In the nursing world, we are required to be perfect. Perfect in our medication administration, in our judgment, in our documentation, in our treatments. There is no room for flaw because flaw could mean law suit, loss of license, loss of job, or even death. We have all been warned about the long list of things that could get our license taken away and we have each had a moment of feeling overwhelmed with the seemingly endless ways we could quickly end our careers. Yet the list involves tasks that we do 100 times every shift. And so we keep on, working diligently, double checking everything we do, working as well oiled machines carrying out weighty tasks with each hour that passes throughout our shifts. We are required to be perfect. We are required to be robots.
And yet…
In the nursing world, we are required to be compassionate human beings. Kindness and empathy are attributes that define a good nurse. Getting involved in a patients care enough to advocate for them and truly care for them holistically means allowing your heart to be touched by joy, sadness, grief, anger, fear, and love. When you walk into a room, you do not walk in to a room full of inanimate objects but a room with a human being, a soul, a heart, feelings, dreams, goals, life…
How do you get involved in your patient’s life without becoming unhealthy in your own heart and soul? How do you stay at arms length and keep your perfected routine and rules in place when every person you take care of is so different? How as a nurse do you stay both a robot and a human?
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Vulnerability
I have been putting off writing a blog for as long as possible because writing means vulnerability. Even if no one reads my blog ever, it is still an act of surrendering my thoughts, my admissions, my experiences, and my heart to subjection. And opening my self to subjection means volunteering for possible rejection or criticism. But that is the insecure, self-focused Alisha that worries about everything and everyone’s opinion. I am growing and learning through many difficult life experiences that God never created life to be ‘us’ focused (I know.. I’m a genius for figuring this one out at age 22). God has been teaching me that this short life is about giving Him the glory simply because he completely deserves all the praise and honor that we could ever offer. This glory manifests itself in innumerable ways and it is such a joy to be able to spend my entire life exploring new ways of giving God glory and pointing others around me to His majesty.
With that said, I have decided to begin a blog about my experiences as a nurse. Everything that I write will be in compliance with the privacy laws of my patients and names and dates and even genders may be changed in my writing to protect the identity of any of the people in my stories. The point is that I am not writing to tell you about my patient’s lives just to give you gritty information about people, but I am writing to hopefully share the countless opportunities I get every day at work to point people back to the glory of their Creator. It is an honor. It is a privilege. It is a huge responsibility. And I am terrified and overjoyed all at the same time.
I have also been talking with a lot of other newer nurses lately and been realizing that we all, in some way, find ourselves in similar situations, ethical decisions, theological challenges and “What!?” moments. My hope is that this also becomes a place where other people can share their stories, their questions, thoughts, and insights so that perhaps we can find a community and realize we are not alone in our struggles as Christian nurses. I am going to try to update my blog at least once a week to keep my reflections current and real. I am excited about this journey. It serves as an Ebenezer for my walk as a nurse and it will be very important on difficult days to look back and remember God’s faithfulness to me not just in my life but specifically to me as a nurse.
So here I am, vulnerable; vulnerably but faithfully attempting to point others toward Christ through my stories as a nurse.
With that said, I have decided to begin a blog about my experiences as a nurse. Everything that I write will be in compliance with the privacy laws of my patients and names and dates and even genders may be changed in my writing to protect the identity of any of the people in my stories. The point is that I am not writing to tell you about my patient’s lives just to give you gritty information about people, but I am writing to hopefully share the countless opportunities I get every day at work to point people back to the glory of their Creator. It is an honor. It is a privilege. It is a huge responsibility. And I am terrified and overjoyed all at the same time.
I have also been talking with a lot of other newer nurses lately and been realizing that we all, in some way, find ourselves in similar situations, ethical decisions, theological challenges and “What!?” moments. My hope is that this also becomes a place where other people can share their stories, their questions, thoughts, and insights so that perhaps we can find a community and realize we are not alone in our struggles as Christian nurses. I am going to try to update my blog at least once a week to keep my reflections current and real. I am excited about this journey. It serves as an Ebenezer for my walk as a nurse and it will be very important on difficult days to look back and remember God’s faithfulness to me not just in my life but specifically to me as a nurse.
So here I am, vulnerable; vulnerably but faithfully attempting to point others toward Christ through my stories as a nurse.
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