Monthly Archives: January 2022

How Healthcare Workers Are Juggling Their Demanding Careers with a Degree

Healthcare workers are the very definition of essential workers. Not only have they been at the very forefront of the coronavirus pandemic, but they are also the lifesaving figures that every single person has to thank. Whether they were there for you when you were injured, or they were there for a loved one, at one point or another, a healthcare worker has touched the lives of every person on this planet.

Their need, however, far exceeds their current abilities. With shortages in nursing and within physicians, the demand for healthcare professionals – and those looking to start a new career in healthcare – has never been higher.

An estimated one million nurses are expected to retire by 2030, and with their retirement comes a potential gap in care across the country (and the world). We need not only more nurses and physicians, we need more further training.

There isn’t the time, nor the staffing, for nurses to take the time off from their careers to progress through their next degree. Many currently enrolled today are working and studying, and the tactics (both from the university and the students) involved are universal.

The nurse education model, and also the tips and tricks that nurses around the country are using to better manage their demanding career and education, should be noted and used as an example across the board. Their work is inspirational, and with this guide, you’ll learn just how they do it.

The Demand for More Healthcare Professionals

There are mass shortages in healthcare, and this shortage is found amongst doctors and also with nurses. As telehealth becomes more popular, more professionals will be needed in order to rise to the challenge. Telehealth means more people will have access to the care that they need, even specialist care. At the moment, those in rural areas are hit the hardest and have a lack of options available to them, meaning that they either go without entirely or spend hours if not days to get the care they are entitled to.

Not only was there a shortage at the start, the pandemic has worsened it. On top of the looming issue of around 1 million RNs set to retire at the end of the decade, there is now a serious threat of burnout and chronic stress resulting in more nurses either quitting or looking to get out of healthcare.

In general, physicians and healthcare workers are more susceptible to burnout and stress than the general population. Around 60% of physicians and nurses are estimated to be dealing with exhaustion, burnout, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and sleep disorders. This rise has come right alongside the pandemic and has resulted in around 20% of healthcare staff quitting during this period.

The only way to address this pandemic of burnout is to increase the population of healthcare workers. Each worker needs to take on less in order to provide a better quality of care and also improve their own work/life balance. Greater investment and opportunities will need to be made to get people into healthcare, and those already working need to invest the time and energy in themselves to develop their careers so that they can work in an environment that supports them and helps them be their best selves.

This can make it seem like your decision to get started in healthcare is a wrong one, but the reality is the opposite. There has never been a better time to become a nurse or to work to advance your career. With the shortages and high demand, you can negotiate higher salaries and use the pressure on the system right now to really make a name for yourself, allowing you to customize your career easier in a shorter period of time.

The biggest difficulty for those looking to get into healthcare, or those within healthcare looking to advance their qualification with a degree, is the juggle. The coronavirus pandemic, in particular, has meant greater pressure on their jobs, and yet with the right institution, approach, and degree, they are making headway – and you can too.

By Choosing the Right Institution

The first step towards juggling a degree with a career is narrowing down your options with the best providers.

Is the University/Degree Accredited?

Outside of nursing and similar industries, accreditation is not altogether essential. In nursing, however, it should be the first thing you look for. If a nursing degree is not accredited by a recognized accrediting body, then you likely won’t be allowed to take the exam.

Accreditation simply means that the degree offered has been looked over by a committee of professionals (in this case, nurses) and that the curriculum covers the essential information required to not only pass the exam but to legally work in that job.

Do They Offer Online Education?

Online education is a must when it comes to working healthcare workers who want to pursue a degree to further their curriculum. The reason why is rather straightforward. Not only do you need a degree that you can complete on your schedule and without adding in unnecessary commuting time, you also want the best option regardless of whether it is near you or not.

Online education has come a long way, and one of the industries that has adopted the infrastructure and approach best is nursing and healthcare. There will, of course, be clinical hours involved, which is why on top of offering high-quality online education, you also need to ensure that the university in question offers high levels of support to you as an individual.

What Support Do They Offer?

Go to university, and you should have access to a variety of tools and resources, from a personal tutor or student success advisor to mental health services to a careers service. The same applies to online providers.

In nursing, a few essential levels of support that your university should offer as standard are a student success advisor who is there to help ensure you have everything that you need, that everything works, and that you are personally doing okay.

Your provider should also offer clinical placement services for free. They should be able to place you in a clinical setting for your necessary hours near where you live so that you can do the few weeks’ worth of training and ideally be able to continue to live at home while you do it.

How Many Degree Pathways Do They Offer?

