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
grief
No Ordinary Sunday
The readjusting back and forth between intensely challenging nursing shifts and everyday normal life is a real thing to navigate. It still catches me by surprise every time, how hard it really is. I am in the thick of a full 12+ hours of trying to manage chaos and logistics in a unit full … Continue reading No Ordinary Sunday
TED-Ed Lesson on “How Grief Can Enable Nurses to Endure” now available!
For all nurse educators, managers, leaders, bookclub facilitators, or bedside nurses looking for a guided way to talk about work-related grief with other nurses: I have created a new TED-Ed lesson based on my original TEDxTalk, "How Grief Can Enable Nurses to Endure." It includes some introductory prompts allowing for people to share about their work-related … Continue reading TED-Ed Lesson on “How Grief Can Enable Nurses to Endure” now available!
Keynote Speech to RN Residency New Grad Nurses: The Best and Most Vital Thing You Can Give Your Patients
I had the privilege of delivering the keynote speech to our hospital's recent cohort of RN Residency New Graduate Nurses as they have completed orientation and will now be working independently in their respective units. One of the things I was most excited about was the opportunity to also briefly address the many friends and … Continue reading Keynote Speech to RN Residency New Grad Nurses: The Best and Most Vital Thing You Can Give Your Patients
TEDxTalk – YouTube link is live!
On Sept 30 of this year, I had the incredible opportunity to give a TEDxTalk with TEDxPasadena on "How Grief Can Enable Nurses to Endure." This talk is for all healthcare professionals, but nurses in particular, who have grieved with and for their patients and families, and have went home wondering what to do with … Continue reading TEDxTalk – YouTube link is live!
Guest Post for American Journal of Nursing: Learning New Skills of Supporting One Another as Nurses
Life post-TEDx Talk is slowly returning to a more reasonable pace, which means I finally have more time to start writing again. This latest guest blog post for the American Journal of Nursing is about an issue I have been wrestling with for awhile: Why do we nurses still seem to have a hard time … Continue reading Guest Post for American Journal of Nursing: Learning New Skills of Supporting One Another as Nurses
Intimate Strangers: Article for AJN’s Aug 2017 Reflections column
Meeting a family for the first time, on the day they will say good-bye to their child for the last time. Taking care of the child's physical needs until it's time to be the one who turns off all that has been sustaining those needs. It is one of the most profound interactions a nurse … Continue reading Intimate Strangers: Article for AJN’s Aug 2017 Reflections column
A Strange Gift: The Bittersweet Calling to Nursing
(Post originally written Aug 16, 2012) Yesterday was the first time I’ve ever done postmortem care on a little patient, minus the partial experience I had as a nursing student a few years ago. Surreal hardly begins to describe the experience, from cleaning up a messy room that bears witness to the intense activity involved … Continue reading A Strange Gift: The Bittersweet Calling to Nursing
