May 12th, 2009 by Emergiblog in Better Health Network, True Stories
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I love this ad.
I was about this age when I decided to become a nurse.
Maybe a little older.
I was holding a book instead of a teddy bear.
I wouldn’t have been caught dead in that cap, though. Even in those days I knew how to make a totally cool nursing cap out of paper.
That looks like a pillowcase.
Sometimes it’s hard to remember why nursing sounded like a good idea.
********************
You don’t realize it’s happening.
You set a goal and you do what you have to do to get there.
For awhile, you manage to do it all.
Nine semester units.
Working 24 hours a week.
No sweat.
Been there, done that.
Lived through it.
*****
But things start piling up.
Work needs you to pick up some hours. Coworkers on leave, folks needing time off.
You say yes, because when you need time off, they will make sure you get it.
Only your body isn’t cooperating.
You are in bed for the night at 1600.
And up at 0530.
Then you can’t fall asleep before you go in at 1900.
So you’re up for 28 hours. Straight.
Twice in one week.
That worked when you were eighteen.
It kills you at fifty-one.
*****
So you work, and work is uncharacteristically busy.
You start getting depressed four hours before you go in.
Then you start getting depressed because you have to work the next day.
Your coworkers are getting on your nerves.
You are really getting on their nerves.
You hit the ground and twelve hours later you sit for the first time. In the car. For the ride home.
To sleep for ten hours so you can go back and do it again.
Before your one day off.
That you sleep through.
*****
You fall behind in class; the professors are cool and allow you extra time for the assignments.
Which you need because you are so exhausted you cannot think.
But you won’t give less than an “A” effort so you stress and research and study and fine-tune and finally turn in the missive 48 hours after it is due.
Only to discover your classmates managed the assignment in two paragraphs.
How the hell did they do that?
*****
You start to lose it.
You don’t leave the house on your time off.
You stay in sweats all day and don’t bother to fix your hair.
Your husband thinks you are having a breakdown because he hears you laughing hysterically one minute and bursting into tears the next.
Except it’s not a breakdown, you are just watching “Scrubs”.
(Why the hell did they kill off LaVerne? Idiots.)
You start scanning the ads for a desk job. Part-time. Days. No weekends.
No blood. No pain.
No death.
*****
I’ve been here before.
The demon is back.
I’m in full blown burn-out.
But no major life changes.
Not this time.
I know what to do.
No more extra shifts.
The money is nice. Sanity is nicer.
No more twelve-hour shifts. Kudos to those who can do them.
I can’t.
No summer school.
I’m 12 units away from a BSN. I can graduate in the Spring of 2010. I gain nothing by sacrificing my mental health to do it by December.
*****
I’m scaling back, I’m taking a break.
For the next few months, it’s all about me.
More visits to Starbucks to read blogs.
More visits to Starbucks to read novels.
More concerts.
More mini-vacations. Son’s graduation. Nascar race in Sonoma. BlogHer in Chicago.
*****
I wish I could do it all and be it all and have it all.
It’s hard to face the fact that I have limitations.
But, I know,
I’m no Superman.
And that is a major bummer.
I’m No Superman
*This blog post was originally published at Emergiblog*
May 8th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Expert Interviews
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In honor of National Nurses Week, the National Museum of Health and Medicine hosted a discussion about the history of nursing at Walter Reed. Debbie Cox, former Army Nurse Corps Historian, initiated the conversation by describing what nursing was like at the turn of the 20th century. Steam-driven ambulances transported patients out of “mosquito-infested” Washington, DC to fresh-aired Fort McNair. A leading controversy of the time involved the intention of the hospital administrators to place the nurse baracks near the horse stables rather than the main hospital. In a dramatic twist, Jane Delano (cousin of Franklin D. Roosevelt) saved the nurses from relegation to the stables. However, it wasn’t until 1920 that nurses were given rank by the army.
