Resilience is a part of nursing that you start preparing for during nursing scho

Posted: September 20th, 2023

Resilience is a part of nursing that you start preparing for during nursing school without even realizing it. The article, “Resilience in Nursing Students: An Integrative Review” points out that nursing school is quite a bit more stressful academically than other majors. Because of this, an aspiring nurse must learn resilience early to make it through the program. You learn a lot about how to practice during clinicals and classes at nursing school, and by the time you graduate and get a job some of those practices have already changed. And that is just the beginning, procedures and practices are always changing. It is important for a nurse to change along with those practices. I have always thought as a nurse it is important to keep an open mind about new things. Having a “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it” mindset with this career does not work. Just because something works does not mean that there isn’t a better way to do it. As a nurse, it is important to always strive to learn and grow in your practice. I have found that going with the flow and keeping an open mind when things are changing around you makes the job easier in the long run.
Communicating this change is quite simple. You must lead by example. With nursing peers, offer to teach them a new way of doing things. Help them learn if they are having trouble. If I am having trouble learning a new practice I need to make sure I feel comfortable enough to ask for help to make sure I am doing things right. Communicating this to the patients is as simple as explaining a procedure to them. Some patients pay very good attention and notice when different nurses do things in different ways. Explain to the patient that the procedure they have gotten before is a little different now and the reasons why to make them feel more at ease and confident in your ability to care for them.