Poetry

The Crystal Gazer

I shall gather myself into my self again,
I shall take my scattered selves and make them one.
I shall fuse them into a polished crystal ball
Where I can see the moon and the flashing sun.
I Shall sit like a sibyl, hour after hour intent.
Watching the future come and the present go -
And the little shifting pictures of people rushing
in tiny self-importance to and fro.

- Sara Teasdale

I love poetry. I love poetry by women. It took me a while to find this one by Sara Teasdale - (thank you Google.)

I think I was around 15 years old when I first started to write poetry. I have no idea what prompted me. No one else in my family wrote poetry, and it was never a topic of conversation. In her later years, my mother wrote poetry, too.

What is it about poetry that it provides a method of 'release'? It's a way of expressing something that touches us, impacts us, in a creative, sometimes allegorical manner. It's a picture painted with words.

Creativity - An original means by which humans relay their responses to inner and outer experiences. (I just made that up, but it sounds good to me.) Dictionary.com describes it thus: "to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations." (That's good too.)

For me, it's a way to express an emotion. A catharsis, a celebration, a tribute or a purging. That's probably universal to all poets.

Even chickens.

Ming

Ming is five years old today! Happy Birthday Ming!

Nursing Shortage

The average age of nurses is fast approaching 50! I'm 50 (still can't wrap my mind around that!) so I'm in the statistical cohort exactly.

On reading some articles about the issue of a huge number of nurses approaching retirement or moving to jobs away from the bedside, and not enough new nurses to take their place, it seems a general consensus that retention of the older nurses is a hot topic.

The big buzz is that older nurses are actually more valuable right now (and probably always have been) due to their wealth of knowledge and experience. Given that fact, employers should be looking to increase wages for the experienced nurses as a means of retention. Wouldn't that be great!

But alas, the economy is not cooperating at the moment.

What will happen when more and more experienced nurses leave the bedside? I hate to even speculate. I don't think I need to spell it out.

What about recruitment of younger nurses? How many are entering the profession now?

I read an abstract of a study done on young people's perception of Nursing. It boils down to this: "The majority of young people make a career choice without regard for salary, and base their decision on interest and enjoyment or a desire to help people. The findings indicate that although young people expressed admiration for the work of nurses, this was rarely matched by an envy of nurses, or a desire to become a nurse themselves." Career desirability: young people's perceptions of nursing as a career." (Hemsley-Brown & Foskett.)

Interesting. Obviously work needs to be done to promote a better, more enviable portrait of Nursing as a career. I'd like to see that. Truly, the image of Nursing as a profession by the general public is woefully skewed and fraught with stereotyping.

As a profession, I'd say we'd do well to focus on these issues with more gusto. Or else.....we'll see this decline -

Ironically, it's even difficult to find a non-stereotypical image of the Nursing decline.

Karma

I had a thought as I drove home from work last night. The notion that flew into my head was that nurses must have had bad karma in their previous lives.

I mean, look at what we do for a living.

I had to catheterize several patients yesterday. Putting a tube into someone's urethra can hardly be catagorized as fun.

I've had to give enemas countless times, dress wounds that could make any normal person run out of the room in horror, lift and carry patients from one place to another, suction gunk from mouths and throats, and the list goes on.

But, then again, maybe it's not bad karma in a previous life, but good karma.



Though, I must say, I've never had my hand kissed. *grin*

A New Day

A New Day Has Come!

World leaders across the globe are celebrating Barack Obama's presidential election.



From Palestinians in the occupied West Bank... "He stated clearly that he is against war and the man seeks peace!," Maha Ibrahim exclaimed.

Beijing, China: "Obama! He is going to improve the economy," Wan Guocheng said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown praised Mr. Obama as a true friend of Britain. "This is a moment that will live in history," Mr. Brown said, "As long as history books are written."

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said he expects to develop a constructive dialogue with Mr. Obama.

In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai praised Mr. Obama's election. "I applaud the American people for their courage," Mr. Karzai said. "And for the great morality that they showed."

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said Mr. Obama's victory brings hope for peace in the Middle East.

French President Sarkozy congratulated Obama on a “brilliant” election victory.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the two “agreed on the need to continue advancing peacemaking, while safeguarding Israel’s security.”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated Obama on his election win in a letter, — the first time an Iranian leader has offered such wishes to a U.S. president-elect since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Australia’s prime minister Kevin Rudd spoke by telephone with Obama to congratulate him on his historic win.

Obama also spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

Today, for me and the whole world, marks the beginning of true hope. Congratulations, Mr. President. The world stands with you.

The Difficult Patient

If you work in a hospital you are painfully familiar with the difficult patient. (With the exception of babies who haven't yet the life experience to develop various psychological quirks or the voice to express same.)

