Top 5 Reasons to Have a Nurse Blog Blogging has become a great pastime for many. If there happens to be a subject you are interested in, you can find a blog to read, and learn everything you wanted to know about it. So it only makes sense that nurses are starting to make contributions to the world of blogging. It is a great way to share an insight into the world of nursing: the humor and the heartwarming stories can certainly do nursing proud. Inspiration You never know who may be searching the internet looking at blogs, and just happen to notice yours, and decide to take a look. Suppose a recent graduate is trying to make a career decision, and nursing was one of the contenders. Of course they can do research, and read article after article, however, most articles are very factual, offering statistics and job possibilities. However, none really touches on what it’s like to be a nurse, at least from a nurse’s perspective. The potential nursing student may have studied article after article, and still be much undecided if nursing is the career for them. Many of the sites that talk of nursing careers are actually schools that are recruiting students. The prospective student may later decide to obtain information regarding the school; however for now they are really looking to see what it is really like to be a nurse. Until now, this would be nursing student remained undecided, hoping to find some real insight, and now they see your blog. Related: Reasons Why First Impression Clichés Are True On the blog, they see that some days are filled with humor and fun. You may have a patient that totally ignores their pain and provides entertainment for everyone that enters their room. Jolly and congenial fall short of the description, they are just set on making everyone laugh, regardless of any pain they may feel within their own body. As you give a description of the day, and talk about laughing more than you have in a long time, and how all of the nurses wanted to visit your patient for their daily dose of laughter, it is obvious it was a great day. Then of course the next day, not a fun day, however an inevitable day in a nurse’s career, you lost a patient. The patient was kind, and caring, and their family was heartbroken to learn that their loved one had passed. As the nurse that cared for the patient, you too feel a loss, and regardless of how many years you have been a nurse, that loss never subsides. Then there was the day that the
word chaotic and crazy does not even come close to describing how things went on your floor. Your honest and open discussion of exactly what it is like to be a nurse has actually just convinced one perspective nursing student to move forward and become a nurse, no more hesitation and no questions asked, they know nursing is their calling. Teaching Some people assume the hospital environment is like television--love triangles, elevators breaking down and patients being operated on in the dark nonmoving elevator. Or the doctors and nurses dance around and sing while the patient is being operated on in a dimly lit room. Needless to say, they could have a misguided idea of what a hospital is really like. Then, there is the self-diagnosing patient. They heard a doctor (or an actor on TV with absolutely no medical knowledge) say that the way to cure a certain condition is to simply take acetaminophen. Meanwhile, their strep throat develops into scarlet fever. One day on your blog, you may have gone into when it is time to seek medical assistance. Fever and prolonged sore throat was something you covered in depth, so the patient reads, and rereads your clinical advice, and decides to seek medical attention. In writing your blog, You may very well teach something to a reader that could save their life. Related: Ways to Become a Social Butterfly Support You may have a wonderful family and group of friends; however, if they are not a nurse, they cannot understand what you may go through at times. Having a blog allows other nurses to offer support and words of encouragement, possibly exactly what you need to hear. Other nurses may have tips and ideas that you have not thought of, and learning of them may be exactly what you were looking for. You can ask questions on your blog, and request other nurses to respond, you may be surprised at the results you receive. It’s within a nurse to want to help people, and helping another nurse is something that most agree, provides great satisfaction. Community Information Obviously, you would never post private hospital details or patient information on your blog; however, there is a world of community information that would be great to share. For instance, free classes for
diabetic patients, heart patients, or mobile mammograms being offered. The general public may not always keep up with postings from hospitals; however, if they read a blog and find helpful information that pertains to them, they are likely to act. Sharing helpful community postings can benefit anyone that reads them, and can help to bring awareness to medical conditions that are often overlooked. Blogs are no longer just for teenagers or people seeking social media attention. Today’s blogs can be educational and informative. Blogs can offer support and advice, from an actual person and not just a recorded statistic. Blogging by a nurse can give an accurate portrayal of a day in the life of a nurse. It can offer a better understanding of what working as a nurse is like, and it also provides insight into what nurses do during a working shift. Nurses in Training A nurse just out of school that begins training, or even a nurse doing an internship would be doing a great service to potential nursing students if they blogged. Ideally the nurse could begin blogging as they are completing school, and cover the licensing exam process and any challenges that wouldbe nurses might face. Then begin blogging daily or every couple days on what it’s like as a nurse training on a new job. Offering an honest depiction, covering the good, the bad, the ups and downs, and the challenges. This would be extremely beneficial to other new nurses as they start their careers, they would realize that others faced the exact same challenges they are facing. It would offer encouragement as you follow the blog and see that eventually things turn out fine, as is the case with most nurses just starting out. Blogging is the way of the future, and the way of the world now. Sharing your opinion and thoughts is very common, and what better thoughts to share than the career of a nurse. There are numerous reasons and benefits to blogging, as a nurse you could consider it an act of community service, sharing health tips and free program information. One nurse's blog was recently credited with saving the life of a breast cancer patient. The nurse was doing random blogs and decided to mention the free mammograms her hospital was doing. 4 months later she was approached by a 52-year-old woman that informed her it was her blog that saved her life. The doctors had advised her another month without catching her cancer and it would have been untreatable. Blogging is not work, it is simply like doing your own personal newsletter, so if you are a nurse, give it some thought, since you never know who you might benefit.
Related: Leading Registered Nurse Stephanie Amber Smith, RN, BSN to be Published in the Worldwide Leaders in Healthcare as New Member of the International Nurses Association
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