I’ve been wanting to write about the experiences and struggles the healthcare community can face when we take care of medically complex kids who often have severe developmental disabilities. This blog post for American Journal of Nursing is finally that post, with a lot of vulnerable honesty. But the blessing here is that I am … Continue reading New Blog Post for AJN: Primary Nursing of Medically Complex Children in the ICU Increases Parental Trust
compassion
Published piece in “Months to Years”: A Story of a Good Mom
Months to Years is a beautiful online literary journal, filled with pieces that courageously and tenderly address the issues of mortality and terminal illness. My piece, "A Story of a Good Mom," is now live in their current Summer 2022 issue. Working in pediatric ICU nursing as a mother myself to school-aged children, the parents' … Continue reading Published piece in “Months to Years”: A Story of a Good Mom
An Unexpected Remedy for My Moral Distress
When Katherine first started bringing her very medically-complicated daughter into our pediatric ICU, we all marveled that her child had even survived the early months of infancy. All the odds were against them, but they were tough, this mom and daughter pair. I didn’t know what her pregnancy and birth journeys were like. Did she … Continue reading An Unexpected Remedy for My Moral Distress
Back to Basics on an Excruciatingly Complicated Day
I have so many questions and so few answers today. But the one question I think I can and should tackle is, How can I know and love my neighbor better today? Maybe it will help me build relationship and trust, for when hard times come upon them in the future. They could call on … Continue reading Back to Basics on an Excruciatingly Complicated Day
Upcoming Webinar with Speaking Grief: Minimizing Burnout in Death Care Professionals
The Speaking Grief Initiative is doing such important work in recognizing and validating the reality of grief in our world, both personally and professionally. I'm so grateful to be a panelist in this upcoming webinar on "Minimizing Burnout in Death Care Professionals." While this webinar speaks first and foremost to the experience of funeral directors, … Continue reading Upcoming Webinar with Speaking Grief: Minimizing Burnout in Death Care Professionals
Uncommon Career Advice for People Going into Healthcare
A couple of friends who operate a local fast-food restaurant recently invited me to spend time with a few of their young staff members via Zoom to offer perspective and advice on “How to Prepare for a Career in Healthcare.” Recognizing that the majority of their staff will likely move on to other career pursuits … Continue reading Uncommon Career Advice for People Going into Healthcare
Where is God in the PICU: Cases of Injustice
A couple of months ago, we had a cluster of patients come through our pediatric ICU with extraordinarily heavy stories of injustice. One child had been severely abused for months by a caretaker in the hiddenness of the caretaker’s home. Another child had been shot by a stranger and was left mentally intact but physically … Continue reading Where is God in the PICU: Cases of Injustice
Stewarding Power as a Nurse
I am in a position of power as a pediatric ICU nurse. I can hold a wriggly patient down, poke him with needles, insert tubes into her nose. I can give or withhold food to a hungry child per a doctor’s orders. I can abruptly wake my patient from much-needed sleep at any time, day … Continue reading Stewarding Power as a Nurse
A Letter from a Christian PICU Nurse to the Western Christian Church
To my Western Christian brothers and sisters, I come to you as a fellow Christian and as a pediatric ICU nurse with a burden and a plea. I come to you as someone who knew in theory and through some personal experience before I became a nurse, that this world can be cruel and unfair. … Continue reading A Letter from a Christian PICU Nurse to the Western Christian Church
Grief and the Good and Hopeful Life
In my last blog post, I took a birds-eye view with some thoughts on why we don’t know what to do with grief. I’m not trying to talk us out of grief by rationalizing. It only makes sense that we don’t readily know what to do with grief. It can hurt like hell. Its existence … Continue reading Grief and the Good and Hopeful Life
The Heart of Nursing 