Entry into nursing was through the Red Cross exclusively until the first nursing school was opened at Walter Reed in 1918. From there, nurses grew in numbers and prestige, until they became a cornerstone of medical research in the 1950s, leading the way in understanding how to reduce the spread of infections in the OR, decubitus ulcers in the hospital wards, and radiation damage related to nuclear war.
Jennifer Easley, a nurse who works in the pediatric intensive care unit at Walter Reed, described her experiences as a nurse leader for a team of soldiers in Iraq. She derived great satisfaction as an officer in her unit, and said that the team spirit and camaraderie was unlike anything she experienced in civilian nursing. She had this to say:
“I only made it 18 months as a civilian nurse. When I was called back to serve in the army, I had my paperwork in so fast you could hardly blink. I found out that in the private sector, no one ‘has your back.’ There’s no protection for those who raise safety concerns and nurses don’t have the authority to request back up in cases where units are dangerously understaffed.
I remember one day when several nurses called in sick and there weren’t enough of us to cover the children and babies in the ICU safely. I reported this to my nurse supervisor and she told me that maybe I wasn’t cut out for a challenging work environment. I was shocked, and really feared for the patients.
Another problem with private sector nursing is that there are glass ceilings. If you apply for a job as a staff nurse, you can’t work your way up to nurse manager. You’d have to leave that hospital and apply for a nurse manager position elsewhere. In the army, I had many more opportunities to contribute, grow, and lead.”
The final speaker was a nurse who returned from Iraq with head and neck cancer. He (LTC Patrick Ahearne) was an inpatient at Walter Reed for many months, losing 35 pounds and experiencing severe nausea, vomiting, and depression. At his lowest point, when he had lost hope of recovery and wanted to die, he was met with kindness by an experienced nurse who knew how to ask the right questions and reframe his perspective:
“This wonderful nurse stayed with me for 2 hours, watching me vomit and talking me through it. I remember her asking me what I’d learned about myself through my illness. I thought it was a strange, and medically irrelevant question – but it was just what I needed at the time. I realized how strong the human body can be, and the inner strength I had to endure my cancer. In those two hours nurse McLaughlin took me from wanting to die to wanting to live. She taught me that it was ok to be angry. It was ok to be sick.”
Many thanks to the unsung heroes out there who touch lives like nurse McLaughlin. We couldn’t do it without you.
May 4th, 2009 by Emergiblog in Better Health Network
2 Comments »
That’s Edie Falco.
You remember. She played Carmella Soprano.
Great actress; I love her.
Too bad I won’t be watching her new character on Showtime.
*****
“Nurse Jackie” is a new series.
I received an email from Showtime asking me if I would curate a selection of nursing experiences for an upcoming “Nurse Stories” web site that would coincide with the debut of Nurse Week and “Nurse Jackie”.
Whoa.
I don’t get email from Showtime every day, so this sounded pretty interesting.
I went to the website to check out the show before responding.
I made it through one video.
*****
Nurse Jackie is a competent, hard-as-nails, take-no-prisoners ER nurse.
With a heart, of course.
One minute she’s telling a doctor he’s full of it, the next minute she tells a patient to get out of her ER (classic!).
Edie Falco is perfect as the title character.
You’ve all worked with her.
Hell, you might even be her!
*****
My first reaction?
Oh..my..god, they did it!
They made a show with a strong nurse protagonist, and damn! if they didn’t get the ER environment down!
I had goosebumps, literally.
I was ready to (a) start getting Showtime, (b) spread the word far and wide and (c) take the job.
But then…
*****
They started grabbing her chest.
I think in a the short video I watched (five minutes?) Nurse Jackie had her breasts fondled by three men.
Oh great.
My first thought?
Here we go again with the nurse-as-sex-object stereotype.
(Actually, my first thought is that I must be working in the wrong hospitals.)
But it got worse.
*****
Nurse Jackie is a drug addict.
Has back pain.
Snorts crushed up Percocets.
Oh no they didn’t………
*****
Oh yes.
They did.
Now, would somebody please tell me why, why? they had to portray this nurse as a drug addict?
Did they not see that they had the potential for one hell of a nurse character here?
