The newest edition of Change of Shift, the only blog carnival featuring only nurse bloggers, is now up and running at
Miss-Elaine-ious RN . Feel free to check it out!
I would like to call readers' attention to National Nurse , a website and organization dedicated to the goal of having Congress create an Office of the National Nurse. A companion blog can be found here .
The stated goals of creating an Office of the National Nurse are to:
*Elevate the Chief Nurse Officer (CNO) of the US Public Health Service to full time status within the Office of the Surgeon General to become the National Nurse to enhance prevention efforts in all communities.
*Complement the work of the US Surgeon General
*Promote involvement in the Medical Reserve Corps to improve the health and safety of the community.
*Incorporate proven evidence-based public health education when delivering prevention.
The National Nurse website states:
"Nurses know that healthcare is in a crisis with soaring costs and rising epidemics of preventable diseases. Many nurses are calling for change to mobilize nurses in a nationwide effort. They propose that leadership provided by an Office of the National Nurse would strengthen efforts by nurses in every community to assist in initiating a nationwide shift to prevention to yield improved health outcomes."
I recommend that all nurses become familiar with the struggle to create an Office of the National Nurse, and consider becoming involved in whatever way seems appropriate. I plan to do the same, and will continue to investigate and support this worthy and important cause which will not only benefit nurses, but the country as a whole.
Posted by: Administrator in Untagged on
May 30, 2008
Here at Nurse LinkUp we are creating a place where nurses can network, share, become informed, tell stories, and interact in a community of like-minded professionals and individuals.
We welcome every member who joins to create a blog, participate in the forums, and interact with one another in positive and creative ways. We welcome submissions of articles, suggestions for links to add to our ever-expanding list, and suggestions for how Nurse LinkUp can better serve you and meet your needs.
We are excited about the possibilities, and encourage you to make the most of the site, and let us know what works and what could be better. This site is really about the members, and we want our members to make their voices heard.
So welcome, and make yourselves at home!
Posted by: NurseKeith in holidays on
May 26, 2008
On this Memorial Day, I am thinking of all of the nurses and docs and healthcare workers who spend their nights and weekends and holidays away from their families to care for the sick.
Of course, one realizes that there are stores and gas stations and other services which are open 24 hours a day and on holidays, but somehow it seems easy to forget that hospitals never close. And while a skeleton crew may be in place on certain shifts, there is no arguing with the fact that the wheels on the hospital bus go round and round unceasingly.
Similarly, visiting nurses also must make their rounds, even on holidays. As a visiting nurse myself, I’m aware of the fact that any number of visits simply must be accomplished each and every day, whether there's a blizzard or a hurricane lashing the streets or not.
Any number of healthcare facilities and services are basically in action at all times. From organ harvest teams to dialysis units and methadone clinics, the healthcare system runs on the energy of so many individuals willing to sacrifice time with their families and loved ones again and again.
This is simply a shout out to those who work when so many others choose not to. Thanks for doing what you do, and please know your sacrifice is very deeply appreciated.
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NurseKeith is a nurse, writer, blogger, and nurse consultant. Please feel free to visit his blog, Digital Doorway .
Watching the movie
Atonement recently, why was I so moved during the scenes of WWII-era nurses rushing through a besieged London hospital to triage wounded soldiers being trucked in from the front? Why did watching the terrified and beleaguered nurses dressing the horrific wounds of war move me to tears? What was it about the heroism (and I do see it as heroism) of those nurses that caught me unawares? Is it that one of my aunts served in Patton's Army and saw such horrors first-hand? Was it the years of watching M*A*S*H and seeing how nurses---aside from being sex objects and handmaidens to overblown male doctors' egos---actually carry out the day-to-day care that can spell the difference between life and death, between full recovery and permanent disability (while the docs retreat to drink martinis)? Is it my astronomically low dose of Prozac?
I think what I felt in that moment (sentimentalist that I am) was an unedited response to a (admittedly) Hollywood depiction of how nurses have always been, and will always be, on the front line of care. Whether male or female, whether ready for Hollywood or not, nurses are the backbone of the global healthcare system, and their presence has meant the world to billions of patients since time immemorial. While
Florence Nightingale (remember her?) staked her claim during the
Crimean War , and
Lillian Wald changed history with the
Henry Street Settlement , many more nameless and faceless nurses have followed in those women's high-profile footsteps, hopefully properly feted by friends and family, but unnoticed by the wider world.
But it isn't recognition we seek as nurses, is it? If so, we're in the wrong business. It wasn't for the pay. It certainly wasn't for the glamorous outfits or the sexy shoes. (Maybe it was the hats?) But seriously, only we know---deep down---why we really became nurses. As cliche as it might sound, we stand on the shoulders of those nurses who came before us, and whether we acknowledge it or not, we are reaping the rewards for their blood, sweat equity, and tears.
So, yeah, I cried during
Atonement more than once, the most profoundly when I saw those nurses running towards the wounded and the dying. Sentimental? Sure. Cliche and maudlin? You bet. Heartfelt? Without a doubt. And thankful that I am proudly yet another nurse passing through the pages of human history? Assuredly and unapologetically so.
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