Why nurses come to the Nursing Salon October 2, 2007
Posted by mariemanthey in Conversations.Tags: reflective process, Salon, self-care
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I decided to query email list I use to inform people when the Salon is scheduled about why they even come to this event. Everyone is soooooo busy, there are many reasons why not to come. Every once in awhile, I’ll send you their answers to that question. Here are two:
The reason I show-up at the salon is for an up-close and personal dialogue about the state of nursing in a variety of settings. Thank goodness we have so many different attractions to different populations and different settings.
That makes for many career options and we all have a slightly different “take” on the state of healthcare and the state of nursing.I also find the different organizational stances really interesting. It makes me feel less alone in both the intimate and public struggle of healthcare. Sometimes it is a transcendent experience, like after the bridge collapsed and Marty said she felt “we built a bridge here today” as our conversation kept veering back to that sad event. Other times I get my energy rev-ed up and then feel a bit of a let down as action is up to me and I don’t always see a way. Most of the time the Salon is a great reflective process to feed my brain and my soul. I get nourished by the people via their hope, humor, and honesty. The expectation to just “BE” in the setting of confidentiality and a meal is pure presence that I have not had very often as an adult and never in my professional life.
In today’s climate of the “Rage Industry,” and where Target customers are called guests, and patients are called consumers, I can come back to my core of nursing in a gentle and intelligent way with good conversation. I find it very good medicine!
DG
Hi Marie,
I came to the first salon having no expectations nor a full understanding of what I was going to experience. What I found was a diverse group of people that care about nursing and where it is headed. I loved that it was an informal opportunity to explore and express ideas that had been percolating without a ready outlet.I came back because I think it is a great chance for people to expand their experiences as nurses beyond their chosen patient population and see nursing as a whole. Though we may choose to work with different patient populations we see mainly the same issues arise on every level whether it be short staffing, inadequate leadership (both formal and informal), or lack of participation in unit related activities.
We also share the same love for our patients and their families no matter what their age. We all felt a calling to nursing, and sometimes we need a reminder of what that calling was and why we worked so hard to answer it. I found this when I attended my first salon, and I hope to continue to renew my passion for nursing and search for further solutions through future meetings. Thank you for the opportunity!
Sincerely
HG
Nurses have an amazing capacity to do more! March 24, 2006
Posted by manthey in Primary Nursing, Staffing.Tags: self-care
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I know if I said this in a speech before an audience of nurses, many would get angry, and some would probably walk out. And yet, it is a statement I believe to be true. Not all nurses. Not in all work situations. Not all the time.
But over my many years in the profession, I have seen the restraints that handicap our role expansion and have envisioned the contribution nurses could make to the health care of society if those restraints were removed. The realities I call restraints are both internal and external. Some are imposed by regulations designed to protect the job security of others, as well as the job security of nurses. Some are in place because of historical precedents not yet dissolved….precedents like inadequate education, cost constraints, physician-nurses role delineations disputes, and the sexual discrimination still somewhat prevalent in today’s society. Some of these are so big, and are kept in place by such powerful forces, they seem insurmountable.
Others are restraints of our own making. These include a pervasive reluctance/fear to accept responsibility for ourselves, our practice and our interpersonal relationships. They include a ‘within the profession’ reluctance to assert the right of control over nursing practice by virtue or our license. They include a willingness to work in environments that are dysfunctional….without either fixing the problem or leaving the work setting. They include an incredible tolerance for ‘within the profession’ disputes about solvable problems like entry level educational standards and proper utilization of support staff (including Lens). Enormous amounts of energy is dissipated at the highest levels of professional development on issues that require strategic and tactical decision making among various interest groups within the profession. Decisive action in these areas, (while probably not agreed to universally) would still have the power to restore energy to more productive uses.
What do I envision? For openers…the lack of continuity at the system level patients suffer from could be solved by developing procedures for call-backs to patients homes. Not all patients, not all the time….but always a decision of a responsible nurse whether to do so or not. I can envision a role for RN’s that includes time for ‘looking at the big picture’ and exercising real coordination/cooperation among specialties in highly complex situations. This can be done by providing appropriate technical support staff. I can envision nurses partnering with physicians (or other primary providers) collaborating in decision making, along with empowering patients to participate/own health care decisions. I can envision nurses creating support structures for non-nurse care providers that both educates them in the techniques of patient care and also supports them emotionally
I am a partner in a company that has software for healthy people to track their own health care data…..and set goals under the guidance of an advanced practice nurse. The employees enrolled in our program have significantly fewer major health problems, and cost their employer much less for health care.
We are so bogged down in task performance…so diminished by our sense of self-worth…and so willing to abdicate responsibility for what we are licensed to do…we haven’t taken the time to lift our eyes…envision a new future…and learn how to play together to create a world here nurses are having a major impact on the health of society and are manifesting health lives ourselves!
