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
ethics
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
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
Holding Space for Rhythms of Professional Grief: Part 2 of 2
In my last blog post, I shared my short-term response to the common questions I get as a pediatric ICU nurse, “How do you deal with all the sad things you encounter at work? How do you separate your personal life from your work life? How do you stay in that environment and not completely … Continue reading Holding Space for Rhythms of Professional Grief: Part 2 of 2
Why We Don’t Know What to do With Grief
In my recent interview for an upcoming NPR TED Radio Hour podcast (10/1) on “Heartbreak,” the host, Manoush Zomorodi, asked a series of insightful questions from many angles about my experiences with grief over the years as a pediatric ICU nurse. Those questions have sparked many thoughts that I believe are worth exploring and sharing … Continue reading Why We Don’t Know What to do With Grief
A Plea for Help in Making Nursing Sustainable
My hairdresser made a comment that I hear from a lot of people who are not in healthcare. “I don’t know how you do a full 12-hour shift when it’s life-and-death work. I mean, I have long days working too but cutting and styling hair isn’t life and death. I just can’t understand how you … Continue reading A Plea for Help in Making Nursing Sustainable
Essay for Spring 2020 Issue of Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine
My essay, Best Brother, published in the Spring 2020 issue of Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, tells the story of a long-time family friend who suffered a severe spinal cord injury last summer and, like so many of our patients and families, was faced with sudden life-altering decisions in the ICU. But with a … Continue reading Essay for Spring 2020 Issue of Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine
Speaker Spotlight for 6th National Nursing Ethics Conference
I literally could not stop shaking when I received the email invitation to be the closing speaker for the 6th National Nursing Ethics Conference next year at UCLA. It is one of the most powerful and in-depth nursing conferences when we consider some of the core heart issues that nurses wrestle with as we are immersed … Continue reading Speaker Spotlight for 6th National Nursing Ethics Conference
How a Patient’s Family Heals a Nurse in this Era of Medicine
(Author’s note: Permission has been granted by all parties involved, including the patient's family, to share medical details that may make this patient identifiable.) One of the things that feels most unfair about pediatric ICU nursing is that with critically ill children, you don’t get the comfort of being able to look back and say … Continue reading How a Patient’s Family Heals a Nurse in this Era of Medicine
Staying in the Hard Thing: When Glory becomes Gritty
I seem to live in a perpetually tired state nowadays. If I’m looking for the easiest, most honest response to “How are you?” my default answer will be, “I’m tired.” Tired as a mom of two littles. Tired as a nurse to critically ill children. Friends and coworkers nod in empathy, and praise Jesus for … Continue reading Staying in the Hard Thing: When Glory becomes Gritty
The Heart of Nursing 