I Dare You to Drink the Vinegar

I have been a Registered Nurse for more than a decade (since 2008 to be precise). One of the ongoing challenges that I have experienced is the nursing shortage. What does this mean? In supply and demand terminology it means that the supply of Registered Nurses, Registered Psychiatric Nurses (in provinces that have them), and Licensed Practical Nurses (or Registered Practical Nurses if you live in Ontario) is less than the number of positions that are needed. In practical terms, this means there are not enough nurses to provide the care needed for all people in Canada utilizing the healthcare system. Only recently have I learned that the nursing shortage is not unique to the 21st century, and it is a global issue. This is clearly a huge issue. Let's take a little journey to think through this issue with a focus on Registered Nurses in Canada.   A Short Exercise in Thinking Through the Issue Background and Overview  There is a critical shortage of many health care professionals

These are difficult times, when our identities are defined by the things that we own. The relationship between people and technology is increasingly necessary to contemplate. As a nurse working in a major city a developed nation the role of computers in healthcare is paramount as not only a tool for documentation, but as a tool of enacting health care practice. What is the relationship between nursing and technology, between nursing and computers?  How is computer technology embraced and integrated within the healthcare system in a way that enhances nursing care, rather than becoming a nuisance or getting in the way of what we think nursing care looks like? Peace, Michelle D.

The feeling we have when we can share suffering with another (or many) human beings. This is a gift of being human, this is an essential part of being a nurse. As we fumble together to find the best way that we can share this suffering, we grow as human beings, we grow as professional nurses. How can we conceptualize compassion in such a way that embraces it’s importance in nursing, and, in health care? I think that an unfortunate result of an increasing push to be more evidence based there is a push for nursing to be more technical, more empirically based, and less focused on the fluffy stuff. But, isn’t what some consider the fluffy stuff the foundation of nursing care? Is nursing about curing an illness, or is it about helping people and communities organize the conditions to maximize health? And how do we do this if the focus is the micro and the individual rather than the macro and the collective? And, how do the human and non-human co-exist? Discussion Questions: 1) What does