Did they not see that they could break the mold of media stereotypes in nursing and pave new ground?
Did they not see that there is enough material to build a nurse character out of what happens in the ER alone without adding the oh-so-subtle touch of drug addiction?
*****
If you’re an nurse who spends a lot of time with other people fondling you, you might like this show.
If you’re an RN and addicted to drugs, you might like this show.
In fact, why don’t you go check out the website for yourself.
Watch the video, get a feel for the character.
Tell me what you think.
Tell Showtime what you think.
And if you are really pissed, write to The Truth About Nursing.
I already did.
*****
As for me?
I (a) am not subscribing to Showtime, (b) will not promote the show to anyone outside this blog post and (c) did not take the job.
I am so sick, and so tired, of stupid media portrayals of nurses.
Didn’t watch “ER”. No “Grey’s Anatomy”. Won’t watch “House”.
Here goes trying to explain to my patients, again, that “no, I don’t watch that show because of the portrayal of nursing.”
*****
You blew it, Showtime.
Of course, it’s not too late to rectify the issues, the show has not debuted yet.
But know this:
No matter how funny, how dramatic or how well written “Nurse Jackie” is, you are doing nothing to advance or promote the nursing profession. But then I guess the goal is ratings and nothing defines a “hit” like sex and drugs.
*****
“Nurse Jackie” is described as “Saint! Sinner!”.
Saint.
Sinner.
Sound familiar?
Yeah.
Sigh.
April 27th, 2009 by MotherJonesRN in Better Health Network
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Holy cow! I can ha
rdly remember when nurses use to wear these types of uniforms. They were so white, so professional, so spotless. Believe me, my uniform wasn’t white and spotless when I went home after a long shift at the hospital. I spent many hours after work fussing over stains on my uniform. Barco made a ton of money off of me. I ended up throwing a lot of uniforms out because I always wanted to look professional. I wish that nurses still wore their caps. Yes, I’m just an old fashioned girl at heart.
I stopped wearing my white uniforms about 20 years when I became a psychiatric nurse. I missed my nursing uniforms and I was thrilled when I found out that I was going to get to wear them again at my new job at UGH. Hallelujah! I was going to get to look like a nurse again. I hopped into my car and sped off to the mall.
Images of Florence Nightingale danced in my head as I walked into the uniform boutique. A perky clerk who offered to show me all the latest fashions greeted me at the door. I was amused by what I saw. I’m still trying to figure out why someone would put Betty Boop and her Harley Davidson Motorcycle on a scrub top. I went for something a little more age appropriate, so I bypassed the Disney Beauty and Beast scrubs and I bought three pairs of white twill nursing pants with elastic around the waist and four flowered scrub tops. I really miss my white uniforms, my nursing cap, and my navy blue cape. You young people just don’t know what you’re missing. Maybe next year I’ll take a walk on the wild side and buy a few uniforms sporting Snoopy prints.
April 13th, 2009 by MotherJonesRN in Better Health Network
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This weekend a man came to my unit and rang the doorbell a half an hour before visiting hours were to start. I opened the unit door and a large burly man wearing sunglass and a dark suit asked me if a certain patient was on my unit. Of course I told him that I couldn’t say who was on my unit because of HIPAA. Without smiling, the man reached into his pocket and pulled out his ID. He was from the CIA. Then he repeated himself and waited for my answer. I looked at the badge and the picture on his ID, and then I asked the man if he had official or personal business on my unit. His eyes dropped to the floor. He stammered and said that he came to the hospital because he wanted to visit his neighbor. I told him that was very nice, but that he was going to have to wait until it was time for visiting hours just like everyone else. I also let him know that due to hospital policy, he was going to have to secure his weapon with security before he could come onto the unit. He protested. “ But I’m with the CIA!” he said. I smiled. “I know you’re with the CIA, but I’m the charge nurse.” I won.
I don’t care who you are. Never get into a power struggle with a charge nurse.
*This blog post was originally published at Nurse Ratched’s Place.*
