Six years ago, Conville was a gunshot wound victim. The bullet injured the left side of his face, and he was rushed into life-saving surgery.
“I woke up in a lot of pain, in a dark room. I was alone except for my nurse. I couldn’t do anything but cry.”
“I woke up from later that night and realized I was still alive. I was relieved, but at the same time I woke up in a lot of pain, in a dark room. I was alone except for my nurse. I couldn’t do anything but cry,” Conville said. “I was a 21-year-old and supposed to be this big, strong athlete, but I felt weak and powerless. But my nurse stayed there, comforted me during my worst moments. That inspired me to want to do something to help other people.”
Over the next few months, Conville underwent several surgeries and faced a long road to recovery. His initial plans—playing college baseball and attending medical school—were derailed as recovery took a mental and physical toll.
But the support of friends and family and an opportunity at UAB Hospital helped him rediscover his passion.
“It was very difficult for me to take my next steps forward in my education, but the one thing that always spurred me on a little bit, or kept my feet moving, was my nurse that night after surgery,” Conville said. “I can’t remember her name, and I hardly remember her face, but I will always remember what she did for me.”
His nurse’s care led Conville to seek out ways to help others. When a family friend and Senior Director of Emergency Services at UAB Medicine Frankie Wallis, DNP, NP-C, NEA-BC, COI, reached out about a shadowing opportunity in the emergency department, Conville jumped at the chance.
“I knew Cade wanted to help people and make a difference, and I said that if he wanted to be in health care, UAB was the place to be,” Wallis said.
“It was very difficult for me to take my next steps forward in my education, but the one thing that always spurred me on a little bit, or kept my feet moving, was my nurse that night after surgery.”
After shadowing in the emergency department, Conville knew it was the right next step.
“UAB is such a big, bustling hospital. I recognized all of our patients in need, but there is also an excitement because there was so much we could do at once,” Conville said. “It brought me back to this team atmosphere, where I could be part of a group that cared about something, where everyone pulled in the same direction. That spoke to me—I put my resume in the same night.”
Conville took a job as a patient care technician and thrived in the experience, but eventually, he felt compelled to return to school and further his education. Through the support of his family and Wallis, he applied to nursing school.
“I looked up to the nurses I worked with, and it brought back the memory of the young woman who helped me that night,” Conville said. “I thought that if I could do the same thing for someone else, it would make all the hours of extra work worthwhile.”
After consulting with mentors, including Wallis, and doing research of his own, Conville decided the Accelerated Masters of Nursing Pathway at the UAB School of Nursing was the best step forward. The program is designed for students with a bachelor’s degree or higher in another field and creates an accelerated track toward licensure and a master’s in nursing.
“I knew the program was for me. I already had a degree under my belt, but it also felt like I had the time management skills to take on such a rigorous program,” said Conville, who also has a Bachelor of Science in molecular biology.
“I’ve had several other staff members who have come through the AMNP program,” Wallis said. “It’s a great program, and when I talked to Cade about it, I had every bit of belief he could do it. I talked to him about pursuing this degree, while cautioning him about the tough road ahead. But at the end of the road there is a reward.”
When Conville started the AMNP program in fall 2020, he found another team in pursuit of helping others. Faculty offered continuous support and encouragement throughout challenges, he said, and provided the tools necessary to move forward.
“I looked up to the nurses I worked with, and it brought back the memory of the young woman who helped me that night. I thought that if I could do the same thing for someone else, it would make all the hours of extra work worthwhile.”
“One day I sat down with [AMNP Pathway Director] Michael Mosley, MSN, CRNP, ANP-BC (MSN 2012) and we talked about why he pushes us so hard to get the right answer and to understand why we got that answer,” Conville said. “He said that when you’re working with a patient, you’re not just checking boxes. And while you can make two or three mistakes on a test and still get a 96, if you make two or three mistakes with a person, you can really hurt them. That told me a lot about him as a person—he truly cares about us and wants us to be the best nurses possible.”
Conville also made an impact on his peers in his AMNP cohort. They selected him as the fall 2021 recipient of the Florence Nightingale Award, a recognition of his passion for quality of nursing care and pursuit of excellence. It was also the reason he stood up to speak about resilience at the Senior Recognition Ceremony.
