happynurses

Inspiring women

This will be a quick post as I have heard two bits of sad news this week - the deaths of Jane Tomlinson and Anita Roddick.

They are women who have inspired me along my way and whose autobiographies are well worth the reading time. They were amazing women who trod their own path and helped millions of others in different ways.

Read about them, donate some money to their causes and then think how you would feel if you died tomorrow. I doubt either of them would have many regrets about things they hadn't done, or the lives they had lived.

What would you regret not doing, happynurses?

A happy blog tomorrow!

Being a patient

This weekend I have been a patient for the second time in a month. A couple of weeks ago I stubbed my toe getting in the bath, and it went black, probably cracked. On Saturday night I did a much better job and broke my wrist, so have my left arm in plaster for the next 6 weeks or so.

I had to attend casualty via an ambulance, and had my wrist manipulated under sedation, then waited to go to theatre. The surgeon decided I would be OK without surgery so let me go home on Sunday.

Thanks to my wonderful friends, I got back to Cheltenham (I will spare you the details!) and am currently trying to find out what is happening about my follow-up locally. I have made a few calls, with no trace so far. I know I need an X-ray and my plaster completing this week, but can't just sort it out myself, so have alerted as many people as I think can help me, and am waiting to hear......

What I have learnt:

• I have helpful, caring friends and family
• The NHS does a good job under difficult circumstances but communication can always be improved
• A sunny evening and a fun group of people needs to be handled with care!
• A plastic patio chair is not made for 2 adults to stand on!
• Living an exciting life, and getting stuck in, will always have risks involved, but
• Listening to my intuition is vital - it wanted to stop me......however,
• I would rather take risks than die of boredom

Will write more later when I am more comfortable....

Keep communicating, happynurses

Nurses jobs

This week I have been talking to some of the 'soon to be qualified' student nurses about job hunting. There is a general freeze on recruiting in a lot of areas, and even though our unit has had nursing staff leave that have not been replaced, and there are nurses who need jobs, the funds are not there to put the two together.

This highlights some important things I have learned in the past few years - we cannot rely on jobs for life any more. Redundancy, job shortages and unemployment are massive issues now for doctors and nurses - who would have thought it?

There is no easy solution to this, and it is difficult to balance the thoughts that millions have been spent on IT solutions for the NHS, yet there is a shortage of 'hands-on' skilled professionals. The computers won't treat the patients, however efficient the new system is!

So, we need to start to think about work in a different way, and ensure we have some security and financial income from other sources. The four streams in general are:

1. Earned or business income
2. Property investing
3. Stock market
4. Internet

Having a 'job' with a salary is a tiny part of the options available. Sometimes the shock of redundacy is the prompt for individuals to look at whether they are really happy in their work, and for some can be the way out of a miserable career.

How else could you earn money instead of, or as well as, your day job?

Who can teach you about property or the Internet?

Do you want to live in fear of never getting a job, or do you want to take action and start looking at a bigger picture?

Read 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' and 'The Money Gym' to open your mind to new ways to think and earn.

Be optimistic, happynurses