If I may be perfectly honest with you, I love lighter nursing shifts. Maybe because they are so few and far between in our PICU. Maybe because my to-do list with work and extracurricular nursing projects is never-ending, so I welcome any down time I have in my shifts to chip away at those, rather … Continue reading A Story About Paying Attention
pediatric nursing
On Collective, Systemic Grief as an ICU Nurse
Those who have been following my public work over the years know that it started off with a desire to bring voice to - and integrate - the individual grief that we carry on behalf of our patients. When COVID hit, nurses began to grapple with entirely different levels of grief. Particularly for my incredible … Continue reading On Collective, Systemic Grief as an ICU Nurse
In Times of Overwhelm as a Nurse, Begin with One Intentional Act at a Time
One of the most difficult things about trying to be empathetic, engaged and informed with all that has been going on with both our local Los Angeles wildfire devastation as well as our country's political chaos, is the utter overwhelmedness of so many very serious issues to grapple with all at once. I think most … Continue reading In Times of Overwhelm as a Nurse, Begin with One Intentional Act at a Time
The Christmas Hospital Story that Stays With Me
Weary and slightly bewildered from an unexpected month in the hospital, her eyes also shone with eagerness and relief that they were one big step away from going home, just in time for Christmas. But it was her poise that stood out to me. A quiet strength that carried the unbelievable story of an athlete … Continue reading The Christmas Hospital Story that Stays With Me
The Perils of Rushed Listening and Overeager Attempts to Fix Grief
The other day, I met up for a casual coffee with a lovely friend who is not in the healthcare realm. As it goes in catching up with friends, I was trying to give the summarized version of how life has been this past year on both a personal and professional level. I briefly alluded … Continue reading The Perils of Rushed Listening and Overeager Attempts to Fix Grief
Self Care: The Value of Solitude and Introspection
In all my 14 years of PICU nursing, I've never quite experienced the overlapping volume and intensity of suffering, moral distress amongst nurses, death, and anger from patients' families that our unit experienced this past August - October. The bike accident that snuffed out a teenage life in a moment. The newly diagnosed cancer patient … Continue reading Self Care: The Value of Solitude and Introspection
Podcast Episode with Muted in Medicine: Professional Grief
I so loved this podcast conversation with Saba Fatima, a pediatrician I had the joy of getting to know through the Columbia University Narrative Medicine certification program. Our shared love of pediatrics, storytelling and preserving humanity in healthcare really bonded us as we dove into this conversation about professional grief, for her incredible new podcast, … Continue reading Podcast Episode with Muted in Medicine: Professional Grief
A Different Kind of Expertise for a Different Kind of Healing
The baby came to us from another hospital with multi-layered complications since her premature birth. Her dad was absent, and her mom had two and a half strikes working against her in life. The other hospital had reached its limit in what they could do for the baby, so they sent the baby to us. … Continue reading A Different Kind of Expertise for a Different Kind of Healing
Technology and the Loss of Human Connection in Healthcare – Part One
As charge nurse on a busy day in our PICU, I was the hub of traffic control. Two of our patients were stable enough to transfer out of the ICU to the medical/surgical floors. One patient in the ED had caught a bad respiratory virus and was struggling to breathe. One of our physicians went … Continue reading Technology and the Loss of Human Connection in Healthcare – Part One
What is Professional Grief?
I had a wonderful podcast interview last week with a pediatrician who wanted to explore the topic of professional grief in healthcare, and that made me think it would be good to write a new post with some refreshed thoughts on the topic. What are we referring to when we talk about professional grief? There … Continue reading What is Professional Grief?
The Heart of Nursing 