BSN, RN

I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse. ~Florence Nightingale

[thegraymethod]

Here's the thing

If you’re gonna seek medical treatment at a hospital you need to understand that there are gonna be things we do that might not make much sense to you or might make you uncomfortable but it’s a) for your safety and b) probably part of a policy or protocol that we HAVE to follow. We do our best to explain things to you but sometimes it’s difficult. If you have questions or concerns, address them with your nursing staff before you tattle on us. I can’t tell you how fucking frustrating it is to have a patient tattle on you to a doctor for doing something that we are required by policy to do and that we explained to you beforehand and you said you were fine with. A lot of things we do are uncomfortable and awkward and invasive. I promise we try to be as sensitive as we can but the bottom line is we have a job to do. If you don’t want to let us do our job, the hospital is not a prison, you are more than welcome to check yourself out.

[helpstopthevirus]

We can all help stop the virus in our bodies and communities. Talk to a healthcare provider. And find out more at HelpStopTheVirus.com

[nurse-x-ramblings]

They ask, why do nurses burn out? And we pause; we burn out in unexpected ways, and unexpected moments. We burn out from not being able to find an ABG kit at 2am in a supply closet, and we melt down where no one can see us. We burn out a thousand different ways that scream absurdity to anyone observing on the outside - but if you were to examine our hearts, souls and minds, the unspoken horrors that cause us to drop into a void, a sometimes reserved, seemingly uncaring, stoic state, the physical, emotional and psychological exhaustion of nuance that if we were to speak of wouldn’t be understood - so we burn out quietly over absurdities. We burn out over the small stuff, because if you ask us about the big stuff, it would cascade into infinity.

Nurse X (via dancingnurse-ed)

[swissnavy]

5 things you should know about skin hunger

I’ve posted blogs in the past that mentioned the term skin hunger, the physical and psychological need for meaningful human touch, and I received an inquiry asking for more information about this phenomenon. So, here you are. Top 5 things you should know about skin hunger.

1. It’s an actual *NEED*

Like the name suggests, skin hunger isn’t a desire, it’s a primal necessity that like food, water, and sleep, humans will hunger, long, and ache for when they need it.

The outcomes of unmet skin hunger have been explored in a number of well-documented (but ethically questionable) research studies. Babies in hospitals, orphanages, and other institutional settings that receive adequate bio care (feeding, bathing, and changing) but are left in cribs for 20+ hours a day and not touched or held, experience lasting neurological changes including shrinking of the volume of gray matter in the brain. Adults deliberately exposed to the common cold virus in a lab are less able to fight off the virus and more likely to experience severe symptoms if they didn’t get many hugs in the two weeks prior to the study.  

2. It can be partially satiated through sex, but doesn’t have to be

The intimacy of sexual activity is a method to satisfy skin hunger, but it’s only one method. Skin hunger isn’t about sex and there are dozens of ways to nurture your need and provide it for others that isn’t inherently sexual or romantic. Examples include:

Hand shakes

high fives

hugs

pats/rubs on the back

shoulder squeezes

nose boops

massages

piggy back rides

dancing

holding hands

linking arms

playing footsies

kisses (on the head, hand, cheek, or lips)

cuddling

using a friend’s shoulder as a pillow while watching TV or riding the bus

stroking their hair

tickling

horseplay (pillow fights, play wrestling, etc.)

sitting on laps are all examples.

3. Tons of people aren’t getting their skin hunger needs met for a host of different reasons

Lots of us are skin starved, but some populations that may experience touch deprivation most include:

Tweens and teens: Have you ever noticed that people in this age group are constantly horsing around, shoving, and playfully hitting each other in the arm? In western social norms, 11-17 years old are often considered too old for kissing and snuggling their parents, and too young to be given privacy for kissing and snuggling a boyfriend or girlfriend. My theory is they turn to tackling each other to meet skin hunger needs.

Elderly: Social isolation and extreme loneliness that can occur in later life as spouses, friends, and family die off has had a well documented affect on touch deprivation and overall health outcomes.

Institutionalized: Whether it’s in a prison or a hospital, there’s been some research on the torture-like effects of going days, months, years, or even decades without human touch as a matter of institutional policy.

Men: Those pesky social norms that make cuddling, hugging, and hand-holding “feminine” behaviors and “feminine” behaviors undesirable has left lots of men folk in severe touch isolation.

All of us: Between ever increasing work commutes keeping people alone and away from their loved ones for more hours of the day, social media that does a phenomenal job of connecting us emotionally but can disconnect us physically, this irksome but prevalent cultural myth that conflates touch with sex, concerns about touch and sexual harassment, and an epidemic of deep chronic loneliness, it’s safe to say many/most/all of us might be a bit skin hungry.

