If you couldn’t tell, I really like the work I do. I love being a nurse and I can’t imagine doing anything else in my life. I love the challenge, I love the science, I love that I know I’m making a difference. That being said, the thought that I love this work so much scares me sometimes. What if I got hurt and couldn’t be a nurse anymore? What if some freak event ended with me losing my license? What would happen to me if the one thing that makes up such a big part of my identity – was gone? I recently started reading Tao Te Ching. It’s a book about Taoism which is a Chinese philosophy (I’ve been reading a lot about these minimalist philosophies – Baghavad Gita and Marcus Aurelius’ Stoicism are a couple more that I’m looking into too). It’s been helping me realize that I need to be less attached to things like this… There was a couple things in just the first two chapter that left a really big impression (it also made me really confused because it is too meta): “Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets…
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That New New
I have officially taught my first quarter as a new clinical instructor! I teach fundamentals and introduction to med/surg skills lab and let me tell you, it has been the weirdest transition I never expected. There are a lot of things I’ve though about as I chose this path in nursing, like why I wanted to pursue this, why I think it’s important, and of course, whether or not I think I’m capable of making the impact I want to make. I find myself constantly reminding myself of these things as I go through these challenges… Many of the things that make this transition weird is because I still look like a baby nurse. I never like wearing my lab coat, but I wear it because I need to stand out from my students (I really still look like I’m still a student when I’m standing next to them). And like I said in my last post about the workshop too, most of the educators I work with are much more experienced and seasoned – the age gap is that wide. Now the pros and cons of this situation are pretty significant too. I really like that I’m a younger…
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NLN Faculty Intensive
This past June, I took another mind changing conference with the National League for Nursing at their headquarters in Washington DC. I had a great experience at the previous summit, so I thought, this is a good investment in myself and will help prepare me more for the role as clinical instructor/educator at my new job. I wasn’t wrong. In the weeks heading up to this event, I had really pushed my management to let me go to this event. I needed approved vacation time, and I didn’t have it. I talked to my assistant nurse manager and then I talked to my manager… and then I had to talk to them again. It frustrated me that I had to work this hard for something that was supposed to be an investment in myself. I don’t know that I’ve ever fought for something like this before, and it helped me realize that I don’t always need to back down. If I want it to happen, I can make a way. From the get-go, I was blown away just by the participants in this workshop. I was surrounded by doctorally prepared DNP’s and Ph.D’s – many were deans and directors at…
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NLN Summit 2018
#1: Nurses can do anything. #2:we’ve come this far from standing on the shoulders of giants. It’s our duty to do the same for the next generation. Still on a mini high after attending the #NLNSummit2018 in Chicago. Our keynote speaker was Rear Admiral Sylvia Trent Adams. The journey of her nursing career is humble and where she is now is a testament to how important nurses can be, especially in the political realm. I was captivated during the entire time she spoke and I definitely was inspired to do more than what I have planned so far so that I can make a similar, if not greater impact in the nursing realm. I hesitated coming to this conference because I wasn’t sure if it was the right one to go to, even though I am adamant about following through with a nursing education career. I was surrounded by doctorally prepared nurses and I felt like an ant in comparison to what they all have accomplished. I even met the authors of the textbooks that I read in nursing school! I used to be a bit annoyed that older nurses held the curriculum of new nurses when the information that…
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Tougher Skin
Yesterday, I cried for the first time at work. An irate family yelled at me and made a scene on the unit. And for whatever reason, I took it personally. As I helped make sure that my patient in another room took their morning medication safely, out of the corner of my eye I see this particular person come in with their other family members and I hear her yell, “I want to speak to the nurse.” I couldn’t come out of the room at that particular moment, and so I peek my head out of the corner of my other patient’s room because I could sense she was upset/anxious and yell, I’ll be there in a moment, I’m helping another patient right now. Not even thirty seconds later, I hear her yell again, “Where is the nurse? I WANT TO SEE THE NURSE NOW.” Without trying to make my other patient feel any less important, I tell them to not feel rushed – that I would stay in the room until he finished his medication and that I help him with whatever else he needed at that moment. At the same time – not even another ten seconds later,…