The Nocturnists is a podcast that has done incredible work documenting the experiences of healthcare workers from many angles, and in current times capturing this phenomenal moment in history as we endure this COVID pandemic. I had the opportunity to reflect on the early days of the pandemic as we all began to realize that … Continue reading The Nocturnists: Sharing my Story as a Healthcare Worker and Mom in a Pandemic
nursing
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
New Blog Post for AJN: How I Would Prepare my Daughter to Become a Nurse
My kids have been asking me surprisingly specific questions about my work as a nurse lately. I really enjoyed writing this blog post for American Journal of Nursing because God knows the two occupations that have consumed my days and thoughts this past year have been nursing and motherhood. And at the end of the … Continue reading New Blog Post for AJN: How I Would Prepare my Daughter to Become a Nurse
Anchor for the Years
Ten years into being a pediatric ICU nurse, I find I still grieve the saddest patient cases the same way I did from day one. It hits the day after with unpredictable tears, and I'm discombobulated as I try to reorient myself to my "normal" life and all its demands on me as mama, while … Continue reading Anchor for the Years
New blog post for AJN: The Bittersweet Reality of a Nurse’s Limits in Providing End-of-Life Care
My latest blog post for American Journal of Nursing is up. Working in pediatrics means I didn’t see the kind of mass casualty COVID deaths that adult hospitals saw, but death and dying are still a regular experience in our unit. While sobering, it’s important to think about death because it’s then important to think … Continue reading New blog post for AJN: The Bittersweet Reality of a Nurse’s Limits in Providing End-of-Life Care
Pre-Order Now Available: The Healer’s Burden
I am beyond thrilled to share that this book I had the privilege to contribute an essay to, The Healer's Burden: Stories and Poems of Professional Grief, is now available for pre-order. My essay is titled "Silent Intercession," and I am so looking forward to slowly making my way through the rest of the pieces. … Continue reading Pre-Order Now Available: The Healer’s Burden
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
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
The Deeper Thank-You Every Nurse Needs
When I say to fellow nurses during Nurses Week, “Thank you for everything you do,” what I am saying is thank you for: Of course all the close attention you pay to your patients, safe med administration, the turning, the bathing, lifting, oral care, eye care, skin care, wound care; The hand-holding, teaching, empathizing, listening, … Continue reading The Deeper Thank-You Every Nurse Needs