4. Skin hunger is related to violence

Observational research has found a number of correlations between touch and aggression. Researchers observed people sitting with their friends or family members in cafes and restaurants in different nations and noticed how many times they touched each other (leaning against them, rubbing their back while talking, putting an arm around their shoulder, etc). Participants in cultures that experience less violence were observed to touch each other much more than cultures with high rates of violence. Among the highest was France with 110 touches in 30 minutes. In the US it was 2 touches in 30 minutes.

The interactions among low-touch cultures were also more aggressive and violent among the peer group, not just within the country at large. For example, a 30 minute observation showed more pushing, hitting, and aggressive verbal communication among the American participants with low rates of meaningful touch.

5. There have been conscious attempts made recently to meet human touch needs

Skin hunger is a relatively new concept, and it’s starting to be seen a public health issue crucial to our well being . As such, active efforts to bridge the touch gap have been started, and include the free hugs campaign, cuddle parties, professional cuddling businesses, senior care facilities offering training for their staff on touch as part of elder care, and hospital volunteer programs to cuddle sick newborns.

Check back next week for another Top 5 Friday!

Dr. Jill McDevitt is a nationally recognized, San Diego based sexuality educator, speaker, writer, and the resident sexologist at Swiss Navy. She has a BA in Sexuality, Marriage, and Family, MEd in Human Sexuality Education, and PhD in Human Sexuality, which means she is the only known person in the world with all three degrees in sex. It also means she has the coolest job ever!

[lady-feral]

Welp. That explains a lot.

[swissnavy]

5 things you should know about skin hunger

I’ve posted blogs in the past that mentioned the term skin hunger, the physical and psychological need for meaningful human touch, and I received an inquiry asking for more information about this phenomenon. So, here you are. Top 5 things you should know about skin hunger.

1. It’s an actual *NEED*

Like the name suggests, skin hunger isn’t a desire, it’s a primal necessity that like food, water, and sleep, humans will hunger, long, and ache for when they need it.

The outcomes of unmet skin hunger have been explored in a number of well-documented (but ethically questionable) research studies. Babies in hospitals, orphanages, and other institutional settings that receive adequate bio care (feeding, bathing, and changing) but are left in cribs for 20+ hours a day and not touched or held, experience lasting neurological changes including shrinking of the volume of gray matter in the brain. Adults deliberately exposed to the common cold virus in a lab are less able to fight off the virus and more likely to experience severe symptoms if they didn’t get many hugs in the two weeks prior to the study.  

2. It can be partially satiated through sex, but doesn’t have to be

The intimacy of sexual activity is a method to satisfy skin hunger, but it’s only one method. Skin hunger isn’t about sex and there are dozens of ways to nurture your need and provide it for others that isn’t inherently sexual or romantic. Examples include:

Hand shakes

high fives

hugs

pats/rubs on the back

shoulder squeezes

nose boops

massages

piggy back rides

dancing

holding hands

linking arms

playing footsies

kisses (on the head, hand, cheek, or lips)

cuddling

using a friend’s shoulder as a pillow while watching TV or riding the bus

stroking their hair

tickling

horseplay (pillow fights, play wrestling, etc.)

sitting on laps are all examples.

3. Tons of people aren’t getting their skin hunger needs met for a host of different reasons

Lots of us are skin starved, but some populations that may experience touch deprivation most include:

Tweens and teens: Have you ever noticed that people in this age group are constantly horsing around, shoving, and playfully hitting each other in the arm? In western social norms, 11-17 years old are often considered too old for kissing and snuggling their parents, and too young to be given privacy for kissing and snuggling a boyfriend or girlfriend. My theory is they turn to tackling each other to meet skin hunger needs.

Elderly: Social isolation and extreme loneliness that can occur in later life as spouses, friends, and family die off has had a well documented affect on touch deprivation and overall health outcomes.

Institutionalized: Whether it’s in a prison or a hospital, there’s been some research on the torture-like effects of going days, months, years, or even decades without human touch as a matter of institutional policy.

Men: Those pesky social norms that make cuddling, hugging, and hand-holding “feminine” behaviors and “feminine” behaviors undesirable has left lots of men folk in severe touch isolation.

All of us: Between ever increasing work commutes keeping people alone and away from their loved ones for more hours of the day, social media that does a phenomenal job of connecting us emotionally but can disconnect us physically, this irksome but prevalent cultural myth that conflates touch with sex, concerns about touch and sexual harassment, and an epidemic of deep chronic loneliness, it’s safe to say many/most/all of us might be a bit skin hungry.

