Monday | May 22, 2023

Healthcare starts with you. This is your beat.

☀️ Good Morning Readers,

Today, our team, along with our friends at connectRN, are in Philly for the NTI conference, where I will speak on my transition from bedside to business and the importance of building community for sustainability in healthcare. If you are at the conference, come check us out here. We are also hosting a networking happy hour later tonight and are excited to see you! If you are in the area and interested in attending, a few tickets are left. Register here.

Stay safe. Be healthy. Be kind. 

Tamara AL-Yassin (aka Nurse T)

CEO | The Nursing Beat

MORNING BRIEF 🍳 ☕️

Nurses Protest Unjust Firing and Suspensions

Prompted by an acute staffing shortage, a nurse at Clara Maass Medical Center with 25 years of experience had to immobilize a patient to administer an IV and was subsequently suspended for her actions. She was then fired when she joined nine other nurses in delivering a petition — which included signatures from 170 colleagues — off duty to her manager, asking the medical center to reconsider the suspension. As a result, those nine nurses were also suspended. United Healthcare Workers East nurse members later picketed outside the medical center in protest. 

Experts Urge Caution About Apparent Plateau of Drug Overdose Deaths

Last year, more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, amounting to the highest tally in US history. Provisional data from the CDC shows that overdose deaths have fallen for three months in a row, but some states are faring better than others. Only eight states reported fewer overdose deaths, and only four states — Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia — reported sizable overdose death decreases of 100 or more. Researchers believe a spike occurred during the pandemic, and the US may now be returning to pre-pandemic levels. 

New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital Vote to Strike

New York State Nurses Association members voted to authorize a strike at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. Nearly all — 99.6% — of voting union members voted in favor of the strike. The 1,250 union nurses at the hospital have been without a contract since April 30th and have been in negotiations for months. Safe staffing is the central issue on the table, and the union says that management has proposed staffing cuts and unsafe floating.

COMMUNITY PICKS 🌼 

Who says compression socks cannot be cool or trendy? Not us! We love these graduated compression socks by Vitalsox. They’re machine washable, provide support in the ankle and plantar regions, and have ventilation channels so your legs can breathe! The best part? They’re unisex!

🧑‍💻 THAT REMOTE LIFE powered by

Prepare for Your Remote Nurse Interview

It’s nerve-wracking to interview for a new job. Putting on your best persona, discussing your accomplishments, and feeling like you have something to prove can be exhausting. Here’s how to prepare for two questions you’ll always have to answer in an interview.

• “Tell me about yourself”: The question asks if you can articulate how your goals align with company values.

  • How to prepare:

    • Avoid getting too personal

    • Discuss your professional values 

    • Know the illegal interview questions

• “Tell me about a time…”: The question asks you to demonstrate critical thinking.

  • How to prepare:

    • Research the STAR method

    • Have a list of experiences to pull from

    • Practice

Interviewing for a new role is a great time to inventory your current burnout level, professional values, and career goals. To learn more about acing remote nursing job interviews, check out the full blog here.

DAILY DIVERSION 💊

If you’ve heard anything about the 1950s Puget Sound Hospital, you’ve likely learned about Mabel, the supposed ghost of a nurse who roamed the halls for decades. That aside, the hospital, now demolished, has an interesting history and was an essential part of Tacoma and its community for decades.

🤯 ONE BIG NUMBER

Thanks for reading! 🤓