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Attitudes leading to success
NOVEMBER 1984, VOL 40, NO 5
AORN JOURNAL
President5 Message Attitudes leading to success
W
’ hat do you want to be when you grow
up? This is a question children are commonly asked. Their responses are predictable-a teacher, nurse, doctor, policeman. I have never heard a child say he wanted to be successful when he grew up. The typical responses, though, are children’spexceptions of what it means to be successful. These impressionableyoungsters are attracted to these professions because of this special quality. I believe the attraction is the success and fulfillment many of these professionals display through their actions and attitudes. Success, after all, is an attitude. It cannot be gained by simply becoming a teacher, nurse, doctor, or policeman. An attitude is something anyone can have. I have identified four attitudes I think are necessary to be successful. The first is enthusiasm. This state of mind was the word a friend thought best described a successful nurse. I agree with her. Enthusiasmoften translates into efforts to keep up with advances and willingness to go beyond expectations. The second attitude is a willingness to give your best even if the credit goes to someone else. A successful perioperative nurse must realize that sometimesthe surgeon is going to receive all the glory for a difficult operation. The nurse must know within herself that her contribution was vital to the procedure’s success. Sometimes there will be recognition, and it should be sought. If it does not come from nursing colleagues, the surgeons, or patients, the perioperative nurse cannot infer that she is unimportant.
She must not be overly dependent on others to feel successful. Rather, she must be a selfrewarder. Success in nursing as in any other profession comes from pride in one’s self. Without recognizing your own abilities and knowledge, you cannot convey your enthusiasm and commitment to nursing. The third necessary attitude is perseverance. This is required because success is not easy to come by. Each day must be seen as an opportunity for success. Most “big” successes, eg, being promoted or winning an election, are the culmination of many small steps. Being president of AORN is a “big” success that brings me recognition, but I took many small steps toward this that did not necessarily bring public recognition. My feelings of success, however, are not based solely on being AORN’s president. Rather, being president contributes to this sense of being successful. I feel successful when I help a staff member overcome a difficult problem, when I demonstrate how to use unfamiliar equipment, or when I facilitate a heavy patient schedule. Opportunities for success, though measured and conveyed in many ways, are available every day. To be a successful perioperative nurse also q u i r e s the courage to take risks. As the lion learned in The Wizard of Oz, there is no magical way to instantly become courageous. The basis for our courage is confidence in our knowledge of perioperative nursing and our personal standard for patient care.
d665
AORN J O U R N A L
This is courage: In assessing a patient in the holding area immediately before surgery, a perioperative nurse perceived from the patient’s comments that he did not realize the consequences of the surgical procedure. Convinced of her assessment, the nurse talked to the surgeon and the operating room supervisorand persuaded them to delay the surgery until the patient understood the outcome and risks. This nurse’s success took courage. We care about our patients and work hard to provide excellent care. When you recognize your contribution to a successful procedure,
NOVEMBER 1984, VOL 40. NO 5
view it as a personal success. When you see a colleague relieving a patient’s anxieties, give praise. I know about the stress that inhibits giving praise. There are delays, emergencies, and last minute change^, but these cannot be blockades to recogniziig success. Each day provides opportunities for being a success and recognizing another’s success. Through perseverance, peers will recognize your efforts and you will see yourself as the success you are. ROSEMARYA ROTH, RN, CNOR PRESIDENT
Heart Disease:Exercise May Not Be Helpful Although it is generally believed that regular physical exercise is very beneficial for patients with coronary heart disease, a report in the Sept 14 issue of the Journul ofthe American Medical Association indicates that may not be the case. In men with the disease who exercised in a supervised program for one year, only “relatively modest” changes were found by Victor Froehlicher, MD, and colleagues at the University of California School of Medicine, San Diego. A total of 128 men between 35 and 65 years of age (average age, 53) participated in the program. Of those, 59 engaged in regular, medically supervised exercise, and 69 compfised the control group, who engaged in a low level, at-home walking program. All of the patients had (1) a history of myocardial infadon, or (2) stable exdonal angina pectoris, or (3) had coronary artery bypass surgery. The groups were tested both at the beginning and end of the year. Tests included treadmill testing with oxygen uptake measund, and sophisticated nuclear medicine scanning of blood circulation. Patients assigned randomly to the exercise group began training in a monitored class.
