I Dare You to Drink the Vinegar

The profession in North America as we know it today was borne in the time of the proliferation of the American Hospital System . Nurses were the hand-maidens of the physicians who assumed the top of the hierarchy in the system. That is our history. Accept it. Embrace it. Change it.    The nursing profession in Canada is comprised largely of women. I am a woman. And this is my story. As the thoughts spill out of my head and come together as written words this is a cathartic process through which I am attempting to gain clarity of where I am in my career. And, make no mistake, nursing is a professional career that we work hard to build. Nurses are the heart of the healthcare system, and we are the brain.  Geez Louise, I am on a roller coaster of a stretch of work. And, I feel exhausted. You may have similar sentiments if you have been an inpatient nurse for a number of years. All the days blend together, and the definition between night and day becomes a little less clear....

 I like to write. I envision myself as an extremely talented and highly skilled observer of the world. Each day I am like a ripe fruit of some type, just bursting full of practical genius that I fervently feel needs to be shared with the masses. For example, right now (picture me tapping my index finger emphatically on an oversize antique desk as you read that).  It's only lately that I am questioning the profoundess (is that a word? I ask because Spellcheck does not seem to agree) of my written words. I'm questioning not only my smarts (take that Grammarly ) and also the desire of people that are not my spouse or children to read the life-changing writing that I produce without restraint each day. But, fortunately, sometimes I read my written gems of the past (blog or on paper) and I cannot help but think, I am one deep mother trucker, and also question, does the world does need to be repeatedly graced with the dazzling magic that is my life musings (and perhaps sometimes in ...

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,...

Thoughts that may indicate that there is room for improvement: "If they wanted to get better then they should have just done what we told them to do." "Sometimes we just need to teach them a lesson," (with respect to using a restraint intervention). Making elaborate discharge plans with many appointments for people who have unstable housing and no social supports.  Being directive rather than giving people a choice. Making treatment plan/care plan decisions without any participation with the patient/client/person being cared for and/or their family.  The focus of collaborative care planning is about medications more times than not.  The  same plan of care is tried over and over again, with an expectation that when the patient/client/person being cared for is "ready" then the success will come.  At a certain point we really have to ask ourselves: Is it the person that needs to change, or is it us?  Are we more in...

“. . . 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...