4. Skin hunger is related to violence

Observational research has found a number of correlations between touch and aggression. Researchers observed people sitting with their friends or family members in cafes and restaurants in different nations and noticed how many times they touched each other (leaning against them, rubbing their back while talking, putting an arm around their shoulder, etc). Participants in cultures that experience less violence were observed to touch each other much more than cultures with high rates of violence. Among the highest was France with 110 touches in 30 minutes. In the US it was 2 touches in 30 minutes.

The interactions among low-touch cultures were also more aggressive and violent among the peer group, not just within the country at large. For example, a 30 minute observation showed more pushing, hitting, and aggressive verbal communication among the American participants with low rates of meaningful touch.

5. There have been conscious attempts made recently to meet human touch needs

Skin hunger is a relatively new concept, and it’s starting to be seen a public health issue crucial to our well being . As such, active efforts to bridge the touch gap have been started, and include the free hugs campaign, cuddle parties, professional cuddling businesses, senior care facilities offering training for their staff on touch as part of elder care, and hospital volunteer programs to cuddle sick newborns.

Check back next week for another Top 5 Friday!

Dr. Jill McDevitt is a nationally recognized, San Diego based sexuality educator, speaker, writer, and the resident sexologist at Swiss Navy. She has a BA in Sexuality, Marriage, and Family, MEd in Human Sexuality Education, and PhD in Human Sexuality, which means she is the only known person in the world with all three degrees in sex. It also means she has the coolest job ever!

[lady-feral]

Welp. That explains a lot.

[micdotcom]

Watch: Brian Yu’s heartbreaking poem will strike anyone with students loans to the core.

[hippieseurope-deactivated202503]

I finally understood that even if you’re fucking down and discouraged, you still can be kind to the people around who have nothing to do with your misery.“

Sereno Sky, author of the “Lonely Traveller” novels (via hippieseurope)

[nurse-x-ramblings]

Just the Nurse

“It’s just the nurse” A statement I’ve heard more times than I can recall. A statement I vacillate between being utterly pissed off at; given some people take for granted what we do, take for granted how consistently we are the ones by their side and not seen - and a statement I’m also sometimes not offended at, pausing as I consider how perhaps we’re simply seen as a circle of trust.

Just the nurse who caught the baby’s heart murmur

Just the nurse who listened when everyone else walked out the door

Just the nurse who carefully cleaned parts of you when others shouted what’s that horrible smell in that room.

Just the nurse who had to call your annoyed provider 5 times just for them to come talk to you and answer your questions

Just the nurse who threw their back out from years and years of physical exertion with turning and positioning.

Just the nurse who contributes daily to interdisciplinary rounds, to discussions surrounding your care for the day

Just the nurse who advocates for quality of life discussions

Just the nurse who helped the baby docs when they were med students, when they were residents, when they were scared.

Just the nurse who continues to advocate and work collaboratively with your doctor so you get the kind of care our system so ardently resists.

Just the nurse who teaches the new mama how to hold, nurse and bathe their baby

Just the nurse who cared for you over and over, day after day, admission after admission for 12 hour shifts and made you their world

Just the nurse who fights hard for safe staffing ratios so you get the quality of care you deserve.

Just the nurse who stands their ground and tosses out anyone who interferes with your healing or recovery time.

Just the nurse who prayed for you when science no longer had any answers

Just the nurse who cares for you as you take your last breath

Just the nurse who comforts your family when they have nowhere to go with their grief.

Just the nurse who gently wraps you in a shroud and pauses quietly to keep you in their own memory and heart

Just the nurse who doesn’t demand you respect us, rather quietly asks that you don’t insult our presence.

Just the nurse, the highly educated bachelors, masters, and doctorate level prepared, certified nurses who worked hard to attain the scientific and evidence practice based knowledge that will help save your life.

Just the nurse who isn’t perfect, but works every day to learn more and perfect their care.

Just the nurse who goes home and cries for you.

Every other day, Every other week may in everyone’s eyes be about every other provider, but let today, let this week not be an insult; let it just simply be about the nurse.

Happy National Nurses Day, Happy National Nurses week - To “just” the nurses.

[scriptmedic]

What Makes a Healthcare Worker Happy?

Healthcare workers are an interesting group. We’re broad. We’re diverse. We have different needs and aspirations.

And the other day a reader me an interesting question.

Anonymous said: As a young teen who aspires to be someone in the medical field, I have a question that’s not exactly medical related. Auntie, would you say you’re happy with what you do?

So I wanted to talk about this in terms of your characters. What will make your characters happy, or unhappy, with their healthcare jobs?

What Makes Up Job Satisfaction?

I’ll give you a hint: it’s about not the money.

Or at least, it’s not all about the money.

Characters who take jobs in healthcare are extremely diverse, but they’re all bound together by the idea of helping others. So there are a few fundamental questions you should have about your characters:

Are they helping others in a meaningful way?

