Quick Beauty Tips for Busy Nurses

In the hectic schedule of the nursing profession, nurses rarely get time for themselves. Often, they don't even have the energy to follow a beauty regime. However, like every other woman in the world, nurses want to feel beautiful and confident. If you are a nurse, it may not be easy with your busy schedule, but you can treat yourself with a quick beauty regime.

Here are a few easy tips to help busy, hardworking nurses maintain their beauty while at work -

• Skin – Skin care is a vital part of any beauty regime. You should take proper care of your skin. Opt for exfoliation,cleansing, toning, and proper moisturizing for the best results.Pamper your skin regularly with face masks and get rid of impurities. Also, don't forget about your hands.Nursing requires a lot of cleaning, washing and disinfecting. Manicures and regular moisturizing is essential for hands.
• Makeup – Make quick-to-apply makeup products your friends, because nurses don't usually have much time to get ready. Mascara, eyeliner, foundation etc., are very useful makeup products. Nurses have to work long hours so try to use natural beauty products, so chemicals don’t harm your skin.In addition, remember to remove makeup before going to sleep.
• Hair – Use a good shampoo and conditioner to keep your hair shiny and healthy. Following a healthy diet improves your hair and makes it shine. Proper sleep is also essential for shiny and flowing locks.
• Health – Maintaining good health is a part of every beauty regime. Get good and restful sleep to give your body and mind respite. Drink lots of water to keep your skin hydrated and to get rid of toxins. Exercise more to stay healthy and fit, which is necessary in the nursing field. Include healthy food items in your diet such as fruits and vegetables.
• Nails – Make sure that your nails aren't suffering because of your busy schedule. Save them from cracking and chipping by properly moisturizing nail beds and cuticles.
• Looks – Try out new hairstyles for a fresh look. Various hairstyles are essential to improve your looks, so be creative. Buns, ponytails, braids – there are many to try.You can try out new styles within the rules.Use minimal makeup to bring out your natural beauty.

Follow the above-mentioned tips to maintain your beauty and elegance, even in the hectic schedule of your nursing profession. If you would like to read more such tips for nurses, you can explore our blog.

If you are looking for ways to advance your nursing career in Canada, INSCOL offers nursing education in Canada for internationally educated nurses. You can join a graduate/postgraduate nursing program of your choice by joining programs offered by INSCOL.

How to Calm Your Patient’s Pre-Surgery Anxiety?

Feeling anxious before surgery is common for patients, as they start to feel nervous and restless, even if it is not their first time going under the knife. Anxious patients suffer from symptom like – 

• Irregular heartbeat
• Increased blood pressure
• Nausea
• Shortness of breath
• Sleep problems

However, this anxiety is not good either for the patient as well as for the healthcare professionals. It can be worrying for patients, especially those with cardiovascular problems. It can have adverse effects on patients’ overall health and post surgery recovery.

It is usually the responsibility of a nurse to calm down the patient before surgery and ease their worries. As a nurse, you would have already studied about such situations at nursing school. However, here are a few tips for you that can help to calm down the patients.

• Be punctual - It is advised not to leave a patient waiting before the surgery. It only fuels their nerves and makes them more nervous. As a nurse, you should be on time, so that you can ease patients’ fears on time.
• Converse with patients - Make conversation with the patient before surgery. Small talk will ease their worries and help you create a therapeutic bond with them. Listen and acknowledge their concerns regarding the surgery to get to know what is really troubling them. Let them know that it is okay to be nervous and they will be well taken care. Your reassurance combined with empathy will reduce their anxiety considerably and they will calm down.
• Be informative - Many patients like to know what will happen before and during the surgery, as lack of knowledge makes them uneasy. You can provide them information and help ease their worries. Educate them about the surgery and instructions to distract them. Such information will help them de-stress and relive the anxiety.Moreover, if they are too nervous to ask questions, take initiative to inform them yourself. You can also show them relevant images or videos to educate them about the procedure.
• Use relaxation techniques - There are a variety of relaxation techniques that are used by healthcare professionals to calm patients before a surgical procedure. It includes focusing on breathing, meditation and muscle relaxation. These techniques can slow down the breathing and control the heart rate. You can use such techniques to calm your patient.
• Music therapy - To ease patients’ pre-surgery anxiety, nurses can use music. It is seen that people, who listen to relaxing music before surgery are relaxed and less nervous.

As per the nurses who are experienced in the profession, there could be more things that can calm patient’s anxiety before surgery. These things can only be learnt with practice and experience while working in a nursing facility. 

If you are a nurse and willing to pursue a rewarding career in nursing in Canada, the best way is to go for International Nursing Programs of your choice. There are Canadian nursing programs that allow nurses to study as well as work in Canada. To know your options, you can explore the nursing courses in Canada for International Nurses offered by INSCOL.

