Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC

Every January 1 the commercials start. How to lose weight, how to eat right, how to exercise, what machines to buy, what gyms to join. You know what I mean. And I kind of look down and say, “Oh crap, time to reshape.”

I know I struggle with my body image. I don’t know why, I mean, just because we live with societal pressures of unattainable body standards! (It’s especially hard when I visit my daughter in Los Angeles. There are, like, feral models everywhere and I’m, like, even my personality is too big!)

But really, what needs reshaping more this time of year — our bodies or our mind-set? I’m going with mind-set. 

I mean, we as a nation have two major timelines, BC and AC.  In long-term care, we have before survey and after survey. And, yeah, I know we have to deal with all of the requirements for participation and, yes, before OBRA a lot of nursing homes were a bit dicey. So now we have pre-regulations (pre-reg) and post-regulations (post-reg) time periods. But, honestly, I think I was a better nurse before I got wrapped up in the regulation stuff because I was, well, nursing.

I think we have to go back to a mindset of pre-reg. That doesn’t mean I’ll ignore the regs, but I’m reshaping my mindset and putting being a nurse on the forefront.  Seriously, what’s more important to your patient? That everything you do lets them know that you are “here” for them, or that you completed your medication pass in 2 hours? 

So, give good care first and I bet you the regs will take care of themselves.

But, as an aside, does my butt look big in this blog???

Just keeping it real,

Nurse Jackie

The Real Nurse Jackie is written by Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC, Senior Director of Clinical Innovation and Education for Mission Health Communities, LLC and an APEX Award of Excellence winner for Blog Writing. Vance is a real-life long-term care nurse. A nationally respected nurse educator and past national LTC Nurse Administrator of the Year, she also is an accomplished stand-up comedienne. The opinions supplied here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer or her professional affiliates.