My dear readers,
It is time again for thoughts from the island. May is particularly important to nurses as we celebrate Florence Nightingale's birthday on 12.05, International Nurses' Day.
I am very proud to belong to this community. To be part of this epic community is more than sharing professional views and skills. I cannot put into the right words how I feel about being a nurse.
Of course, I am super proud to be a nurse, but I am more :-)
I attended an international nursing congress last year in Iceland. We were there with over 20 nations, which was just wonderful. On our last day at the dinner party, the hosting Icelandic nurses sang a traditional Icelandic song, which still gives me goosebumps. When I heard the nurses singing, I felt a warm feeling of belongingness. Do you know what I mean? I felt that my profession is contentment. I had this very special, deep feeling, which is still incredible.
Speaking about special, I was nursing on the wards quite a bit in the last two weeks. During my hectic shifts, I wished the Icelandic nurses were singing to me so much. Especially in one shift, I felt tremendously challenged. From all my duties as a staff nurse, I felt like I had to become an Octopus with eight arms. The workload was incredible at a very high speed. No la-la here. From low potassium levels with HR +100 to rectal bleeding plus plus plus! I was flying between my bays. I could not stand still. In addition, to all this, I had to liaise with a locksmith service (hang on a minute, locksmith, you might think? Yes, locksmith, I say!!! For my elderly patient, who lost his keys, when he came into hospital - and getting a lady ready to be transferred to our local community hospital. All this cost me +30 minutes - my precious nursing minutes for my patients, which went missing. You can argue now - where was the Social Service here? Yes, I was asking this myself until I realised - I AM THE SOCIAL SERVICE ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE.
Nurses of today are mega great. I have 1000% respect for these staff nurses working full-time on the wards. However, I am a part-time staff nurse and see my work with a different pair of nursing eyes, which a full-time nurse might not see because it is normal for them to be non-stop busy at an unbelievably high pace.
I was so grateful that I had staff nurses who supported me very much. Yes, teamwork is the key to success here.
Icelandic song, where are you, :-)? Ahhh, here you are; you are not gone!
When I came home, I felt like, I had run three marathons. These shifts are still with me on the mega-busy wards. And I know that every nurse today has the same experience as me.
Last but not least, my dear readers, you might know that we in Britain are on a general strike. The NHS trusts hospitals to decide who goes on strike
and when.
I was asked by an elderly lady (86 years) last week why nurses in Great Britain need more money. Our salary is good from what she knows.
When I hear these kinds of words… I wonder... oh, people, do you know about us and our octopus arms and marathons, our mega skills, teamwork and social service skills, and our work?
Icelandic song comes back, :-)
Many thanks for your time.