“This award reiterates Cade’s personal characteristics and his commitment to nursing,” Wallis said. “It shows his dedication and how well he works within a team, how he incorporates team theory to develop relationships with his peers and colleagues. He is a great young man with great potential, great abilities and he will move forward to do great things in the future of health care.”
Conville finished the AMNP program in fall 2021 and accepted a job at UAB Hospital in spring 2022. He wants to further his education and work toward a career in nursing management.
Conville continues that refrain of resilience, for his future and the future of nursing.
“I know the state of nursing isn’t perfect right now, that a lot of us who are graduating and going into the workforce have a difficult road ahead of us,” Conville said. “We’re joining health care in one of the most difficult times to be a health care professional, and we just have to be as diligent as we possibly can. We need to understand that our patients need us, and we need each other. We’re going to get through this together. While there are a lot of tough times going on, it’s still a great time to be a nurse.”
Community-based hospice nursing is one of the many areas in which nurses can practice the art of caring towards others. It is somewhat of a non-traditional specialty, given that it takes place outside the walls of hospitals and facilities, but it is definitely rewarding. But becoming a successful community-based hospice nurse has its own challenges. It requires a certain set of skills for those who choose to pursue it.
1. The ability to work with little supervision.
Working in the community means spending most, if not the entire day, working alone. This means that nurses need to be able to hold themselves accountable in getting things done in a timely manner. There are no managers to watch what they are doing, but they are still expected to accomplish what they need to do for the day.
2. The ability to cope with solitude.
Humans are built to be social beings, and that applies to work settings. Workplaces can function as social settings, which can provide the interaction people need on a day-to-day basis. As a community-based hospice nurse, social interaction may be very limited, and those who wish to try it must learn other ways to meet this basic human need to connect with others. There are many ways to do this, including participating in meetings and gatherings at the office, connecting with other community-based nurses through various associations, and maintaining communication with colleagues who work in other places. Working alone does not need be a cause for social isolation.
3. Being a diligent communicator.
Community-based hospice nurses may spend most of their time alone, but much of what they do is actually in coordination with a team. Hospice nurses are part of an interdisciplinary team that includes, licensed practical/vocational nurses, home health aides, social workers, chaplains, among others. In order to be effective, community-based hospice nurses must be able to communicate with these other disciplines when necessary to ensure proper delivery of care to patients and families.
4. Being culturally sensitive.
Cultural sensitivity is an important aspect of nursing practice and this applies to hospice nursing in the community. Hospice nurses must be keen to ask and know about any religious, cultural, or social practices that patients and families may have towards the end of life. Doing this helps ensure that patients die with the dignity they deserve.
5. Being emotionally strong.
Nurses, in general, deal with people at their most difficult times. This is especially true for hospice nurses. Visiting patients in their homes requires great emotional resiliency. Hospice nurses may find themselves dealing with patients who are in distress or are living their last days or hours. In some cases, hospice nurses may be the only person besides family members present when a patient dies at home. Nurses must not only come to terms with their feelings about mortality, but also being able to provide comfort to families who have just lost a dear loved one.
Being a community-based hospice nurse is fulfilling in many ways, and those who possess the right skills may find this to be viable long-term career.
Nurses in the United States are facing unprecedented hardships that increase the risk that they will experience burnout. Health care workers, especially nurses, often experience high levels of stress due to the long hours they put in and the sheer number of patients that they interact with.
Avoiding burnout is necessary for a long career in nursing and it is important that nurses do their research when it comes to methods for preventing burnout. While there is a pharmaceutical answer in the use of antidepressants, this method merely treats the symptoms that can lead to burnout. For many nurses, the answer lies in a more natural path that will give them the tools they need to combat burnout holistically.
Building Resiliency
Health care workers have been shown to be particularly susceptible to experiencing burnout due to the fact that they are expected to perform patient care with consistent and constant empathy and patience. This can lead to emotional exhaustion which, coupled with the physical exhaustion that comes with working in the medical field, eventually morphs into what we know as burnout. Naturally, the stresses of this line of work can lead to fatigue that impacts motivation in the workplace and a misplaced sense of failure.
