Nurses: In the Face-Off With COVID, We’re Doing ‘Alright’

We did alright during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. We’ve done alright during Ebola. We’re doing alright during COVID. We’ve done alright through war, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and typhoons. We’re neither politicians, nor business owners; we’re not in banking or finance (though some of us might have a side hustle or two).

We’re nurses, and we show up.

Let’s be clear, alright is not “OK,” it’s not “good,” and currently it’s “head barely above water.” Alright is persistence, though, and it’s perseverance. We’re all suffering. Those of us who have worked in past epidemics are having flashbacks, we still don’t have enough protective gear, and we’re scared to death of bringing COVID home to our loved ones.

Here’s a real gem, to boot: When COVID started and picked up exponential speed in the U.S., we were touted as heroes. And now as the waves of cases roll in again, because of the extraordinary financial hit that health care has taken we’re the first to be flexed off and furloughed.

“Hey hero, thanks for your service! We can’t pay you any longer. Good luck.”

Why we keep showing up.

But we’re doing alright, and this is why: There is a sense of profound meaning in the work that we do. As impossible as it is some days, when we provide […]

What Advice Would You Give a New Nursing Student? Our Readers Respond…

KarenRoushBy Karen Roush, MSN, RN, FNP-C, AJN clinical managing editor

My daughter Kim is starting nursing school next month, so last week I asked AJN’s Facebook followers for the best piece of advice I could give her. The response was overwhelming: over 600 people offered wisdom, encouragement, and tips for success. I went through and read them all and the following is an attempt to synthesize the advice.

Of course, with so many responses, there were many valuable pieces of advice I had to leave out, from the practical to the profound, such as:

sit in the front of class, stick to your principles, invest in good shoes, choose clinicals that push you out of your comfort zone, be early for everything, celebrate the small victories, get a really good stethoscope up front, believe in yourself, pick the hardest patient you can at clinical, audiorecord the lectures, be truthful and committed to your work, eat healthy, get to know your instructors, coffee and chocolate!

And finally: look into the eyes of your patients and be sure they know you care. Every patient, every time.

(Oh, and not to leave out the lighthearted—Don’t hold your nose in clinicals. The teachers frown on that.)

Below are five areas of advice that stood out:

1) “Take a […]

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