I Dare You to Drink the Vinegar

Caring is an integral part of nursing. Caring is not a technical skill. We cannot quantify it. But, it is the foundation of all we do as nurses. That's not my idea. Seminal nursing theorists like Jean Waston  and Sister Simone Roach  crystallized ideas of caring in nursing decades ago. I think, now more than ever, we as nurses can revitalize not only our profession, but the healthcare system by embracing theories of caring.  We nurse with our hearts and our minds. In the 9 years of my nursing career I have seen how much of ourselves many nurses give when they enter into the caring relationship with their patients. I have walked the fine line between exemplary care and burning out. I think that in a profession that is centered around care it can be easy to ignore care of ourselves in our efforts to care for our patients. However, when we lose sight of ourselves and our wellness we are sacrificing both our hearts and our minds. In the last nine years of my nursing career,...

As a nurse, I have witnessed remarkable recoveries, acts of resilience, and moments of profound human connection. But I have also observed care plans built around assumptions, interventions delivered without consent, and systems that fail to meet people where they are. Sometimes, I hear phrases in healthcare settings that give me pause. Not because the people saying them are unkind or incompetent, but because the words reflect deeper problems with how we approach care. “If they wanted to get better, they should have just done what we told them to do.” “Sometimes we just need to teach them a lesson.” These statements are often said quietly, maybe in frustration, maybe in resignation. They are not usually meant to be cruel, but they reveal a troubling dynamic: a system more focused on compliance than compassion, more concerned with efficiency than dignity, and more committed to standardization than individualization. So I ask, genuinely, is it the person receiving care who needs to ...

“. . . For the secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient.”  (Peabody, 1925) Is caring a secret? It isn't a secret to nurses. I attended an interesting education session facilitated by a Spiritual Care practitioner. It was fantastic. The take-home message was, treating people like human beings is the most central feature of any health care relationship. How do you effectively build rapport? Intuitively we know this, it's the Golden Rule, treat others the way that you want to be treated. I learned this rule early in life, perhaps because I attended Catholic school. Sometimes turns in the pit of my stomach when I witness a situation of a health care provider forgets this. As nurses, I believe that caring, that being a human being, is central to our profession.  Peace, Michelle D. 

    Transformative learning theory, as proposed by Jack Mezirow (1991, 2000), is a useful framework for analyzing the significant learning experiences of adults because it recognizes the importance of the emancipatory process of critical reflection for the purpose of transformative change.  The purpose of this paper is to analyze one of my own significant learning experiences (SLE) in order to demonstrate the applicability of Meziow’s theory, strengths and limitations.  The SLE that I have chosen is my understanding of addictions.  This is significant to me because I currently work as a mental health and addictions nurse.  As I began to reflect on my transformative learning process I began to realize that my understanding of substance use has heavily influenced my meaning perspective (habits of expectation that filter perception and cognition) of addiction (Mezirow, 1991).  In this case study I will outline the key transition points of my...