One of the best tools available to nurses in the fight against burnout is the development and strengthening of resiliency skills. When nurses possess a solid foundation of resiliency skills they are better equipped to bounce back from a particularly intense shift more easily and are able to maintain their ability to work effectively. Taking breaks during shifts, scheduling time to hang out with coworkers outside of work, and learning how to say no to taking extra shifts if they need breaks are all ways to increase resiliency.
The prevalence of burnout and resiliency’s effectiveness in combating it has led to the development of nurse resilience programs designed to arm nurses with the proper tools before they begin their careers. Through cognitive-behavioral training, stress inoculation therapy, and various other methods, nurse resilience programs are effective in preparing nurses for what lies ahead of them in their career and can be invaluable in the fight against burnout.
Taking Care of Mental Health
Another natural proven method for nurses avoiding burnout is simply taking care of their own mental health and well-being. While it might seem like obvious advice, for those working in high-stress environments like health care can find it far too easy to forget to take care of themselves. Self-care is vital for nurses who want to dodge burnout, and even something as simple as keeping a journal to acknowledge positive things that happen in life can be enough to stymie burnout.
Many nurses suffering from burnout experience feelings of inadequacy, low self-worth, and depression. It is important that nurses recognize that these feelings, while they can be intense, do not represent the reality of the situation and do not reflect their actual performance or capabilities either at work or life in general. Quieting that negative inner-voice is an effective way for nurses experiencing burnout to boost their self-esteem and sense of self-worth.
Learning how to practice mindfulness meditation is another excellent natural way to look after one’s own mental health in even the most stressful of situations. Mindfulness meditation has a whole host of benefits from helping to increase attention and concentration to improving practitioners’ heart rates and blood pressure, all of which can help to manage stress and fight off burnout. While there are plenty of books on the subject, there are also a multitude of free resources available online that are secular, simple, and can get a struggling nurse on the right track.
Looking Towards Nature
Should building resiliency skills and working on maintaining good mental health fail to do the trick, spending time in the great outdoors has also been proven to help prevent occupational burnout. Engaging in physical exercise outdoors helps to reduce fatigue and improve overall cognitive function and can result in a marked reduction in tension, depression, and anger. While nurses do indeed have wildly busy schedules, making an effort to set aside time for themselves in the outdoors can yield incredibly positive results for them.
If a nurse finds themselves unable to break away from the concrete jungle, there are still ways in which stress can be reduced naturally without going outside. Taking the time to unplug from technology frequently can reduce stress and allow for moments of silent self-reflection untainted by the constant and looming force of the internet and social media.
Finally, nurses that are looking for a way to combat burnout but are wary of getting a pharmaceutical prescription to manage its symptoms can always turn to mother nature. Cannabidiol, or CBD, is a compound found in cannabis that has no deleterious or psychoactive effects and is becoming a popular stress-reduction tool for many. While the science regarding CBD is still in its infancy, there is a huge amount of anecdotal evidence that points to the compound being an effective treatment for stress and a host of other symptoms and disorders.
At the end of the day, nurses and health care practitioners are some of the most important people in a functioning society. It is vital that they receive all possible help when fighting against burnout, whether that comes in the form of resilience training, mindfulness practices, or spending time with mother nature.
Overcoming adversity is a demanding task that requires a great deal of emotional resilience and mental toughness. While many people react to such circumstances with a flood of emotions and a sense of uncertainty, others may choose to adapt positively in response to their life-changing situations and stressful conditions. As a medical-surgical nurse, Jamie Davis, RN, understands the meaning of handling adversity both professionally and personally. In this Q&A interview, Davis discusses the importance of emotional resilience and how rising above adversity ultimately shaped her into the nurse that she is today.
Jamie Davis, RN
How did you become a nurse?
In 2006, I attended college in Michigan with a major in cosmetology. I met someone who was working as an LVN at the time who asked if I needed a job. During that moment, I did not have any intention of working in the health care industry. But during the interview however, I was asked, “how would you feel if you were unable to help someone you were caring for?” Surprised by this question, I simply responded, “I would feel horrible, but in the end, I would do everything in my power to assist them and make them feel better as a person.” It was at this moment that ultimately began my journey as a future nurse.
