How My Job as an Educator Led to My Own Business

Beth Hawkes, MSN, RN-BC is an educator at San Joaquin Hospital in Bakersfield, CA as well as a blogger and writer. 

I love being a nurse and I love being a nurse educator.

I chose Staff Development as a career path because I saw being a clinical educator as a way to influence nursing practice.

What excites me is researching best practice and raising the standards of practice in the areas I serve as Med Surg Educator.

For example, our hospital is growing an oncology service line and that means an enormous amount of education for nurses and nursing staff in the Med Surg units. That led to me joining the Oncology Nurses Society (ONS). ONS has very good resources for its members.

The first thing I noticed when rounding on the Med Surg floors was nursing assistants donning yellow gowns when entering rooms of chemo patients. By contrast, the RNs administering chemo were wearing chemo-approved blue gowns.  I asked a couple of young, female nursing assistants why they were wearing yellow (isolation) gowns. They explained that the blue gowns were only available in a cumbersome "Chemo Administration Kit" which bundled supplies for the administering nurse, and included syringes, and medication biohazard bags. Therefore they reasoned it would be wasteful and expensive to use the protective blue gowns.

Within a short time, I met with Materials Management and had single packaged blue gowns ordered and stocked. I met with Print Shop and developed a Chemo Precautions magnetized signage for the patient doors. I researched how long protective gear should be worn (generally 48 hours) and under what conditions. 

I then went on a scavenger hunt to track down the Chemo Spill Kits which were hidden in various places on each unit (in a cupboard, under a manager's desk) and had them wall mounted in plexiglass in each utility room.

One day I cut a yellow isolation gown in half lengthwise down the front. I did the same with a blue chemo gown. I sewed them together, one half yellow, one half blue, and wore my fashion-forward gown all day in the hospital to educate nursing staff on proper chemo protection.

Blogging and Blogging Ideas

I also love writing, and a little over a year ago, I started a nursing blog.  One of my early posts was about the sacred cows of nursing practice, such as reverse isolation, and efficacy of Trendelenburg.

One of my roles as Educator is to serve as a debriefer for each cohort of new grad nurses (residents). In debriefing 8-10 residents meet in a group (circle formation) once a week with a facilitator (me) and share their experiences in a safe place. I love meeting with these new grads and supporting them. From this experience came one of most popular blog posts "8 Things to Say When Your Patient Dies"  and "Avoid these 10 Rookie Mistakes"    New grads also love "Calling Doctors is Like Playing Football" I have no lack of ideas for writing, I just have a lack of writing time!

Blogging also provides a venue for exposure. Exposure leads to opportunity, and within a short amount of time, I was offered a (paying) job blogging for bsntomsn.org where I am now their nursing site blogger, writing one article a month.  I also write for other nursing blogs on request. 

Business and Networking Opportunities

Blogging affords potential income. Over Christmas, I earned $488.00 from Amazon in passive income by sponsored advertising on my site, which included a link to Littman stethoscopes. I was slow to monetize my site, and am still not aggressive about it, but I am starting to realize the potential for income. Nurse bloggers who are serious about monetizing their sites can make some nice passive income.

Another example is landing a job as a Career Columnist "Ask Nurse Beth" with allnurse.com, a well-known nursing forum with over 939,000 members.

Content Development

Another thing educators are well prepared to do is to write content for companies such as HealthStream and Versant. I have written competencies for both and draw on skills acquired as an Educator, such as writing objectives and researching nursing practice.

The chemo knowledge required for my job qualified me to write content for Versant on oncology. Versant prefers their content to be created in PowerPoint, and again, as an Educator, I had that skill.

And perhaps the very best benefit is meeting and networking with nursing leaders and fellow nurse entrepreneurs. This summer in Las Vegas, I met educational guru Laura Gasparis, the “Inspirational Nurse” Donna Cardillo, and Renee Thompson at the National Nurses in Business Association (NNBA) annual conference, as well as powerhouse nursing bloggers Brittney Wilson and Keith Carlson.

Where Skills and Passions Meet

As of this writing, I write for 3 blogs, contribute to a start-up magazine, serve as a career columnist, and write competencies for both HealthStream and Versant.

We all have unique skills and passions. When our skills and passions match opportunity, the sky is the limit.

What are your skills, and what have you always wanted to do?

*Beth Hawkes will be presenting a pre-convention workshop on blogs and infographics at the 2016 ANPD Annual Convention in Pittsburgh, PA.

Let’s Take a Break! Self-Care Strategies for New Healthcare Employees

Jill Guilfoile, MEd, BSN, RN-BC and Ruthanne Werner, MEd, MSN, RN-BC are Education Consultants at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in Cincinnati, OH.

It is not a new revelation that self-care promotes health and well-being for any individual. However, those working in the healthcare environment face particular stressors such as high patient census, death and dying, challenges of international patients, shift work and demanding family situations.

Many organizations have initiated workplace wellness programs in order to maintain a healthy workforce and decrease healthcare expenditures. Corporate wellness programs are often tied to an organization’s core values and strategic initiatives. At what point of employment are staff made aware of opportunities to utilize available resources? At Cincinnati Childrens, new Patient Services staff are exposed to wellness program resources during day one of orientation. We encourage staff to explore MyHealthPath, our organization’s wellness site, and participate in active strategies for optimum health.

Incentives: Money, Paid Time Off!

In the introduction to employee health and wellness we share information about the importance of self-care in the work environment and the associated group activities allow participants to apply self-care strategies during the class. This is done through active learning methods that include scenario-based group work and three hands on self-care stations involving walking, stretching and relaxation techniques.

Stretch Station: 

Sample from Walking Station Poster:                                                                     

Stress Management Station:

The orientation facilatators role model healthy behaviors by taking the stairs during employee building tours, putting on sneakers and taking a walk at break time, and sharing the “healthy challenges” that we are involved with on MyHealthPath.

We have been very excited about the positive response from employees! Comments from new staff related to these activities show a high level of satisfaction about what is offered at the organization and during the orientation class time. Practicing how to find the online resources is beneficial and remarks about feeling valued by the organization are voiced as well. These activities also serve as a reminder that employees can and should take mental and physical breaks throughout their day…it is part of the Cincinnati Children’s strategic initiative!

So our “Call to Action” for those of you reading this blog is: 

• What will you do with this information?
• How can some of this be incorporated in your workplace or organization overall?
• Are you ready to be a wellness/self-care champion?

We are happy to talk to anyone about how we incorporated employee self-care into our new employee orientation, so questions are welcome!

Here’s to a happy, healthy and active 2016!

*Jill & Ruthanne will be presenting a poster on this topic at the 2016 ANPD Annual Convention in Pittsburgh, PA.