nursing perspective Archives - Page 143 of 158

October Poem: An Emergency Nurse’s “Purgatory”—and Sanctuary

In “Purgatory,” poet and ED nurse Stacy R. Nigliazzo writes about the sick and the stranded as they wait their turns at a hospital Emergency entrance—and the “nurse behind the bulletproof glass” who summons each in turn, her raw voice “calling sanctuary.” Read the poem here; listen to the poet’s reading here.

If this piques your curiosity, take a look at previous issues (Art of Nursing is always free; you might need to access page 2 or 3 of an issue’s table of contents to find it). To hear more poems read by their authors, click here. Interested in submitting your own work to Art of Nursing? Read this blog post for details. Guidelines can be found here; and if you still have questions, feel free to write to the Art of Nursing coordinator (me) at sylvia.foley@wolterskluwer.com.

Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

Guest Author2016-11-21T13:21:45-05:00October 14th, 2009|nursing perspective|0 Comments

AJN Vaccine Poll Results

Update: Oct. 21: Thanks to everyone who took part in the vaccination poll (interestingly, only a fraction of those who visited the poll actually answered the simple yes/no question). The poll is now closed. The results: approximately 170 respondents (nurses?) answered the question “should the H1N1 vaccine be mandated for nurses?” Of these, 77% answered “no” and 23% answered “yes.”

Judging from comments we’ve received in response to other posts (here, here, and here) about the H1N1 vaccine, we surmise that not every nurse who answered no is actually opposed to getting the vaccine. They just don’t want to be told they have to get it. Others, of course (as some of the strongly worded comments left in response to this poll show) are entirely against it, whether it’s mandated or not. And others are wholeheartedly for it, firm believers that decisions made by experts using available evidence usually, if not always, lead to benefits for us all.

But there’s obviously a lot more to say on this topic, and we’ll be posting about it soon.

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2009-10-26T12:04:40-04:00October 13th, 2009|nursing perspective|3 Comments

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – Maybe We Should Have Listened

The other day I saw a news report from Reuters noting that a study in the journal Science found that a retrovirus linked to prostate cancer may be implicated in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:21:46-05:00October 12th, 2009|nursing perspective|3 Comments

‘I Can Still See the Fear in Her Eyes’: An ICU Nurse Faces a Surprising Reversal of Roles

I can't remember her name, but I can still see her face and the fear in her eyes—and in the eyes of her family every time her cough triggered the alarm or she grimaced in obvious respiratory distress. She was on the ventilator—and much too young to be dying of breast cancer.

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:21:48-05:00October 9th, 2009|nursing perspective|0 Comments

What Do You Wish You’d Learned in Nursing School?

Dietetics class for nurses, 1918/Cornell University Library/via Flickr

By Christine Moffa, MSN, RN, clinical editor

While I was going through nursing school I imagined that our clinical rotations would prepare us for the reality of working in a hospital. I was very eager to graduate and get my first job. Had I known that I was in for the hardest year of my life, I probably would have changed majors. I was hired to work the night shift in the float pool of a children’s hospital. That is a bad idea right there and I wish someone was there to talk me out of it. But on top of that, I found it difficult to express by opinion when residents and nurses with more experience did not heed my concerns about patients who were decompensating. And calling the attending in the middle of the night did not seem like a good option. I wish I had been told in nursing school that the nurse supervisor is a great resource to go to in times like these.

We often hear stories of what a shock it is for a nurse to finally start a nursing job after finishing school. Is there anything nursing schools could do to change this? What do you wish you’d learned?