The Holistic Health and Healing Expo was held on Sunday, April 2nd at the Inn at Villa Nova. I attended with my featured collaborator and dear friend, Nancy McCormack. Nancy, a Certified Nurse Coach, hosted a table where we were excited to talk about our current endeavors with other expo goers. While doing so, we met quite a few nurses who, like us, were taking a (maybe permanent) break from direct patient care. They came from a variety of specialties including pediatrics, emergency departments, labor and delivery, and intensive care.
The nursing profession is in the midst of a crisis. More and more nurses are leaving the bedside, and the reasons for this trend are complex. Many nurses are leaving because of burnout, while others are leaving for better pay and benefits. Still others are leaving because they are looking for a more flexible work schedule or a career that offers more opportunities for advancement. Most cited toxic work environments as one of their main concerns.
Nancy and I were surprised at how many people, including other nurses, did not know about and were very interested in the career paths we had chosen to follow. Nancy was happy to explain that certified nurse coaches are registered nurses who have additional training, certification, and experience in coaching. They work with clients to help them achieve their health and wellness goals. Nurse coaches use a variety of methods, including goal setting, behavior change strategies, and emotional support, to help their clients reach their desired outcomes. Nurse coaches can work with clients in a variety of settings, including hospitals, clinics, private practice, and online. They can also work with individuals, families, or groups.
Some of the benefits of working with a nurse coach include:
Increased motivation and accountability
Improved communication and problem-solving skills
Increased self-awareness and confidence
Improved health and well-being
Reduced stress and anxiety
Improved quality of life
Nancy is especially adept at providing support in these areas as her clinical specialty is behavioral health nursing. In addition, her Nursing Master’s Degree focus was Nurse Educator.
I supplemented Nancy’s description by talking about my role as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. Much like in the medical setting, LNCs are advocates and educators supporting clients in telling their whole stories. “Legal nurse consultants fill a niche that no one else can, bridging the gap between the legal and medical worlds. They help to interpret complex medical information, and they are familiar with tricky details. LNCs review medical records to determine which information is relevant and whether anything is missing,” (https://onlinenursing.duq.edu › Blog, March 31, 2023).
According to LegalNurse.com, “A legal nurse consultant is a registered nurse who uses existing expertise as a healthcare professional plus specialized legal nurse consultant training to consult on medical-related cases. Legal nurse consultants work closely with more than 1,300,000 attorneys in the U.S. as the nursing and healthcare system experts on the litigation team. They can also consult with a wide range of organizations including insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and other medical-related organizations. A legal nurse consultant bridges the medical gap in the attorney’s knowledge. While the attorney is the expert on legal issues, the legal nurse consultant is the expert on nursing, the healthcare system and its inner workings.”
As collaborators, like other nurse coaches and consultants, Nancy and I work with individuals, firms, facilities and individuals to:
Provide comprehensive education to healthcare personnel, legal personnel, patients, families, community members, and litigants.
Assess and evaluate legal cases for merit. Oftentimes, this may lessen the burden to the medical and legal systems.
Research and identify credible and relevant standards of care in providing safe and therapeutic treatment to patients, empowering a competent, positive, and productive staff, as well as offering insight in regard to state-of-the-art clinical operations.
We could not have imagined the great number of people who were interested in learning about the situation with the nursing profession and our approach to contributing to a solution. The expo lived up to its purpose and offered a wealth of holistic health and healing opportunities for all in attendance.
#nursing #healthcare #career #workplace #education #research #administration #nurseshortage #solutions #holistic #health #healing #nursecoach #nurseconsultant
Nancy McCormck: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-mccormack-msn-rn-nc-bc-4b878435
Theresa M. Drass: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresamdrassmhsmsnrnpmhbcneabcnccclnc
Holistic Health & Healing Expo: https://hhhexpo.com/
Author: Theresa Drass
