Tag: nurses

Working the Thanksgiving Holiday

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, Holidays, Karen's Kitchen, Party for one

Every so often, I work on Thanksgiving. This is one of those years.

I am a nurse. It happens.

This year, I had plans to get my go-to working-on-Thanksgiving-quick-and-easy-dinner menu items, but then I got sick with the worst head cold of my life. I didn’t feel like going anywhere to buy anything for any reason. Even food. (I know! I was really sick!)

I had a Plan B: Make turkey soup in the crock pot.

I had some of what I needed, by my delivery of the rest of the ingredients I expected last night fell through.

Like any good nurse–and like any good Italian!–I made the most of what I found in the refrigerator.

Ladies and gentlemen! May I present, Italiano Thanksgiving Dinner for One:

Chicken Parm Sub

Buon appetito!!

A Nurse Assaulted

by Karen, posted in Being BRAVE, Catching women being brave, Someone's gotta say it

Maybe you’ve seen this video by now. The one where Alex Wubbles, a nurse at University Hospital in Salt Lake City, is assaulted and arrested by a police officer while she is at work, doing her job, protecting her patient. Thank God that there is a video account of this so that everyone is free to see exactly what happened without the filters of backpedaling and rhetoric and false recounting of the events by anyone. You can also read more about the event in the The Washington Post article by clicking here.

This is an example of bullying, plain and simple.

Someone wanted to force the nurse to act in a way that was in violation of her ethics, morals, and values. The nurse, Alex, calmly reasoned with the individual who was making the demands and presented evidence to support her conclusion that what she was being asked to do was in violation of all of the above, as well as the rules of the facility in which she worked. Her decision was to decline the demanded blood draw for her unconscious patient.

The officer tried to bully Alex into doing what he wanted, and she held her ground with grace. And then the office lost his temper, and this is when it all falls apart, and Alex is assaulted by the bully.

Judge for yourself (be forewarned that this is upsetting):

One observation I have is that the gentleman in the white shirt not only stood by her, but tried to intervene to help her; he was an active bystander. The situation might have turned out even worse if he wasn’t actively trying to defuse the situation and help his coworker.

I leave you with this quote from Renee Thompson‘s blog (Nurses Unite Against the View but What About Each Other? Posted by Renee ThompsonSept 22, 2015):

Be like Alex; be BRAVE.

BOOK REVIEW: YOUR NEXT SHIFT by ELIZABETH SCALA

by Karen, posted in author, book reviews, books, Life's too short to read bad books

I first heard of Elizabeth Scala when she joined RN FM Radio. I didn’t know how much I was missing a female voice on the show until she arrived (yay!). I didn’t know she was an author right away. I started following her on social media and that’s when I became aware of the breadth of her nursing activities.

I knew from watching her on Instagram that Elizabeth made fun a priority in her life (I do, too!). I started reading her book yesterday afternoon, and if I hadn’t had an evening commitment, I would have finished it last night. Anyway, it was less than twenty-four hours later that I turned the last page. This book resonated with me on so many levels. The ‘Just for today’ philosophy that I first learned to practice after my Reiki attunements was one of the first moments that I knew I was in the right place reading this book. I love that Elizabeth is so honest in her description of her experience travelling the path of refining and expanding her own nursing practice to help the rest of us know that hey, we aren’t alone! Other nurses feel under-confident and under-brave and under-decisive, too! And this: “Maybe you’re just not that happy being a nurse anymore because you actually feel like your job doesn’t let you be one!” Hello? That was one of my first “Aha!” moments after transitioning from nursing practice in school and nursing practice in real life.

For years, I have been working on integrating my spiritual practices into my nursing practice and in this book, I feel like I have found a kindred spirit, another nurse who really gets it. Another nurse who is doing this, too.

I also love the quotes that were scattered throughout the book, including Susan Jeffers’ “Feel the fear and do it anyway,” a phrase that I find myself saying over and over these days, mostly to myself.

While I was reading Your Next Shift, I felt like I was having coffee with my nurse-BFF.

One note to the author: as a former waitress, I found a LOT of similarities between waitressing and nursing! Just sayin’.

After I finished reading it, I decided to draw an oracle card for the book, and I drew the 3 of Earth from Colette Baron-Reid’s new card deck, The Good Tarot.  Here is a quick line about this card from the guidebook that accompanies the deck: “Teachers and students, we are all learning, growing, and building collaboratively.”

I know, right?! 🙂

I highly recommend Your Next Shift for anyone. Read it.

Goodbye, my friend

by Karen, posted in friends, good grief, Grace, relationships

A very dear person passed away over the weekend.

I met Karen when I worked with her at Sirona several years ago. We worked together via the telephone, so actually our voices met first! As many of you may know, you can tell a lot about someone by their voice. I liked her right away.

She was a supervisor, but she was every inch one of the gang as well. She was always a calm, reassuring, even loving presence at work. If Karen was on the job, I always felt better knowing that. When I was new in my role, of course I made some mistakes. When Karen was the person in charge and I needed to reach out for help, she was one hundred percent there for me. She somehow made me feel like she had made that exact same mistake dozens of times, just last week in fact. And hey, it was no big deal! Oh, and here’s how to fix it. And by the way, here’s  how to do it better next time. You may have heard that “Nurses eat their young.” Well, Karen never got that memo. Karen nurtured her young.

There is little that is more comforting in nursing than knowing that your supervisor has your back.

I did get to meet her in person as well, in 2013. We were part of the Sirona Seedlings at the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. I was new to the company and didn’t know a lot of people yet. My daughter came with me, and we walked the track for a while, and we lit votives to honor my parents who had both died from cancer. My mother had the same cancer that Karen endured. Anyway, I was humbled by the grace of this woman who, just a short time after the event, sent out a heartfelt email message to thank each of us for coming, by name, and she included what it was that each of us had done to participate.

I still have this message. I still have my Sirona Seedlings T-shirt. And I still have Karen in my heart.

Farewell, Karen. Like so many, many others, I am better for having known you.

Birthday club

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, friends, quest for the best, restaurants

Strawberry Nutella CrepeI am part of a great group of nurses who all work from home. Once a month we (mostly) all get together for breakfast and to celebrate a birthday, if there is one that month. This month we went to Two Hands Crepe and Juice Bar in Brunswick.

Okay, it’s a hike to Brunswick from Wells, but you can get thay-uh from he-uh, and it was totally worth the trip.

I ordered a sweet: the Strawberry and Nutella Crepe (pictured on the left) and it was EXCELLENT. The birthday girl, Annette, ordered a savory: the egg, ham, and cheese. Annette, who has spent time recently in France (I know, right??), said that her crepe compared favorably to ones she’d had there. So…Two Hands got a hit!

The space itself was sunny and bright. The staff was caring and conscientious. The artwork (paintings of animals) that adorned the walls was compelling. The giraffe Made. My. Day. 🙂

My only regret was that I didn’t have time to go visit the farmers market happening around the corner. It looked fabulous (note to self: plan extra time for the next Friday morning visit).

If you are in Brunswick for breakfast, go check them out.

(Hint: There is no parking lot. Find a space on the street out front.)

Bon appetit! 

(I know, predictable! But I couldn’t resist!!)

🙂