Levels of Weariness Among Nurses

I imagine that nurses throughout the world are constantly being asked “How are things at work these days?”—with the implied question being “How are you holding up with your work situation?” While my colleagues and I in our pediatric hospital have not seen an overwhelming surge of COVID+ patients come through our doors, we have certainly seen some, with an uptick in our COVID+ census as the numbers throughout the country have increased.

When I pause at this point in the conversation, the usual response I get is, “Oh, that’s so good to hear. You’re lucky.” And I agree and reflect this back to whoever I’m speaking with. My heart hurts for my fellow nurses in other parts of the nation who have been utterly overwhelmed by COVID and its cruelty. I recognize that I am indescribably lucky.

At the same time, though it’s hard to articulate why, even nurses who haven’t been hit by the surges seen in other hospitals bear layers of deep weariness by this point in the pandemic. […]

2021-01-21T11:28:06-05:00December 16th, 2020|career, COVID-19, infectious diseases, Nursing|1 Comment
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What Would It Have Helped to Know as a New Nurse?

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, and, tragically, […]

2023-01-30T10:34:04-05:00October 22nd, 2020|new nurses, Nursing, nursing career|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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Verified: Nurse Media Influencers

Responsible science communication can literally be the difference between life and death. Mass media, especially the news, as well as social media sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter, have a significant influence on people’s health beliefs and actions. As nurses we have a critical role to play in how the media reports on health issues and public health policy and on what messages the public and policy makers receive.

As clinicians, researchers, educators, public health practitioners, policy makers, and more, nurses need to use our expertise and voices to bring about change. At no  other time in our recent history has this been truer than during the current pandemics of COVID-19, racial injustice, and health inequity.

But nursing is a field often misunderstood by the public and the media. Most people think of nurses solely as clinicians at the bedside who do nothing more than take orders from physicians. But nurses are highly trained subject matter experts who work in a wide range of specialty areas including public health, social justice, law, history, research, education, school nursing, and more.

Nurses rarely recognized or ‘verified’ as experts.

Yet, the field of nursing is rarely recognized by the public, journalists, or even social media sites for this expertise. Open up any news article, or turn on any news […]

2020-08-20T09:49:34-04:00August 20th, 2020|career, Nursing, nursing perspective|3 Comments
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In a Formidable Nursing Career, Bernardine Lacey Faced and Overcame Racism

Her story is important to know, because it offers an opportunity to learn from the not-too-distant past and explore some of the difficult truths about racism in nursing, the role of the profession in this history, and the effect of these accounts on current diversity and inclusivity efforts.

Lacey meeting with first lady Barbara Bush in the White House in the 1980s.

So write Sandra Lewenson and Ashley Graham-Perel in their article in the August issue of AJN, ‘You Don’t Have Any Business Being This Good’: An Oral History Interview with Bernardine Lacey. In the article, they recount Lacey’s upbringing in the South and the many racial barriers that made it difficult for her in getting an education and pursuing her career—which became a formidable one. As a result of her many accomplishments in education, practice, and leadership, she was named a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing in 2014.

Racial barriers remain.

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2020-08-17T09:38:48-04:00August 17th, 2020|career, Nursing, nursing history|0 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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