Frontline Nurses
What have you learned from the frontlines of fighting the coronavirus that you most want policy makers, health care administrators and your bosses to know? If you were in charge, what is the first thing you would change to ensure we never go through this again?
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Responses
In response to - "handling the emotions – from fear to joy – stirred up by working during a pandemic?"
On weekends, I work as a supervisor in a tiny hospital in Niagara Falls, NY. There is a window that I like to stop by, just outside of the ICU. I can see the mist from the falls over the city. It's always there, no matter the weather or what is happening in my shift.
Today is my first shift wearing a mask. I'd forgotten how it feels, having been in administration for the last five years. Feeling your breath recycle itself against your face, adjusting and readjusting the straps, pulling it down when it rides up…
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Juliano I.
Moderator Pick
I am not afraid of storms...
I have always thought that we (healthcare system) waste so many valuable resources. Time documenting nonsensical assessments, infection control gowns, gloves and masks on patients that tested positive to MRSA 10+ years ago, etc... It makes me cringe when I think of the thousands of masks, gloves, and gowns I've thrown in the garbage over the years.
Now we are in this position where we don't have what we need and our nursing brothers and sisters are falling down all around us- I see it in their eyes and read about them in news articles. I…
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Gratitude & Pride
Let me be the great nail holding a skyscraper through blue nights into white stars.
(Carl Sandburg)
What does it mean to save a life? To lead? To care compassionately for someone else when one’s own health and safety is potentially at risk? Ask these questions of any frontline caregiver in the world today and you will likely find more questions, and answers replete with uncertainty and fear. We’ve never seen anything like this before.
People are dying – some, already compromised, some, otherwise healthy; young and old, patient and caregiver. The…
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Looking for Leadership
“There was a time when I thought brains were everything. That view has dimmed recently. I think brains are important, but now I also look for good team-builders, good communicators, and courageous people who do not get stuck with an idea. You need people who are more nimble, who have the ability to lead organizations in changing and tumultuous times comfortably, without panicking.” Larry Bossidy, CEO, Allied Signal, Inc.
What is leadership? Without thinking deeply about what constitutes an effective leader, I suspect we can all recall good and bad leaders whether in our past…
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Am I Enough?
I doubt I’m the only nurse who feels she needs to think ahead as far as possible, and do her very best to protect her loved ones, patients, and community. Nurses are taught to think critically, and at our best, proactively. There’s so many variables though, so many things I might not have thought of in advance. It has surprised me how much this feels like the stress I felt as a pediatric intensive care nurse at the beginning of my career, waiting for an admission known to be near death, and wondering, “Do I have all the equipment I…
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