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
The Year of the Nurse: A Tribute
What can I say in honor of my fellow nurses that hasn't already been said? I wrote this for my team in particular at our pediatric hospital, but without doubt the heart of this applies to nurses everywhere. I wish I could tell you how they show up to work each day. They're my friends, … Continue reading The Year of the Nurse: A Tribute
Bless the Merciful (repost from Sarah Bessey)
This prayer by Sarah Bessey is worth praying, sharing, lingering in. And oh...for my fellow colleagues in healthcare in these extraordinary days, these paragraphs in particular are for you. "Bless the ones who lavish grace and bandage wounds and figure out how to make ventilators in factories. Bless the ones who intubate and the ones … Continue reading Bless the Merciful (repost from Sarah Bessey)
Example of (Virtual) Narrative Medicine Exercise
It's been more quiet than usual here but that's because I've been busy writing for my online Narrative Medicine program with Columbia University. I thought I'd take a moment to share the (virtual) practice of Narrative Medicine that we have been participating in for the program. It's a beautiful approach to using creative arts to … Continue reading Example of (Virtual) Narrative Medicine Exercise
AJN’s Top 10 Blog Posts of the Year
It is always a privilege to write for Off the Charts, the blog of the American Journal of Nursing. My post titled "What’s a Preceptor’s Duty When a New Nurse Doesn’t Fit the Unit?" made #3 on their list of top 10 posts of 2019. All the posts are excellent and worth reading! You can … Continue reading AJN’s Top 10 Blog Posts of the Year
New Guest Post for AJN: Balancing Nurse and Home Life During the Holidays
My latest blog post for American Journal of Nursing is up. The contrasts between the nursing world and home life are often felt most acutely during the holidays, and moving between both worlds can be disorienting. "I feel at times as though I live in some other world that is not entirely my home nor … Continue reading New Guest Post for AJN: Balancing Nurse and Home Life During the Holidays
Advent is for Those who Grieve
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