The difficult patient is the guy who barrages you with insults every time you enter the room. It's the woman who puts on her call-light every five minutes and doesn't really need anything. It's the elderly gentleman you don't want to get near because he brazenly gropes you or insists you hold his urinal for him even though he has full use of his hands. It's the patient who finds something to complain about no matter what you do or don't do.

There have been books published on the subject of the difficult patient. That's because the phenomenon is pervasive. It's not something they teach you about in school. At least, not when I was in school. It's a conundrum for the caretaker to be lashed out at for being - well, the caretaker! There's some sort of cognitive dissonance in that scenario.

I've done some reading. I even bought a book on it. Most of the literature focuses on the physicians' dilemma in dealing with the difficult patient. The issue impacts nurses much more. The nurse is with the patient for long periods of time. They are the one perpetual 'constant', going in and out of the patient's room for eight, twelve or to up to sixteen hours at a time.

The difficult patient drives the nurse away from the bedside. He/she causes the nurse to want to give only the minimum of acceptable care. Even when nurses give report to the next shift, they warn the oncoming nurse about 'the difficult patient', setting up friction in the nurse-patient relationship from the start.

This friction leads to a kind of patient abandonment, so to speak. Emotional and physical abandonment.

What makes the difficult patient difficult? The first obvious reason is being in the hospital. Who has a good time in the hospital? They're sick. They have lost a measure of control in their lives, by virtue of their bodies failing and by being in an unfamiliar, scary place.

We all know that. Fear expresses itself as anger.

The very abandonment of the patient by the nurse only fuels their fears. They push that call button every two minutes just to get the nurse to pay attention. They complain bitterly. They make up reasons out of thin air to get someone in the room with them.

There are also those who are detoxing from drugs or alcohol, unintentionally, by being confined to the hospital. I'm not even talking about some teenager detoxing, or some homeless guy. I'm talking about the upper middle-class 50-60-something lady who has had a Xanax habit for the past twenty years or a multiple-cocktails in the evening habit. The 70-something gentleman who has been a functional beer-drinking alcoholic all his adult life is going to get mighty cranky, too.

For some reason, these folks are slipping through the cracks of addiction assessment and treatment. They'd be the last ones on earth to admit to a habit.

Of course, there are those patients who truly do have a psychiatric problem; some diagnosed, some not. They are everywhere. They may only exhibit full-blown symptoms stemming from their malady when they're scared or confined.

One issue that sometimes gets forgotten is the good old fashioned depression. Again, loss of control, fear of the hospital environment, fear of abandonment and just plain loneliness can send some folks into a depression. It will manifest as anger or the incessant call-button pusher, or it could be the patient who always has something to complain about. It should be one of the first things we investigate when we sense that something's not 'right.'

According to the literature, and common sense, nurses should not retaliate by avoiding the patient. One can set boundaries, as in the case of the groper or the verbal abuser. "I won't accept this behavior. I will take the best care of you that I can, but I won't be groped/yelled at....etc."

Of course, hearing the complainer and simply saying, "I'm sorry this/that happened. I'll do whatever I can to change/fix/make it better for you," can do wonders to soothe and give the patient a sense of satisfaction.

The depressed patient needs someone to listen. They also need the doc to know that maybe an antidepressant is in order.

As nurses, we're the patient advocate and part of that role includes being the caretaker without reservation, even when it pains us to do so. I'd also encourage that we stop criticizing patients to each other. Sure, it's a way to disperse the tension, but at what cost? Until you walk a mile in their mocassins, and all that. Try not to judge harshly.

National Day of Service

A call for service -

"Every time our nation faces crisis, our national experience has shown Americans rise to the challenge."

"While government has an important role to play in helping rekindle our economy and addressing the problems of a distressed nation, President-elect Obama believes each of us, as Americans, have a responsibility to do what we can for our communities and fellow citizens."

"Barack Obama is calling for a National Day of Service to take place on Jan. 19, the federal holiday for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and the day preceding Mr. Obama's Inauguration as President. The United States is once again at a crossroads and that is why the President-elect hopes to use the occasion of his Inauguration to rally our nation to commit to service in our communities."

"President-elect Obama will ask Americans to do more than offer only a single day of service to their cities, towns and neighborhoods. He will ask all of us to make an ongoing commitment to our communities. Never has it been more important to come together as one state and one nation in shared purpose to tackle the common challenges we face."

Go to this website to either create your own event or sign up with an existing one in your area.

I found several in my area. Many of them are choosing to do something on the weekend rather than Monday.

I discovered a meet-up scheduled for Monday the 19th, just down the street from where I live. A bunch of neighbors are going to meet at the local Starbucks to decide what we'll do to be of service to the community.

Sounds good!