nursingforsocialjustice

If you love something, set it free. That’s a thing that people believe…right? Life is hard. Would anything be worth anything if it wasn’t?

I worked a shift at work the other day. It was me and nurses who shared the same perspectives in care. I felt like I could breathe. I felt like we were all on the same page. I felt like we were invested in working towards the same goal. I am still reflecting on what this means.

What is a Team?

Taking the time to work on collectively defining a mission, vision and values can seem like a tedious exercise, but the value of engaging in this process is instrumental in aligning a team. I often wonder, how can a team be built without deliberate efforts to shape it? And, how can a team be built if team members seem like strangers in the night, passing ships that work independently and then leave their shift like the efforts of the day were isolated tasks. That isn’t healthcare.

Why Does it Matter?

It is hard work to figure out how the pieces of a puzzle fit together. It is hard work to understand the strengths and weaknesses of individuals to create a cohesive team. Healthcare is about relationships, with patients and their families but also with the people who work with. Being a nurse within a healthcare team is complex. The perspectives that we bring to our work are important to reflect on. Is this a day job or something more? Is it a means to an end, project of personal and professional growth? I would argue that being a nurse is inherently more than a job. I think that it is part of who I am, at the core of my being and I think that that is okay. I think it is a necessary piece of my identity.

Why Does It Matter To Me?

I often wonder about the relationship between personal and professional. I also wonder about how career planning and professional development happen in a nursing, a woman dominated profession that has a unique history. And so, comes the reflection in my history.

There are challenges in returning to school when you have children and a full-time jobs. These are thing that work:

Learning to let go of having everything stay the same

Learning to adapt.

Learning to put yourself first.

Working as a team.

Forcing myself to forge forward, even when I want to give up, is challenging. I know that each hurdle is more mental than anything. There is value in defining our capabilities, of proving to ourselves that we can keep going, suffering through pain. Motivating myself involves a lot of self talk. A strategy that I use is reflective questioning. When I wonder, does it get easier and the writing get better the more I practice? I re-visit my writing, I look back and find the evidence.

I have a lot of trouble finishing the masterpiece works that I plan to write so they end up being half works…half done. And I hope half helpful.

Peace,

Michelle D.