Story Telling
May 25th, 2007 | You're Being (Web) Paged
I started my own blog for several reasons, one of which was to tell my stories. I love to hear about other nurses experiences and have been known to spend countless hours on the phone with my best friend swapping our trials and tribulations of our most recent shifts.
Blogs have become a great venue for nurses to tell their stories. I’ve put together some of these stories from blogs and other websites. Some are humorous, some humbling, and some truly sad.
- Any nurse can tell you how they have to seperate themselves from the situation at hand. And in the same breath will say how difficult that is. Nurses are involved in some of the most intimate and vulnerable times in a person’s life that it is next to impossible to always remain emotionally detached. I found this story written by a nurse who recounts a case that affected her both emotionally and physically.
- I had stumbled upon this post on a nursing student’s blog. It has stuck with me because for two reasons: this student didn’t sway and the comments support nursing as a career. It’s good to see these up and coming nurses stick to their guns!
- Nurses can also tell you little ditties about funny interactions or observations they have encountered. Like the time I asked an elderly gentleman with dementia to breathe deep for me (so I could listen to his lungs) and his reply was a breathy, “I love you!”. I was confused by his response and asked what made him say that. His reply: “Isn’t that what all women want to hear when you’re breathing deep?” Here is a few more tales of some miscommunications.
- Several years back a Boston Globe reporter followed a new graduate nurse through her transition and training in becoming an ICU nurse. The Boston Globe originally published this series back in 2005 but it is still available today. Critical Care: The Making of an ICU Nurse is a four part series that takes a realistic look at what it’s like to transition from nursing student to Registered Nurse. What is particularly compelling are the emotions this new nurse experiences, as well as her mentor and their patients. This story also discusses the trend to hire new graduates in specialty and high risk areas such as the surgical trauma unit at Massachusetts General Hospital where this new graduate was training.
If you have come across a nurse’s story that needs to be heard, let me know. I’m always up for a good nursing tale. And on that note, I am inviting all health care bloggers to submit a post from their blog on the challenges they face in writing about their job. The recent events within the health care blogosphere resulting in the demise of several popular health care blogs has brought to light the issues we must consider. What are your thoughts? Should we as health care providers be blogging? What can we blog about, and where do we draw the line? Send your blog posts to me at labornurse@nursingjobs.org by Thursday, May 31st to be included in my next column.
Labor Nurse writes from New England where she is a Registered Nurse and has worked in obstetrics since 2000. She is also a nurse midwifery student who hopes to survive and graduate in 2008 and writes a popular and irreverent blog at The Life and Times of a Labor Nurse which has morphed into a Rebirth. And yes, she is still that cute today!
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This is a good time to talk about what’s going on in the blogosphere. I’ll be looking forward to your next post.
I am a medical student who had just discovered “The Life and Times of a Labor Nurse,” and was really enjoying reading it. Is it gone for good?
Thanks, CP. For now it’s on hiatus. But stay tuned.
I loved reading your blog and stories. Guess I will have to follow you here. I loved your writings!! If you open it back up, please invite me. I am really sad to see good blogs go (fat dr, flea, neonatal doc, etc)
Hi,
Came across your blog site from another nurse blogger. I believe nurses should blog… how else will the public know what we’re going through. Of course there should be common sense applied to blogging such as keeping private information private, however, situations do happen and it’s nice to know that you’re not alone. Nurses need to unite, and what better way to do it than to share each other’s experiences. On that note, let’s keep the bloggin’ a rollin!
Hi Labournurse
It took me a while to figure out what “njo” was (i guessed it wasn’t the new jedi order!) Thanks for the heads up on where to find you. I really enjoy your blog and reading your posts. Great to know where to find you. Hoping your blog comes back soon!
Hi LaborNurse,
So glad to see you up here! I would love to see “Life and Times” back up again (was enjoying the antenatal classes, having finished attending one in Australia last December, it’s interesting to infer what is really missing from US classes!), and I’d love an invite if you do go back on air. I’m in Aust, so can’t do any harm!
Anyway, really just wanted to say I love your stuff, and am relieved that you are posting, even if in another forum.
Hi,
Just wanted to say, I miss your old blog. I’m glad you’re still active and writing and all. Looking forward to reading more here, and also looking forward to… whenever the hiatus is over!
Hey stranger, where have you been??? I really hope you can soon put your blog back up, as a very anxious mum to be, I need your archives!!!! Hope you did not get in trouble for your blog, which is one of my favorites. Good luck with everything. Marie
I hope you and others will keep blogging. This is a powerful medium for telling stories that hardly ever make it to the newspapers, but that carry real drama and insights.
I followed you here from your blog, which I loved. Do to reading yours and several others I had seriously thought of starting a blog. Mine would be from an OR Nurse’s perspective, now I am scared to do it. Seeing all the blogs being pulled do to possible ramifications from their employers has made me put the idea of starting one on hold for now. It will be with great intrest that I watch to see what developes on your follow up here.
Rain
[…] The daily nursing columns over at Nursing Jobs. org have taken off in a big way! In addition to Terri, mentioned above, Labor Nurse is looking for posts discussing issues and difficulties faced by medical bloggers. Send your posts to her for inclusion in a special post dedicated to this online discussion. Details in her column Story Telling. […]