For many of us in healthcare, living through this time of crisis has been an experience like no other. This is especially true for nurses and nurse informaticists, who are providing so much clinical, technological, and emotional support for care teams as well as their communities. The Year of the Nurse has been quite a year. We need your light now more than ever.
But crises also offer new opportunities for learning and growth. And we are all making adjustments - including MEDITECH, which recently held its first-ever Virtual Nurse Forum. We may have been physically distant, but our connections to each other and to our common goals proved to be just as strong as ever.
Whether you were able to join us virtually this year or not, these seven takeaways from the forum are good things for all of us to think about going forward:
- Use a compass, not a map, to navigate change. Things may never go back to the way they used to be. But that’s okay. If you have a good sense of what direction you want to take, you can find your way through all the twists and turns.
- Learn to recognize the gifts in seismic shifts. An unexpected “gift” of the pandemic is how it has accelerated the adoption of new innovations and processes, such as remote EHR implementations and advanced surveillance. These breakthroughs will continue to improve healthcare for years to come.
- Make the most of the tools you have. Nurses who have easy access to information and good communication with their teams are more likely to avoid burnout, even during times of stress. Mobile devices can go a long way in giving clinicians the efficiency to keep up with intense workloads.
- Virtual visits and telemedicine are here to stay. Many of us are discovering the convenience and sustainability of virtual visits for the first time. It’s hard to imagine physicians or patients ever wanting to give that up.
- You don’t have to be perfect. Go easy on yourself - nobody has all the answers. It’s the resilience and compassion you bring to work each day that is irreplaceable.
- Listen more. Caring is all about relating to other people. Appreciate the weirdness of this moment, and open yourself up to learn from others’ experiences.
- And share your story. Allow others to benefit from the lessons you have learned - by publishing, presenting, and promoting your efforts.
Learn how MEDITECH Expanse Patient Care is giving time back to nurses and therapists.