Every worthwhile provider needs to offer multiple pathways. The result should be the same (a BSN, an MSN, or a doctorate), but there should be a few different ways for you to get there successfully. The reason why is so that you can pick the path that suits your personal needs and circumstances the best.

What Results Do They Offer?

Everyone is different, so if a university can boast high pass rates and low unemployment rates for their graduates, you can assume that they have an acceptable means of adapting their curriculum to best suit the majority of people – and to provide additional support if and when necessary.

Being adaptive and personalizing the experience as much as possible to ensure every student gets the best shot at succeeding is a necessity. Part of this means including NCLEX exam prep and also offering support as necessary (from IT to wellness).

By Choosing the Right Degree (and Path)

There are many options in terms of what path you take to get to your goal. In healthcare, the path is straightforward – until it isn’t. There are many ways to reach your goals, and those options start with the RN qualifications.

There are many ways that you can earn a BSN. You can work towards a full-time BSN, a part-time BSN, an accelerated BSN, an integrated BSN (though these allow you to earn a master’s, not an MSN). Understanding what option is best for you personally can help you make the best decision for your future.

If you are outside of healthcare at the moment and want to kickstart a second career, then tackling the ABSN full-time can mean starting a new career in just 16 months. If you are already working within healthcare and cannot take the time off or do not have a degree to transfer credits from, then finding the right BSN that is designed for working professionals will be a better fit.

There are many options. Marymount University’s accredited online nursing programs are excellent examples. There are multiple ways to earn your next degree, from choosing an accelerated track to breaking up your education in batches (like earning an ADN and then a BSN) to tackling an integrated degree (like the BSN to DNP).

There are so many paths forward. These paths mean that you can find the right situation to suit how you learn and what you need. Some find it very hard to get back into learning and working and would benefit from getting all of their credentials in one go, while others need shorter programs.

By Caring for Their Health and Wellbeing

A huge part of burnout is stress and poor mental health. Being in a stressful situation without the support or the ability to get away from it is going to take its toll. Those working directly with COVID patients are, of course, going to experience the biggest toll, but that does not mean that current healthcare workers are quitting nursing entirely. There are far too many roles both within and outside of healthcare, which means that they can change tracks to care for their health and wellbeing while still helping others the way they have always wanted to.

Being a nurse is a vocation, but that doesn’t mean you have to hurt yourself and sacrifice your health or happiness to be one. Advancing your career in nursing and finding the perfect dream role is a great way to stay focused and motivated, but finding the right working environment now and also investing in stress management and mental health services, are going to be key strategies in helping current healthcare workers juggle a degree with their career.

The same even applies to those who want to transfer their career into nursing.

You cannot learn well if you are stressed. You cannot juggle successfully if your health is failing. With so many options, you can and will find a role that allows you to enjoy a work/life balance that supports you. This doesn’t mean stepping away from patients or letting anyone down, either, as there are people in need everywhere.

The Takeaway

Healthcare professionals are the primary example of working while studying. The tools and resources used should be taken note of both by students and by academic institutions alike. With greater emphasis on flexible learning, students can not only more successfully tackle the difficult challenges of a degree and a career, but more will be willing to pursue this option for their own futures.

Designing degrees around a career is the best way forward for all second-career and current career professions looking to specialize further. Just as healthcare workers are progressing and expanding their skillset while they continue to work, more professions (and the degrees catered to them) need to adapt to encourage workers to progress their skills.

While not every career path warrants this, those in fields like healthcare, law, engineering, and other STEM-related fields would benefit greatly. Healthcare workers have long paved the path forward for society, and they are continuing to pave the way forward in this matter.

With better resources, greater options, and improved support, the healthcare and academic industries have managed to create a framework that not only improves education for working professionals but encourages more to develop their skills and find the perfect role for them.

Healthcare workers absolutely need to step up in order to successfully juggle their demanding careers with a degree, but when academic institutions and workplaces also encourage and provide the tools for success, all of society will benefit.

Motivate Your Team to Push Through Busy Seasons

Most businesses have periods of a flurry of activity with everyone up to their necks rushing to meet customer demands. The busy season stretches team members’ capacity and the pressure has negating effects on the quality of service to customers.

Motivating team members to still be at their best during such strenuous circumstances is critical to retaining customers during peak seasons. You may need to look into the benefits of call centers or better allocate your resources. Since customers who feel they were badly treated rarely return, here are a few essential steps you can utilize to sufficiently motivate and navigate your team through peak seasons.