3 Best Hairstyles for Busy Nurses!

As a nurse and always on your toes, you just don’t have time to worry about  your hairstyle. To help you look presentable and poised, here are three great hairstyles for busy nurses.

1. Flipped Ponytail

Via Pinterest

Nurses are always in a rush, and don’t have much time for fancy hairstyles. A flipped ponytail is simple and looks clean and elegant. 

Here are basic steps to get started:

• Comb your hair and tie it up in a regular ponytail. Secure with an elastic band. Make sure it’s not too tight. 
• Divide your hair into two parts, right above the elastic band.
• Hold the end of your ponytail and insert it in between the two parts. 
• Carefully pull the end back until it looks like a flipped ponytail.
• Your flipped ponytail is done and you are all set for work!

2. Top Knot Bun 

Via nursebuff.com

Having a bad hair day? This top knot bun is your savior for bad hair days. Follow these simple steps to create this chic hair-do.

• Comb your hair backward and make a high ponytail.
• Don’t tie your hair with an elastic band, rather  twist it clockwise. Keep repeating it until it wraps around the top of your head like a coil.
• Secure your bun with either bobby pins or an elastic band.

3. Bow Bun

Via nursebuff.com

If you want to look simple yet stylish this bow bun is for you. It takes just a few minutes to make and gives you a sassy look.

• Tie your hair in a ponytail and secure with an elastic band.
• Make a bun and leave some hair on the top of your head.
• Divide the bun in the middle so it resembles a big bow on the top of your head.
• At the back of the bun, pull the ends tight.
• Secure the bun with bobby pins.

To read more tips for nurses, visit our blog. You will find blogs on career, jobs, nursing specialty, nurse humor, nurse education, and more. And, if you are looking for specialty nursing programs in Canada, browse the courses available at INSCOL.com.

Here are Some Tips for Nursing Students Straight from the Veterans in their Own Words

Nurses all across the world are finding ways to prosper in their career. Some go for specializing in a field of their choice, while some take up another job with better prospects. There are many who are finding a great alternative to grow in their career through nursing courses that allows them to study as well as work at the same time. Moreover, there are nurses experienced enough that gives some real life tips to them in their own words as published in an article on scrubsmag.com. 

"Always ask questions. None of us knows it all. Nursing is a profession where you are always learning." —Bette G.

"You will not know everything when you get out of nursing school; you will learn more your first year as a nurse than all of your nursing school combined!" —Micha L.

"Remember how excited you were when you began this nursing journey. When you have a bad nursing day,’ go back to yourself on the day you found out you got accepted into nursing school and how excited you were to become a nurse. Helps me get through." —Liz L.

"One of our instructors gave us a good tip: write your first initial and your last name with ‘RN’ following it—nice and big. Place it somewhere you will see it all the time (your mirror, binder or on your desk), and remind yourself of why you chose this path." —Aida M.
 
"If you can squeeze it in—find a job as a PCA or NA somewhere—even if it’s just part-time or PRN. You will learn SO much that will be helpful to your future nursing career, including how to work with your future PCA, etc." —Christie S.

"You will literally have no life outside of nursing school until the day you pass NCLEX. When they tell you that, believe them. My BSN was the hardest thing I ever loved/hated." —Julie B.

"Don’t leave assignments to the last minute. Start the moment you get them." —Lucy C. 

"When in doubt, ask a senior nurse for help! You can’t be a hero alone." —Jimmie B. 

"Trust your gut! First instincts and bad feelings are usually accurate." —Angela M.
 
"Organization is everything! It helps you stay on top of assignments and what to study when. Get yourself a big calendar to put on your wall…write down due dates for assignments, test dates, clinical days, etc. This also helped my family know where I was (class or clinical). I highly recommend making flash cards so you can take them everywhere with you to study." —Brittani T. 

If you are a veteran in the field of patient care, we know you might too have some useful tips for new nurse grads. We will be glad if you can share those with us in the comments here. For more such tips and information on nursing profession, you can visit INSCOL. Moreover, if you want to study and work abroad, you can find detailed information at http://www.inscol.com

How Google Glass Could Be a Boon for Nurses?

The moment you step in to a medical facility for treatment, a nurse wearing Google Glass will have all your information right in front of her eyes, from your personal medical history to current health issues, name of the doctor you are consulting, treatment & medication, real-time stats of blood pressure, heart beat, blood sugar and more such related information.

Easy access to patient information is considered as the biggest benefit a nurse could have from Google Glass. A nurse can quickly locate and see health history of a patient without having to take her hands off a patient or excuse herself from a procedure.

Think about if all the nurses are wearing Google Glass and is integrated with the hospital's database system, communication and interaction among them will be done in the blink of an eye. If the nurse's hands are gloved and dirty, it’s not a good idea to pick up and answer the phone. However,with the help of Google Glass, nurses could easily interact and complete the conversation without leaving the work they are doing. Google Glass can also show text messages and updates via the screen.

