nursingforsocialjustice

“So never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself.”

Florence Nightingale (Cook, 1914)

It can be easy to forget about the baby steps that are necessary in order to get from point A to point B. I think it is a skill to see the big picture and the tiny pieces of the puzzle at the same time…especially when the pieces of the puzzle are changing all the time. It’s strange sometimes, looking back at my printed out Power Point lectures from when I was in nursing school. It seems like an eternity ago, mostly because the whole experience is a blur. There was a lot going on in my life in the time I was transitioning from a Bachelor of Nursing student to independently practicing nurse. When I reflect on my own transition from school to work I feel like I had to learn much too much through trial and error from role models that practiced the way I wanted to practice and those who I hoped I would never turn into. I sometimes feel disappointed when I think about how long it took for me to reach a place where I felt somewhat confident in my nursing practice (it took years). There must be a shorter way for nurses to get from point A to point B…I think about it all the time, mostly because I feel like there is a huge discrepancy in the transition from medical student to doctor and the transition from undergraduate nursing student to Registered Nurse. And I sometimes feel disappointed that nurses are the most numerous health care professionals, but somehow so many people don’t know what we do. But people trust us anyway.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed when you realize how much you don’t know? Over the last 6 weeks I have reflected a lot, about a lot of things; almost too much reflection about some things. I think that, as a nurse, I have the privilege of being in a special place with the people I provide care to. As a nurse I provide care for people 24/7, in ways that other members of the health care team do not. There are so many moments in my nursing career that I will never forgot, sometimes those moments are great and sometimes they are less great, but they are moments that I know I only experienced because I am a nurse.

As a healthcare provider, I think that sometimes it is easy to get so invested in the patient’s outcome, what we are hoping that they achieve in terms of their health (like an overly zealous stage/sports parent), that we forget about the value of helping someone in the journey from illness to wellness.  It can feel like we are constantly trying to hit a moving target, and sometimes we realize that the target we were shooting at was the wrong one to begin with…what a bummer to realize that our priority was so different than the person we were caring for. But there is always a silver lining, because there are opportunities to learn in those unfortunate circumstances. Perhaps next time we can collaborate or re-evaluate throughout the process rather than at the end, or when things fall apart. I think that we have to remember (believe?) that sometimes (often?) the assessment can also be the intervention, the process is part of the outcome. A good question is a nursing intervention. Lorraine Wright and Maureen Leahy (2012) taught me that, via my Family Systems Nursing class in the 2008 University of Calgary Bachelor of Nursing program. And, if you do not know who Wright and Leahy are, now is as good a time as any to start finding out.

Peace,

Michelle D.

References 

Cook, E. T. (1914). The Life of Florence Nightingale v. 1. Macmillan.

Wright, L. M., & Leahey, M. (2012). Nurses and families: A guide to family assessment and intervention. FA Davis.