668
Exercise was increased gradually until 85% of the estimated maximal oxygen uptake was reached by the eighth week of training. Aerobic trainiig was carried out for 45 minutes three times each week. Participants then moved on, either to a gymnasium or to an outdoor walk/run program. Aerobic capacity improved in the exercise group after one year. The exercise group showed a maximal oxygen uptake improvementof 8.5% but those in the control group showed a 4% decrease. In the exercise group, maximal cardiac output increased in patients without angina and decreased in patients with angina. Changes caused by exercise training in the middle-aged men were considered “subtle” by the researchers. “Clinical or test responses other than angina did not predict who would show beneficial aerobic or radionuclide improvements; nor have we been able to identi@ those whose condition was likely to deteriorate,” they said. They concluded “that patients cannot be guaranteed benefits from exercise training and that recommendationsto use this modality should be based more on the person’s desires and needs than on particular test results. ”
AORN JOURNAL
President5 Message Attitudes leading to success
W
’ hat do you want to be when you grow
up? This is a question children are commonly asked. Their responses are predictable-a teacher, nurse, doctor, policeman. I have never heard a child say he wanted to be successful when he grew up. The typical responses, though, are children’spexceptions of what it means to be successful. These impressionableyoungsters are attracted to these professions because of this special quality. I believe the attraction is the success and fulfillment many of these professionals display through their actions and attitudes. Success, after all, is an attitude. It cannot be gained by simply becoming a teacher, nurse, doctor, or policeman. An attitude is something anyone can have. I have identified four attitudes I think are necessary to be successful. The first is enthusiasm. This state of mind was the word a friend thought best described a successful nurse. I agree with her. Enthusiasmoften translates into efforts to keep up with advances and willingness to go beyond expectations. The second attitude is a willingness to give your best even if the credit goes to someone else. A successful perioperative nurse must realize that sometimesthe surgeon is going to receive all the glory for a difficult operation. The nurse must know within herself that her contribution was vital to the procedure’s success. Sometimes there will be recognition, and it should be sought. If it does not come from nursing colleagues, the surgeons, or patients, the perioperative nurse cannot infer that she is unimportant.
She must not be overly dependent on others to feel successful. Rather, she must be a selfrewarder. Success in nursing as in any other profession comes from pride in one’s self. Without recognizing your own abilities and knowledge, you cannot convey your enthusiasm and commitment to nursing. The third necessary attitude is perseverance. This is required because success is not easy to come by. Each day must be seen as an opportunity for success. Most “big” successes, eg, being promoted or winning an election, are the culmination of many small steps. Being president of AORN is a “big” success that brings me recognition, but I took many small steps toward this that did not necessarily bring public recognition. My feelings of success, however, are not based solely on being AORN’s president. Rather, being president contributes to this sense of being successful. I feel successful when I help a staff member overcome a difficult problem, when I demonstrate how to use unfamiliar equipment, or when I facilitate a heavy patient schedule. Opportunities for success, though measured and conveyed in many ways, are available every day. To be a successful perioperative nurse also q u i r e s the courage to take risks. As the lion learned in The Wizard of Oz, there is no magical way to instantly become courageous. The basis for our courage is confidence in our knowledge of perioperative nursing and our personal standard for patient care.
d665
AORN J O U R N A L
This is courage: In assessing a patient in the holding area immediately before surgery, a perioperative nurse perceived from the patient’s comments that he did not realize the consequences of the surgical procedure. Convinced of her assessment, the nurse talked to the surgeon and the operating room supervisorand persuaded them to delay the surgery until the patient understood the outcome and risks. This nurse’s success took courage. We care about our patients and work hard to provide excellent care. When you recognize your contribution to a successful procedure,
NOVEMBER 1984, VOL 40. NO 5
view it as a personal success. When you see a colleague relieving a patient’s anxieties, give praise. I know about the stress that inhibits giving praise. There are delays, emergencies, and last minute change^, but these cannot be blockades to recogniziig success. Each day provides opportunities for being a success and recognizing another’s success. Through perseverance, peers will recognize your efforts and you will see yourself as the success you are. ROSEMARYA ROTH, RN, CNOR PRESIDENT
Heart Disease:Exercise May Not Be Helpful Although it is generally believed that regular physical exercise is very beneficial for patients with coronary heart disease, a report in the Sept 14 issue of the Journul ofthe American Medical Association indicates that may not be the case. In men with the disease who exercised in a supervised program for one year, only “relatively modest” changes were found by Victor Froehlicher, MD, and colleagues at the University of California School of Medicine, San Diego. A total of 128 men between 35 and 65 years of age (average age, 53) participated in the program. Of those, 59 engaged in regular, medically supervised exercise, and 69 compfised the control group, who engaged in a low level, at-home walking program. All of the patients had (1) a history of myocardial infadon, or (2) stable exdonal angina pectoris, or (3) had coronary artery bypass surgery. The groups were tested both at the beginning and end of the year. Tests included treadmill testing with oxygen uptake measund, and sophisticated nuclear medicine scanning of blood circulation. Patients assigned randomly to the exercise group began training in a monitored class.
668
Exercise was increased gradually until 85% of the estimated maximal oxygen uptake was reached by the eighth week of training. Aerobic trainiig was carried out for 45 minutes three times each week. Participants then moved on, either to a gymnasium or to an outdoor walk/run program. Aerobic capacity improved in the exercise group after one year. The exercise group showed a maximal oxygen uptake improvementof 8.5% but those in the control group showed a 4% decrease. In the exercise group, maximal cardiac output increased in patients without angina and decreased in patients with angina. Changes caused by exercise training in the middle-aged men were considered “subtle” by the researchers. “Clinical or test responses other than angina did not predict who would show beneficial aerobic or radionuclide improvements; nor have we been able to identi@ those whose condition was likely to deteriorate,” they said. They concluded “that patients cannot be guaranteed benefits from exercise training and that recommendationsto use this modality should be based more on the person’s desires and needs than on particular test results. ”