But Where Are You Really From?

Anne Lano will graduate from a family nurse practitioner program next month.

As a five-year-old adoptee from Korea who grew up in the primarily white world of central Nebraska, I often wished, as a child, that I could look like everyone else. Early on, I was often confused or hurt by the unthinking remarks I received. Neighborhood boys teased me about my eyes. When I was in my teens, a woman in the locker room turned  in my direction and said, slowly and loudly, “Welcome to America!” When I was sure she was talking to me, I said, “Uh, thanks! You too?!”

While I was chasing my kids around the playground, another little girl climbed up a ladder close to me. When she was eye level with me, she brightly said, “Hola!” It took me a second to realize she thought I was Hispanic, but I chuckled and, with a smile said, “Hola!” back to her. Likewise, at a friend’s relative’s house, a woman claimed that I look just like someone she knew. She searched all her photo albums to show me a picture of an Asian man who, in my opinion, […]

2021-04-28T09:30:57-04:00April 28th, 2021|Nursing, nursing stories|1 Comment
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An Intimate Glimpse of Community Health Nursing During the Pandemic  

Photo courtesy of Monica M. Finifrock.

We hear a lot about frontline nurses and the trauma they’ve endured throughout the year fighting the world’s deadliest pandemic in 100 years. Their stories are harrowing and heroic and shine a much deserved spotlight on the importance of the profession. And yet COVID-19 has touched not only those working in ICUs and EDs—but in every area of health care. Our December In the Community article, “Keeping Calm in the Buffer Zone,” is just one example of a nurse touched by COVID-19 in her daily work.

Community health as a ‘buffer zone.’

When the article opens, author Monica M. Finifrock is on her way to work at a community health clinic in Seattle. It’s April and the pandemic is beginning to take a toll.

I don’t consider myself on the front lines of the pandemic . . . I’m not watching patients take their last gasps of air or making hard decisions about who gets a ventilator and who doesn’t. I’m a community health nurse, and my role during the COVID-19 pandemic is to do exactly what I always strive to do—serve the community.

Calling her clinic a “buffer zone,” Finifrock argues that community health clinics are […]

2020-12-10T08:42:36-05:00December 10th, 2020|COVID-19, narratives, nursing stories, Public health|0 Comments
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Staying Away, Reaching Out: Offering Parents Support During the Pandemic

The ‘circuit breaker.’

Image by Wokandapix from Pixabay

I brace myself as I look over the names printed on my patient list. Our developmental pediatric unit has started an initiative to call our more vulnerable families during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chan J. DOB: 12/10/2001. As I scan the electronic notes, I learn that mum is the main caregiver of not one but two boys with autism spectrum disorder who require a high level of support. They both usually attend special school, but the school is currently closed because of social distancing measures. We are in lockdown, or ‘circuit breaker’ as we call it in Singapore, and both children have been at home for the past three weeks. My heart sinks in anticipation as I punch in the numbers.

“Hello,” a voice hesitates at the other end.

“Good morning, Mrs. Chan,” I say, putting on a cheery tone. “My name is Jia Yi and I am a nurse from the child development unit. We are checking in with our families and I wonder if you have some time to speak with me?”

“What about?” This mother sounds tired.

“Oh, just checking in on how you are getting on and whether there is anything we can do to help.”

‘”It’s hard,” she says. […]

2020-10-01T10:18:14-04:00October 1st, 2020|Nursing, nursing stories|0 Comments
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‘Didn’t You Used to Be a Nurse?’: Finding the Nurse Within

The author of the Reflections essay in AJN‘s September issue, Kathleen Resnick, confronts a question many nurses must confront at some point: what is it to be a nurse?

And a related question: what is the essence of nursing work? If you can no longer work as a nurse because of physical constraints or for another reason, are you still a nurse?

Writes Resnick in “A Different Kind of Nurse“:

My nursing career was spent in hospitals, working mostly in critical care as a bedside nurse, then in management. I worked hard and my work was a large part of my sense of self-worth. I loved patient care and the satisfaction of making a difference. As a manager, I felt my  primary mission was to enable those I served to do their best work. . . . I was somebody. Now what am I? An acquaintance asked me, “Didn’t you used to be a nurse?”

[…]

2020-09-15T16:23:15-04:00September 15th, 2020|career, narratives, Nursing, nursing stories|2 Comments
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Every Frontline has a Backline: What Nursing Can Learn from Rugby

Photo credit: KJ Feury

Have you ever had a day at work that could only be fixed by an ice cream from your favorite creamery or by a hug from your best friend? Every shift during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic felt like this.

Unfortunately, because I work as an RN in a pediatric ICU at a large hospital in northern New Jersey, social restrictions that coincide with COVID-19 forestalled my usual comfort measures. After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and during my reassignment in the COVID-19 ICU, I could no longer truly “leave” work. Work came home and walked with me throughout my day.

Dozens of IV pumps lining hallways, countless boxes of gowns, gloves, masks, and rubber shoes scattering the unit; ventilator alarms sounding; coworkers with surgical caps and masks, only identifiable by their eyes. The once medical–surgical unit transformed into a critical care unit equipped to care for COVID-19 patients.

After donning and doffing personal protective equipment (PPE), giving medication, adjusting ventilators, and updating families, you leave your 12+ hour shift wondering if you did your best. In the chaos of an unfamiliar unit, caring for patients with an unfamiliar virus, did I do everything to create the best outcome for my […]

2020-07-22T10:18:03-04:00July 22nd, 2020|COVID-19, infectious diseases, Nursing, nursing perspective, nursing stories, Public health|3 Comments
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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