Surg, then working up to PCCU, and then ICU. Other managers and supervisors can notice you and help you cross-train to their unit.
Utilizing your Network and Resources
Since you can’t rely on years of professional experience to land your new gig, using your network to get your foot in the door is your next best option.
After you graduate nursing school, many nursing schools also have a network to help with different employment available for you before deciding on your first job. While doing clinical rotations, you can also inquire about opportunities.
Build your support network early on, as they can offer advice, guidance, and job leads. You can start by getting all your classmates and professors’ email addresses.
Job fairs are another great way to look for opportunities. At a nursing job fair, you can meet with dozens of prospective employers in a single day instead of sending out stacks of resumes and waiting weeks for a response.
If you’re unfamiliar with which facilities are hiring, you can consider major job boards such as Indeed, Linkedin, and Hired.
Tips on using jobs board effectively:
Make sure your Linkedin profile and resume are congruent.
Adding new responsibilities and new volunteer opportunities you’ve taken
Be attentive to the language you’re using in your profile resume
Mirror the language of job listings that interest you in your profile and resume/
Don’t be afraid to reach out directly
Most job boards won’t list direct information to employers but that doesn’t mean you can’t reach out with a follow-up email about your application. The human connection can be the deciding factor.
Clean Up your Social Media Account
Have appropriate profile photos on all accounts.
Edit the biographies, headings, and descriptions to reflect a professional manner.
Run a Google search on your first and last name. Make sure all photos are appropriate.
Change your privacy settings to private if you do not want potential employers to view your social media profiles and photos.
Preparing for Your Interviews
The purpose of the interview is to determine if they like you and whether you’re a good fit for their team. Nursing is a team effort.
They also want to see if you’re as good as you seem on paper and can help them reach their goals as an organization.
Tip: Treat the interview like a conversation where both candidate and employer have a shared goal of getting to know each other.
You’ll be spending a lot of time at work, so make sure your core values align, and it’s an enjoyable work environment – not just tolerable.
Prescreen phone interview for nurses – Usually the first step of the hiring process. The goal is to reduce the number of candidates and invite the best-fitting candidates for the next step.
They’ll ask basic qualifying questions about:
Education
Employment status
Clinical experience
Goals
Tip: Know your availability, as the goal is to invite you for an in-person interview. Also, ask about the next steps, don’t get off the phone and wonder what’s next.
The Interview
This will be your first opportunity to meet the hiring manager or the unit. Ultimately, they are determining if they personally like you.
No one wants to work with a negative Nancy. This includes a number of things:
How they feel about you
How you’ll fit within their unit
Your level of enthusiasm
How your strengths can help them reach their goals
During this time, or maybe for the next interview, you will undergo a panel/peer interview which will include multiple people, usually from the unit, to help the hiring manager pick the best candidate.
We advise maintaining good eye contact with everyone, engaging in conversation with the entire group, sharing your personal stories, and smiling.
Before the interview, make sure you understand yourself.
Your strengths and weaknesses, the experiences you’ve had in clinical settings.
What is your 5-year goal?
Teamwork: Talk about a conflict within your healthcare team. What was the conflict, and how did you handle it?
Patient care: Tell me about a time when a patient’s family was dissatisfied with your care. How did you handle that situation?
Time management: Talk about a time you worked in a fast-paced setting. How do you prioritize tasks while maintaining excellent patient care?
Tip: Be a storyteller. Storytelling is powerful and memorable. Most importantly, it provides evidence to support the assertions made in your resume.
It gives the employer a glimpse at the type of nurse and human being you are.
What to Buy Before You Enter the Unit
Click pens
Penlight
Nursing scissors
Good scrubs
Right shoes
Stethoscope
Giving End of Shift Report
An end-of-shift report is a detailed report of your patients and their overall care and medical status.
nd-of-shift reports include medical history, recent procedures, lab values, medications, head-to-toe assessment, pain management, and plan of care.
Episode 115: Goes in-depth about the end of shift duties and gives a report
After you accept your position, remember that getting off orientation is not a race.
If you are hired with other new graduates, it is common to look at them and feel like you are competing in the race of who can be the best new grad nurse.
Who can take care of higher acuities quicker? Who will be let off orientation earlier? Your work culture can bolster this, especially if your manager starts making comments that make you feel like you’re behind.
Tip: You must focus on your journey and fill in the gaps you need. It’s not about winning a race.
Don’t forget about self-care days!
Treat yourself, take yourself out, get massages, and buy something nice.
Get those feel-good endorphins pumping. The Self-care culture is at an all-time high with talks about the pandemic and burnout.
Here are the things you need to know after nursing school. Click here for the full episode 👇👇👇
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Introduction 0:57 Sponsor Ads 1:34 Cup of Nurses Introduction 3:51 Episode Introduction 6:39 Understanding different opportunities 11:35 What unit do you want to work on? 18:46 Utilizing your Network and Resources 23:29 Tips on using jobs board effectively 24:30 Clean up your own social media account 25:50 Preparing for your interviews 31:01 What to buy before you enter the unit 34:24 Giving end-of-shift report 37:01 Don’t forget about self-care days
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