thoughts on nursing

I saw a young student tightly hugging a Fundamentals of Nursing text on my morning commute. I guessed her age at around 20 or 21 years of age. So young. I wondered if she had any real clue what she was getting herself into. Did she really know, anything about the journey on which she appeared poised to embark? I always feel a strong urge to ward all young prospects away from Nursing as a career, whenever I encounter them. Still, I refrain from doing so. Who am I, to rain on their parade? Perhaps, perhaps, they will forge through that hell, unaware as one needs to remain in order to survive.

I reflected on the fundamental weakness of health care as a profession ~ particularly Nursing, since that's the beast I know. The administrators of the health care system and the regulators of the profession exists as separate entities. The administrators of the system have the capacity to effect change on the regulators ~i.e. via legislation (the legislators still control the Act that governs the regulating body). However, the regulating body has negligible political influence on the administrating authority, and hence, little capacity to effect any real change in the system.

So ... we have an entity responsible for the administration of patient care. We have an administrator responsible for regulating the professions - the individuals who actually work to deliver the care. Who works to regulate the administrators of care ~ the architects of the health care system? Who works to ensure they have set things right ~ established the appropriate care priorities, allowed for sufficient resources in the field, established safe and effective practices? No one, as far as I can see. That's a problem.

dear Sara ~ letter to a nursing student

i'm a nurse. er -- was a nurse. i struggled long and hard with the many many stressors and burdens one takes on when one undertakes to become a nurse.

and in the midst of it all i found that this ... this is not for me. and for so many i have met. many an bright and shining light has walked thru the doors into nursing school only to find themselves so disillusioned and despaired by all the suffering and the huge burden of responsibility.

it is staggering, sara. staggering. you likely felt an inkling of this as you endured jjs illness and treatments along side him. but ... there is nothing like having the power to take someone's life your grasp. i mean - if a nurse makes a mistake it could mean a life lost. that is such a burden to bear, and one for which school does not prepare you.

also staggering is the soul crushing sorrow, and pain that nurses witness. but ... i'm not saying all this to scare you. just to give you a glimpse of what practice is like for a nurse. once you've witnessed the suffering, and death of a human you are never the same.

its the most privileged and awstruck i have ever felt. and i wish it for you. and i wish for you all the strength of spirit and heart and soul and pysche you will need to continue your journey into nursing.

and most of all, sara, i wish for you a steely strength of your convictions. you will meet darkness and see things that disturb you. remember always that a nurse's duty lies with her patient's well being first and foremost. and that is sometimes hardest of all.

good luck as you walk this journey. its is most rewarding and most sorrow-filled at the same time.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006