Wednesday | May 10, 2023

Healthcare starts with you. This is your beat.

☀️ Good Morning, Readers

It’s been a busy week here at TNB! We are hosting a giveaway with Guardian Medical Direction, which provides medical oversight for nurses looking to start their businesses. Guardian is giving away ten free expert consultations with their CEO & Chief Medical Officer, Chris Seitz. If you’re a nurse with an idea, enter here.

Stay curious!

Hannah B. (aka Nurse Hans)

Chief Ops Guru

TODAY ON TNB'S BLOG💬

MORNING BRIEF 🍳 ☕️

Apply to Beta Test the First Certified Burn Nurse Credential

The “time has come” for a nursing specialty certification in burn care, writes Emily Werthman, MSN, RN, and Amy Grand, MSN, RN, in a recent article in the Journal of Burn Care & Research. And starting May 10th, at 10 AM CT, nurses can apply on the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing site to be one of the 400 nurses to beta test the new credential from July 10th through August 6th. Those interested need to register an account at BCEN and will be applying to take the Certified Burn Registered Nurse (CBRN) beta exam. 

Eligible nurses must have a current, unrestricted RN license in the US, a US Territory, Canada, or Australia. Two years of burn nursing experience is recommended but not required. The BCEN site also has links to the exam contents and a reference list of books and other resources to study for the exam.

Docu-Series Highlights Racism in Nursing

In 2020, six nurses, disturbed by the countless murders of people of color, decided to produce a series of mini-documentaries highlighting racism in their profession. The resulting docu-series, “Reckoning With Racism in Nursing,” features interviews with 40 minority nurses, primarily African American, detailing how racism popped up in their nursing career. These include stories that run the gamut of receiving racist remarks from instructors in nursing school, being only one of a few racial or ethnic minorities in their cohort, seeing differences in treatment that patients of color receive, being called racial slurs, and even told they’re inferior to white people. 

The docu-series also points out that American Nurses Association guidelines don’t suggest how healthcare providers of color could manage racism in the workplace. In 2022, the ANA released a Racial Reckoning Statement acknowledging how it purposefully excluded Black Nurses until 1964 and the continued racism in nursing today.

Win Free Scrubs and Much More for Nurses’ Week

In honor of Nurses’ Week 2023, Careismatic Brands is giving away $100,000 worth of free scrubs. From June to December, Careismatic is giving a new set of scrubs to some 250 contest winners each month. The competition runs May 1st through the 26th, and all you have to do to win is enter your name into the Mystery Scrubs Giveaway sweepstakes. 

You can also find numerous deals from a range of companies. These include discounts on plans from Verizon and AT&T, 15% off select iRobot models to clean your home so you don’t have to, and nurse-specific deals from Hello Fresh to better your diet.

COMMUNITY PICKS 🌼 

Staying organized is vital when you’re a nurse. Now make it a little easier to remember what you need to do on your days off with this adorable nurse’s planner!

🔎 NOBC INSIGHTS powered by

Self-Advocacy Strategies to Drive Boardroom Contributions

Nurses are great other advocates, but when they are in a situation where they need to self-advocate, they often choose not to. 

Here are four language strategies to help you self-advocate:

1. Make it about yourself, not the organization/company: When you self-advocate, it should be about you and your needs

2. Minimize the ask: Reassure the person listening that your request will be reasonable.

3. Present one “easy yes” with one “difficult yes”: Give your listener one thing that they can for sure say “yes” to, along with the item that might be more difficult for them to say “yes” to.

4. Appeal to a higher authority: Have something to talk about besides the listener to diminish any blaming or burden. 

These strategies are helpful in both a clinical environment and the boardroom. Advocacy is the true foundation of leadership: it’s how we leverage language to get what we want.

Samantha Beaver | Linguist; Author; Senior Workplace Communications Analyst; Communications and Research Consultant; NOBC News Editor

GUARDIAN MD BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT 🔦

Consultants at the TK Consulting Group are experts in the Governance Model to increase healthcare employee engagement, increase intent to stay and decrease employee turnover. Their programs help leaders and organizations experiencing staff turnover with strategic planning, streamlining processes, employee education, and increasing efficiency. TK Consulting Group was founded and owned by registered nurse Trish Knutson.

DAILY DIVERSION 💊

Dartmouth Health in New Hampshire held a “Shark Tank for Nurses” event earlier this year. Participant teams were tasked with pitching innovations to solve a problem they encountered on a daily basis. The winning team developed a “Go-Getter” strap that would expedite the discharge process by allowing employees to transport two wheelchairs simultaneously. A six-month mentorship program will now help them bring the idea to fruition.

🤯 ONE BIG NUMBER

Thanks for reading! 🤓