An incomplete record of starting out as a nurse. 

When I think back on my first year as a nurse, I always say two things to myself: “I wish I had written more,” and “I wish someone had given me a more realistic how-to manual.” I try to remember patients from back then. What would I have shared, had I written about each one?

I was never not writing about something (sometimes what I wrote was published on this blog), but over time, as I moved away from bedside care and into administration, I wrote differently: policies and program plans, research protocols and systematic reviews. Although I rarely worked directly with patients anymore, their positive outcomes continued to motivate my every word.

I like to think my writing has grown with me. I’ve learned the power of the active voice; the structure required for the APA Writing Manual. 7th edition; and the deepening of understanding that comes from reading and reflection. But I will always wish for more writing—of any kind—from that first year. Even a scribble to jog my memory. This nursing birth of mine, like any birth, began my nursing life in a very specific way. I was challenged and tested, understood and got lost, […]