Advent is for those who grieve, in a culture obsessed with happiness at all costs, especially during the Western version of the Christmas season. Advent is for nurses like me and my colleagues who said one final goodbye this past weekend to a patient who’d become the sweetheart of our unit, a joyful light … Continue reading Advent is for Those who Grieve
A Plea from a Pediatric ICU Nurse in Response to the Saugus High School Shooting
Preventable traumas are the hardest for us to see as pediatric ICU nurses. Gunshot wounds, permanent disabilities and deaths from senseless violence, child abuse because of a broken system letting cases fall through the cracks, car accidents from DUIs resulting in kids being the innocent victims. I have come face to face with all of … Continue reading A Plea from a Pediatric ICU Nurse in Response to the Saugus High School Shooting
Newly published article in AJN Reflections column: “Beholding the Returning Light”
We see a lot of really hard things as pediatric ICU nurses. But sometimes, we get to see miracles. My article for the Reflections column in the American Journal of Nursing has been published, and is free to access through the month of November! It is also available on the site as a podcast. … Continue reading Newly published article in AJN Reflections column: “Beholding the Returning Light”
what I wish I could heal as your nurse
Would you give me permission to tell you without overstepping my bounds, personal, professional that this is not your fault. You were only trying to take good care of your baby; you didn’t know, you didn’t know. I see the protest in your eyes, Someone has to be to blame, and that someone is … Continue reading what I wish I could heal as your nurse
Discovering Narrative Medicine
I first discovered the concept of Narrative Medicine when I began to search for journals to which I could submit writing for potential publication. I stumbled upon Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, and was so taken by the depth of self-reflection, honesty, vulnerability, and intentionality in considering the patient/practitioner dynamics, I knew I had … Continue reading Discovering Narrative Medicine
From PICU Nurse to Foster Camp Nurse: A Reflection
This summer, I had the unique experience of switching my nurse hat from PICU nurse to volunteer camp nurse for a 5-day sleepaway camp for foster kids through my church and Royal Family Kids Camp. For 5 days, 42 volunteers staffed a camp for 28 foster kids, ages 6-12, to give them a week where … Continue reading From PICU Nurse to Foster Camp Nurse: A Reflection
Tribute to those behind my UCLA SON Distinguished Alumni Award
Back at the end of April, I was honored to receive the UCLA School of Nursing 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award for Excellence in Clinical Care, Nightingale Nurse at the SON's 70th Anniversary Gala. Much of me is still in disbelief as I see and admire so many other nurses from whom I have so much … Continue reading Tribute to those behind my UCLA SON Distinguished Alumni Award
Nurses Week blog post for American Journal of Nursing
Happy Nurses Week to all of my fellow nurses who give us, according to this year's theme, "4 Million Reasons to Celebrate." If we're honest though, we can at times struggle with our profession as much as (or sometimes more than) we feel we love and celebrate what we do. In my Nurses Week blog … Continue reading Nurses Week blog post for American Journal of Nursing
AJN’s Nurses Week 2019 collection of favorite articles
There are certain patient cases that never leave you as a nurse. They are the experiences that hold - and shape - the indescribable art of nursing as you learn how to read significant cues, listen to the unspoken, and hold another's heart while also holding your own as it comes undone. American Journal of … Continue reading AJN’s Nurses Week 2019 collection of favorite articles
When an Over-responsible Caregiver Learns a Life Lesson from a 5 Year Old
I have in recent weeks come up against my limits at times of what I can give to others and accomplish in the course of a day, and it hasn’t always been a graceful acceptance of those limits. I have instead resented them, and then learned the harder way to heed them and their inherent … Continue reading When an Over-responsible Caregiver Learns a Life Lesson from a 5 Year Old
The Heart of Nursing 