Why did you choose the specialty you currently work in now?
In 2007, I received a distressing phone call from my parents informing me that my brother was admitted into the ICU. After hearing the news, I booked a flight to California and headed straight to the hospital where he was staying at. When I walked into the room, I saw my brother lying lifeless in bed with machines hooked up to him. At that moment, so many memories rushed through my head and I began to have all these endless questions – What am I going to do if he doesn’t come out of this bed? How are we going to move on? How are we going to make it through this? Luckily, my doubts and fears went away when he began to improve so I decided to fly back home.
A few months later around Christmas time however, I received another troubling phone call from my mother telling me that my brother got readmitted again to the ICU but this time with worsening complications. As I rushed to the hospital, I distinctly remember seeing all the tubes hooked up to my brother and the nurses working tirelessly to save him.
Unfortunately, the following morning, I received the phone call that nobody ever wants to hear – my brother has passed away. It was a life changing moment that my family and I will never forget, but ultimately inspired me to become the nurse that I am today.
Therefore, although I currently work on the medical surgical unit, my dream is to one day work in either the ER or ICU settings to one day help those patients who are also in critical need.
How has your brother’s passing impacted the care you give for your patients?
Although my brother’s passing continues to affect me each and every day, I’ve learned to keep his memory with me every time I come to work and care for my patients. Despite his unexpected death, I’ve learned to understand that being resilient is learning how to not only live with those painful memories but also deal with it in a positive way.
What kind of advice would you give our readers on how to overcome tragedy as a nurse and develop resiliency?
One piece of advice that I would like to give the readers on how to overcome tragedy as a nurse is understanding that overcoming adversity is a personal journey. It’s okay to grieve from time to time, but it’s also important to take your sadness and create something positive out of it. Because of this, I have learned to become a more vocal advocate for my patients and their loved ones in times of need. By doing this, I am able to honor my brother’s spirit through my work as a nurse.
Do you have any parting words of encouragement for those interested in pursuing a career in nursing?
To anyone else who may be going through a difficult time, please don’t give up. Regardless of how difficult and emotionally challenging life can seem, personal success all depends on how you choose to deal with your given circumstances. Therefore, I am a living example that no matter what life puts you through, your dreams can become possible if you believe it.
Working in health care can be emotionally demanding and stressful. Not only do nurses normalize their own emotional reactions to practice, but they also ease the fear and distress of their patients. Research shows that early career nurses are likely to react more negatively to the emotional demands of practice and are at higher risk of stress, emotional exhaustion, and burnout.
Emotional health is an important part of life. It allows us to work productively and cope with our daily job stress. Here are 5 tips to help new nurses manage the emotional demands of the job.
1. Take care of your physical health.
This is probably one of the most important ways to take care of both your body and mind. Your physical health can greatly affect your emotional health. Exercise regularly, eat healthy meals, and get enough sleep. Improving your physical health can positively impact your emotions on a large scale.
2. Focus on mastering your skills.
It is important that you focus on improving your ability to perform all nursing care and administrative skills independently. These skills will increase your confidence at work and promote satisfaction within your new role.
3. Practice resilience.
Resilience is the ability to overcome challenges quickly and effectively in order to move forward in life. Try to build positive beliefs in your abilities. Becoming more confident in your own abilities, including your ability to respond to and deal with new job environment, is a great way to build resilience for the future. Being resilient will increase your ability to perform under pressure and can affect the way that you view life and its challenges.
4. Practice deep breathing exercises.
Deep breathing exercises have been proven as an effective coping skill. They can help relieve emotional stress and anxiety on the job, improve your mood, and allow you to not to hold onto things that are out of your control.
5. Find a mentor or an experienced nurse who is a positive role model.
Having someone you can reach out to for guidance will help you properly manage the demands of your work and hopefully help you avoid burnout. Recognizing your emotions and expressing them properly can reduce emotional tension and emotional problems.
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