Share | Teach | Connect | Learn | Write | Nurse…
Thanks for wanting to collaborate and help contribute to the Australian Nursing/Midwifery & wider health professional community!
This was initially in an email but it was a bit long so it is now here so it’s easier for you to refer back to. After you read this I am happy to have a chat over the phone and answer any questions. Please email first.
Background
Started in July 2019, the idea of The Nurse Break (TNB) was to fill a gap…there wasn’t a good platform for nurses and students to learn from other nurses/other professions in a peer to peer way.
TNB has heaps of Australian health professionals from students through to senior health professionals from a variety of clinical fields contributing in written form.
As of April 2020, TNB is now also holding free LIVE Q&A’s through Facebook which are also turned into podcasts.
Watch them here or Listen to podcast here
We all work together but often talk/think/learn in isolation. Let’s bridge that gap and learn about each others careers. We are all colleagues in the wider health ecosystem…
There are FOUR main ways to contribute to The Nurse Break in written format.
Examples of current articles
By a RN:
https://www.thenursebreak.org/my-patient-cant-talk-to-me-help/
or
https://www.thenursebreak.org/nursing-in-war-zones/
By paramedics:
https://www.thenursebreak.org/category/paramedics/
By medical students or doctors:
https://www.thenursebreak.org/category/doctors/
By a physiotherapist:
https://www.thenursebreak.org/nurses-getting-friendly-with-physios-in-the-icu/
Examples of articles in the making
— what I wish I knew before starting my graduate year
— what is the role of Occupational Therapists in trauma patients
— physiotherapy in ICU
— advice from a NUM to ANUMs
— life as a rural and remote nurse in emergency
— oncology nursing and cytoxic precautions
— how to ace being a student in ICU
— experiences working as a nurse during the Ebola crises
— what being a correctional nurse is like
— working better with LGBTIQ patients
— traumatic deaths and impact on nurses
— how to better self care
— tips and tricks from a director of nursing
— advice on how to be a better manager and leader of nurses
— I got cancer in my grad year, how I survived
Among more…
OPTION 1: Q&A / Day in the life…
One way to contribute is to do a QnA format so our readers can get to know you better and talk about your field.
Concept:
– A bit about you and your career so far
– How does one become a…, what training is involved, what is career progression like and what different options for careers are there.
– What are the main types of patients you see in your current position / what is your role in patient care?
– Often other health professionals are not in the room when you are caring for patients, so give us an insight/picture of your role / how do you assess patients / how do you manage and come up with treatments?
Refer to the attachment in the email sent to you.
OPTION 2:Â Non Clinical/Creative or nursing/midwifery Issue
Alternatively, and arguably even more valuable, I have a large group who are currently in the process of writing an article/blog piece on a topic of interest for them. It can be clinical or non clinical in any topic related to your profession. And it can also be a creative/unique style piece of writing.
If you aren’t a nurse, try link your content or draw relationships to the nursing profession / how we can work together better and improve.
OR: Articles in the nursing/midwifery issue category should raise an issue of current relevance to nurses or midwives. They should be written in the third person, and be thought provoking and potentially challenging nurses and midwives to reflect on and possibly modify their view or practice.
OPTION 3: Clinical Topic or Clincal Update
A clinical topic should be based on a clinical area of your interest/speciality. It is an opportunity for you to showcase your clinical speciality and interest.
If it is a clinical update style it should be a best practice ‘how to guide’ for nurses and midwives in an area of nursing or midwifery practice relevant to a wide cross section of nurses or midwives, be more than 1500+ words and include references. The focus should be on nursing interventions and practice. A clinical update may include a case study/ies, guidelines, graphs, tables, or illustrations. (Please send as separate documents and clearly indicate where they are to be placed in the text).
A typical structure of a clinical update includes:Â introduction; overview of the problem/issue; risks to health in the target group; opportunities to address; project outline – aims/nursing/midwifery interventions; results; conclusion
OPTION 4: Stories From The Breakroom
Not only does TNB want to have Q&A’s, clinical and non clinical topics…the idea of having stories and storytelling will be just as powerful.
The Breakroom or tearoom is where us as healthcare staff escape to take our breaks, hide from the buzzers, phone calls and at times…patients. It is a safe space for debriefing and having a bite to eat during our often chaotic shifts. It’s also a place where nurses often will share thier horrifying, hilarious, heartbreaking and heartwarming stories from the shift they are on.
Nurses have some pretty crazy, funny, scary stories to share. Stories From The Breakroom will become that place to share.
Nurses’ stories are informative, inspirational, and healing, which is why TNB wants you to consider storytelling as a way to contribute. The reality of nursing makes storytelling even more important to the profession and the future of nursing.
Requirements for story: Submissions must be 1,500 words or fewer. Submissions must be in English. Must be an original short story & written by the submitter. No previously published short stories.
Participants grant us allowance to share short stories online. Must be Australian and related to the nursing/midwifery profession.
Length of article
The length is not defined. We have short and long articles. We give the creative licence to you. Of course when you send to us, TNB will reply with any issues and changes needed. Regardless of length, please use sub-headings to define key aspects of your written piece. This allows TNB to break the article up and create structure through a contents heading at the top of the article.
Photographs
Submission of colour photographs to accompany writing is strongly encouraged. Photos should be sent with the names of participants, a suggested caption, and a statement that identifiable participants have given their permission for the photograph to be used.
Photographs should be supplied in high resolution and saved as a Jpeg. They need to be supplied as an attachment rather than dragged into the body of the email/word document.
We are unable to use photos dragged from the internet and need original image suppled.
The onus is on the contributor to obtain permission for us to use the photo. Permission is required from the person who took the photo and from persons in the photo. Please notify us via email that permission has been received.
Copyright and legal
Note that by submitting your story, you are allowing The Nurse Break to post it publicly on our external channels (social media, website, newsletter, etc).
If reproducing copyright material from other sources such as diagrams, you are responsible for obtaining permission to do so. Please obtain permission before submitting your article.
Please be mindful of plagiarism. Acknowledge all sources with full references and use quotation marks when transcribing material verbatim.
Authors are to takes full responsibility in ensuring content is factual and considered as industry standard.
It is important you recognise the laws applying to libel, slander and defamation.
Confidentiality/Disclaimer
Have a read of these NMBA Professional Code & Guideline
Long story short, maintain confidentiality, remain professional, consider not mentioning your workplace directly.
Add this to the top of your article:
“Views Expressed Disclaimer: Views, thoughts and opinions expressed in the following, belong solely to the author and not necesarily to the author’s employer, organisation, committee, or other group or individual.”
