Nurses practitioners know the importance of being proactive.
Primary care nurse practitioners teach patients how to prevent disease through primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Specialty care nurse practitioners know the importance of preventing further complications in an acute or chronic condition. Urgent care nurse practitioners recommend treatment plans to prevent acute illness/injuries from becoming severe. And emergency or hospitalist nurse practitioners know what happens when medical conditions or complications are not prevented.
Nurse practitioners stress the importance of wearing a seatbelt because we’ve seen trauma patients who didn’t wear one. Nurse practitioners teach patients to manage their diabetes with diet, exercise, medications to prevent the cardiovascular, renal, integumentary, etc. complications. Nurse practitioners know that preventing a disease or worsening disease process can save the patient time, money, emotional, or physical stress. Nurse practitioners are proactive every single day in our jobs.
But sometimes we don’t live our personal lives in a proactive way. If there is one thing I have learned is that being proactive and planning ahead can make all the difference.
I challenge you to evaluate your life and determine what you need to be proactive about.
Do you need to schedule an annual wellness visit yourself? Or work on eating a well balanced diet and exercising to prevent disease? Do you need to have the hard conversation with your clinic manager to address some issues before they become too bad? Do you need to make changes to your charting before you become so burned-out you need to quit your job?
Are you starting a new nurse practitioner job and need to prevent burnout? Do you need to establish work-life balance while your kids are still young and need you at home more? Are you experiencing signs and symptoms of nurse practitioner burnout and don’t know how to overcome the burnout?
Do you need to save more for retirement? Do you need to plan for an early retirement because you know you can’t take more of the physical, mental, emotional demands working as a nurse practitioner? Do you need to purchase a life insurance policy to help your family if you were to die? Do you need to create a will and assign a healthcare power of attorney?
Do you need to save a 3-6month emergency fund, just in case? Do you need to reevaluate your auto, home, car, etc. insurance, to be prepared when something happens?
Do you need to be proactive and save a few thousand dollars prior to you quitting the nurse practitioner job that is burning you out?
It is inevitable that life will throw you curveballs. We will have difficult times in health, relationships, finances, or any circumstance. Being proactive will help you get through the difficult times! Preventing complications or added stress will help us get through life easier.
How can you be proactive in your personal life?
For time management and charting tips, check out The Nurse Practitioner Charting School– The one stop for all documentation resources created specifically for nurse practitioners. Learn more at www.npchartingschool.com
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