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Nursing and The Name III: Gossip
Here is the thing about nursing: I recently called it a beautiful disaster of a career. It was just something that came to me, but the more I think about it, the more I believe it to be true. Nurses can get really bogged down with the day to day. From working shifts, to bullying, to mental health issues, there is no shortage of challenges that nurses face just to come to work, let alone deal with the complex health needs of their patients. But some of the big problems that come up aren’t the result of the work, but of human brokenness. Man, can you see that brokenness in…
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Is Nursing Sexist?
Today is International Women’s Day. It has got me thinking a lot about the profession of nursing and how it has impacted women for hundreds of years. Historically, nursing was one of the few careers that women could actively pursue, generally giving it up when they married and had children. But it is impossible to deny that because women are the most represented in nursing, this profession stands in a unique space where women have had a voice in influencing the health care field for hundred of years. But does that mean that we have gained equality? And what does “equality” look like when the vast majority of nurses are…
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The Nervous Nurse: Anxiety and the Clinical Environment
I remember being in my third year of Nursing School and wanting nothing more than to puke (and then take a nap). I was in a peds medicine rotation and clinical was awful. I had a brutal instructor who had a big chip on her shoulder about not having a degree but educating those of us who were working towards one. I remember being so terrified of making a mistake that I was pretty much guaranteed I would. I was an A-student and always had been. But then this rotation. My instructor threatened to put me on what my university called a “learning contract” which is basically the last ditch…
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You’ve Got This.
As soon as I decided to become a nurse I was all in. It came out of nowhere. I had just finished a four year undergraduate degree majoring in Political Science with a minor in Art History. I was a musician. I was one of those “creative types”. When I told my sister I was going to go into nursing she laughed out loud. A little too ‘out loud’ if you ask me. See, I was no good at things like “science” or “math” or “not being terrified of blood”. But after graduation from my first degree I was totally lost. I didn’t know what I wanted for my future or where…
