I believe nursing is the heart and soul of the health care system. And so with all the new studies coming out showing the power of intention and hands on energy work and prayer for healing, I think we’d better bring a new kind of nurse to the bedside, or new kind of training to the bedside nurse–one that values the intangibles more than the nurses notes.
In the meantime, all of those of us who love direct patient care and all of us who have been taken away from our patients and buried in paperwork because we got a better education, should honor the ways we healing works. In time, healing will be shown to be more dependent on healers than on technology. (Even though if one is meant to be healed, one will be) we make it a heck of a lot more comfortable for the patients if we’re allowed to give them some time.
Finally someone who sees nursing as I do. I have been so discouraged by the way management treats its own nurses and by the way nurses treat each other. It is like a competition when we all supposidly became nurses for basically the same reasons. Management fails nurses by creating environments that are so stressful that it becomes impossible to be the caring nursing professional we all want to be. I have spent most of my 18 years in long term care. Working with the elderly is what I enjoy the most. I found myself drawn to the elderly when I was working in hospitals. I have grown frustrated and discouraged because over the past several years the aides seem to be more important that the nurses who actually went to school and are educated. Management calls nurses “Charge Nurse” but in reality they believe an aides interpretation of a patients complaints and condition rather that the actual nurse. Iwould like the opportunity to make changes but have no idea how or where to begin. Thank you.
I’m afraid it’s a cultural thing at the moment, because no one knows what to expect from Health Care, and insurance pretty much dictates it. It just might be their greed that ushers in a new kind of healing. One where the intention and caring of the healer is more important and more effective than all the machines. We’ll keep an eye out!
I agree with you 200% Catherine. I work in correctional facility and it can be pretty frustrating especially when those who are in charge of medical have NO medical background and try to tell you how to do YOUR job. Even though they’re inmates, I still have to be their advocate. I’ve had my share of battles with staff, inmates, and family members. But what they fail to realize that nursing is more than just a job…it’s a calling that only a dedicated few dare to answer.