Since the introduction, Google Glass works best for information purposes. With continuous development, other medical procedures could be integrated so long as there was a perfected way to make sure that patient information goes to the right place on the hands of right person.

On the other hand, when new technology is introduced into patient care, there is always a concern of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) because Google Glass are devices for personal use primarily. However, such concern could be resolved if these are owned by the healthcare organization and are encrypted on the hospital network.

As technology leaps ahead in future, it will become increasingly available to the mass and technologies like Google Glass won’t be a peculiarity at the bedside, but rather the anticipation. If you are a nurse practicing in a healthcare facility, let us know what your thoughts on Google Glass are.

Vein Viewer - A Technology that Helps to Visualize Veins of a Patient

There’s no one in this world who enjoys poking their veins with needles and healthcare professionals too feels the discomfort in prodding or injecting needles in to the veins of the patients. To ease botheration and help nursing staff in finding the vein, there is a device that illuminates the vein beneath the layer of the skin – it’s the Vein Viewer.

Vein Viewer provides an x-ray like view to allow a nurse or clinician to inject needles in order to withdraw blood from person’s vein. The infrared light used in Vein Viewer makes it easier to see through the layer of skin up to 10mm to 15mm deep. The hemoglobin in the blood absorbs the infrared light and the surrounding tissue reflects it. Vein Viewer then use this information to create a digital HD image, sprucing up the vasculature of the patient.

This technological breakthrough empowers healthcare professionals with benefits pertaining to vein detection and visualization in the most convenient ways. Thereafter, it becomes quite easier to identify the actual point of injecting a needle and in selecting the suitable needle gauge according to the size of the patient’s vein. Eventually, it helps patient care providers to refrain from any potentially problematic structures.

The top most advantage of Vein Viewer is that it provides live visual feedback that helps to confirm the flow both in and out of the veins and monitored before any problems arise. Another advantage of this technology is in being able to navigate a catheter around difficult curves, the ability to see a rolling vein and the ability to confirm proper IV flow.

Additionally, Vein Viewer can easily identify a hematoma and can provide confirmation of peripheral IV situation that helps to avoid medically preventable central lines like PICC or CVC. Healthcare facilities like hospitals, physician’s clinics, aesthetics, emergency, trauma and outpatient centers are gearing up to utilize the benefits of Vein Viewer while providing medical services to the patients.

4 Things That an Employer Doesn't Want in a Nurse

Most probably, you gave all the correct answers to the questions asked in the interviews you've been through till date to get selected as a nursing professional. But an employer searches for a nursing professional who will give the 'most correct' answers to the questions he/she asks. Not only this, a nursing professional is not merely confined to give the 'most correct' answers but also to be an all-rounder and a responsible human being. Moreover, when it comes to nursing, nobody wants their near and dear ones getting treatment and care from any random person. So, a nursing professional has to know certain hacks and tips to get through an interview. Here are things that your potential employer DOESN'T want to see in you being a nurse -

Ignored Hygiene and Improper Attire

It's not even something to be told over, or is it? Well, it is. Be it any job, the employer will get impressed by your hygiene. Yes, cleanliness does definitely cast level five spell of charm and so does your crisp, sharp and clean professional attire. It's important to have your scrub properly fit. Untrimmed facial hair and dirty nails are distracting things so get them trimmed and manicured regularly. Moreover, it'd be great if you'll be smelling good, even without those splashes of perfume. All that you need is some spit and polish!

Overconfidence - Basically, Over of 'everything'

No doubt, confidence is a person's billboard. However, how unpleasant is to encounter a person with pride, be it even in our normal lives. Learning is a never-ending process. Moreover, who doesn't like people who are always open to learn about new things? A successful nursing professional will always be striving to learn the best out of all ways of doing something they might already know how to do. An employer would not like to see a nurse's human resources going from confident to over-confidently arrogant.

Not Having Any Other Interests

Let it be any profession, how much do you like a person drown into theoretical knowledge and being confined to such a limited periphery that he/she doesn't have any other hobbies. Well, we don't actually like such individuals. No offenses, but why would even an employer like a boring person? Nursing as a profession gets quite stressful, emotional and even tragic at times. Don't let it dry your sense of humor. Nurses have to have certain outside interests in order to cope up with the tragedy and pain they might experience. Of course, nurses with no outside interests do not really interest an employer.

Short-term Potential

No boss likes a person with short-term potential. Nursing as a profession includes situations with taxing work hours, or working at nights. Well, it might get your sleeping schedule ruined to no way back to repair, but it gets you under pressure of a well-analyzed time-management under your control once you get used to it. An employer sitting to interview for the post of a nurse would surely ask about your willingness to work at nights or working at weird schedules or even at emergencies. Not being willing to work on weekends, night shifts, off-shifts will eventually decrease your possibilities or chances to get the job of a nursing professional. After all, a successful nurse would make her/himself available anytime, anyhow and that's the way he/she will make a difference every day.