Conduct Outdoor Meetings

Staying in the same high-pressure environment for long periods often increases stress levels. Teams typically work longer hours and take short breaks to meet with the high demands during peak periods and such a work environment may likely lower energy levels, sitting or standing on the same spot for hours.

Outdoor meetings boost energy levels and provide a much needed change of scenery, offering a breath of fresh air away from your workstation or desk. Teams get a chance to refresh their minds and discuss work challenges in a new perspective and find solutions that seemed out of reach in the office.

Lead by Example

You are a more successful leader when you show rather than tell. Employees do not like being told to do what their leaders don’t appear to believe. If you guide employees to take certain actions but do the contradictory, they most likely would follow your example. Leading by example is ensuring the team takes after your actions and not just your words.

A positive attitude is also critical when work demands spike, and as a leader, you still have to be cheerful. Employees look up to you so think twice before you complain in front of your team. They may adopt the same complaining attitude and busy seasons become a nightmare.

Schedule Flexible Hours

Flexible hours allow employees to work on shifts, creating a balance between their personal and work schedules. An astounding 70 percent of workers strongly believe that flexible working hours would make a job more attractive to them. Flexible hours lead to enhanced job satisfaction, increased productivity, and better employee retention. In peak seasons, flexible work hours are a key driver of productivity. Even though employees experience job pressure, they have comfort knowing that they can log off after meeting their daily obligations.

Set up a Support Center

Customers typically demand instant support, and they need to know they can find help with one call if they have a problem with a product or service. An effective support center responds to customer complaints and questions timely to ensure the customer has a great overall experience. A call center may handle both incoming and outgoing calls managing various tasks ranging from tech support or after sales support to customer service.

Setting up a support center during peak seasons can be an effective strategy to managing an overwhelming high volume of customer requests thereby increase sales and reduce lost opportunities.

Offer Rewards

Your team is much more likely to work hard if there is an incentive at the end. You can offer bonuses to team members who reach milestones or make it a friendly competition. You can also distribute gift cards or other small gifts throughout the season.

If you have a smaller team, you can take them out to dinner to thank them and encourage team comradery. This will help your team feel rewarded and appreciated. They will be a lot more likely to stick around through a stressful time.

Don’t Overwhelm Your Team

Busy seasons are challenging for everyone but adopting efficiency strategies can help teams work effectively to maximize profits. You don’t want to run into high turnover rates because of poor tactics. A busy season can be a rewarding time for your business with proper preparation.

 

Simple Ways to Have Brighter, Younger Looking Eyes

Your eyes have the ability to reflect a great deal about you and your current mood. They can also reveal how wide awake you are feeling at a particular point in time. On the other hand, though, eyes that are a bit puffy and that have dark circles underneath them can make you appear far more tired and worn out than you really are.

The fact of the matter is that dark circles and puffiness under your eyes can develop over time for a number of reasons. Perhaps you haven’t been sleeping as well as you should be, or maybe you are under a great deal of stress at this point in time. All of these things and more can result in tired-looking eyes. Such a look can also age your appearance drastically.

If you are looking for ways to improve the appearance of your eyes, there are certain proactive steps that you can take in order to achieve the look that you want. With that in mind, here are a few simple tips to help you to have brighter, younger-looking eyes.

Treat Fine Lines and Wrinkles

Fine lines and wrinkles can be frustrating occurrences on your face. What’s more, is that you don’t have to be advanced in years for wrinkles to start developing. Fine lines can start to develop around your eyes earlier than their time for a number of reasons.

If fine lines have begun to plague the area around your eyes, there are several things you can do to address them. Your best course of action is to consistently use certain treatments to directly target those fine lines around your eyes. A toning device from NuFACE, for instance, can be used every day to blur the appearance of fine lines deep within the layers of your skin. You can learn more about such a device at mynuface.com.

Get Your Rest

Depending on your current schedule and what you have going on in your life, you might think that getting more rest is easier said than done. However, getting quality sleep at night is one of the best ways to achieve brighter, younger looking eyes.

While there are plenty of treatments out there that are designed to reduce puffiness and decrease darkness under the eyes, there really is no substitute for a good night’s sleep. Furthermore, good sleep is directly linked to lower levels of stress and anxiety, which can also help the appearance of your eyes.

Make sure that you are prioritizing good sleep night after night in order to get the look that you are after.

Protect Your Eyes

There are a number of reasons why you should be protecting your eyes from the sun; improving their appearance is just one of them. Other reasons have to do with preserving your eyesight and maintaining your overall eye health. Make sure that any time you are going to be out in the sun that you are wearing adequate protection over your eyes.