Are they appreciated by their peers and managers?

Are they appreciated  by their patients? How does their workplace respond if they’re abused?

Are they a good fit for the culture where they work?

Are they properly rewarded–financially and otherwise–for their work?

Do people notice when they do something good, or only when they make a mistake?

Do their stresses outweigh their joys?

Are They Helping Others in a Meaningful Way?

This question is deceptive, because first your characters need to decide what’s meaningful for them. What’s the gold-standard for a “meaningful” impact? Is it resuscitating a cardiac arrest? Is it helping usher a newborn into the world? Is it helping a burn survivor recover their appearance?

If your character wants to resuscitate people, for example, but they’re “trapped” in a job on a routine medicine floor or in a clinic, they’re likely to be unhappy. However, they may attain happiness either by finding a job that’s closer to what they want, or by changing their worldview. They may not be “saving lives”, but they’re helping sick people get better every day. Is that enough for them?

Are They Appreciated by Their Peers and Managers?

Nothing says “crap job” like busting your butt all day for patients and getting zero appreciation for it. 

Unfortunately, that’s the way a lot of healthcare institutions run. Good work is ignored or belittled. Bad work is reprimanded or, in many cases, perversely rewarded.

Not all institutions are good places to work, my friends.

This is where a positive coworker, or a manager who sees and says your character’s good deeds, can make or break their day. Many people have good supervisors and bad ones; when the good ones are around their day can run great, but a bad supervisor can suck all the energy out of a unit right quick.

Are They Appreciated by Their Patients? How Does Their Workplace Handle Abuse? (Are They Safe?)

Patients can be great. I’ve met literally thousands of kind, sweet, wonderful people, and it’s been a real joy to serve and help them. I’ve gotten people who try to give us tips, who definitely give us hugs. I’ve gotten happy waves from kids on the street who want to be paramedics when they grow up.

Patients can be absolute monsters. I’ve spent 45-minute ambulance rides literally curled up in the captain’s chair in the fetal position doing my very best to not let the bastard have the satisfaction of hearing me cry. I’ve had my race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, intelligence, compassion, and candidacy for “being a person” challenged by the same patient. And because of policies in place at work, because of the repercussion if I opened my mouth to reply, I was forced into a situation where I just had to sit there and take it.

That last part, that lack of support if I said anything they could use to go on the attack, is actually the hardest part. ERs can throw patients out who are disruptive or abusive; if I did it I would be breaking actual laws. 

I’ve also been groped on the job. Again, my right to defend myself comes second to my employer’s concern with patient satisfaction and keeping down complaints.

So this question has huge psychological implications as to how safe your character feels at work.

Are They a Good Fit for the Culture Where They Work?

I’ll give you an example. I work two jobs right now. One is full-time. I’ve been there for ten years. And I’m preparing to leave, and try to make my part-time job my full-time job. (I’ll need another part-time job, because life is costly, but that’s another story.)

I have good coworkers, good bosses, and I make more than I will at my part time / new full time job. Shit, I work with my best friend! (see my recent reblog of A (Yester)Day in the Life of Aunt Scripty.

So why the hell would I leave?

Because I don’t belong there. I’ve never belonged there.

One job I have sees EMS as a first response agency that happens to be involved in medicine.

The other job sees EMS as a medical job that happens to involve first response.

And no matter how good the one job is, no matter how much I love it, it’s not right for me. Because we have fundamentally different views on what I do for a living.

Is nerd-dom accepted, or is it a bro-y jock culture? Does your character’s orientation and values align with the organization’s? Are they a liberal in a conservative organization? A conservative in a liberal one? Are they the only one of (subgroup X) who works there?

For what it’s worth, until your character works at multiple agencies/hospitals/clinics/etc., they may not realize the depth of the cultural divide between them and their employers, or assume that it’s natural. Sometimes we need contrast to understand what we need.

Are they properly rewarded–financially and otherwise–for their work?

Do people notice when they do something good, or only when they make a mistake? Do patients leave thank-you cards, return to the unit with gift baskets, and things like that, or are they unlikely to know the fruits of their labors?

Do their stresses outweigh their joys?

I think this is the ultimate question that discusses one of the most important questions in healthcare: burnout.

Burnout is real, and it is debilitating. It attacks us at the core of being. It hits us where we live. It’s how good, kind, compassionate people become, frankly, salty old jerks sometimes. 

Much is expected of healthcare workers, particularly when it comes to compassion. And providers suffer a lot from compassion fatigue, where our ability to be compassionate to the needs of others erodes as it’s overused.

There is a moment, a line, where patients can go from being a person with needs to being a needy person. Where lines of reasonableness are being crossed, or are perceived to be crossed by the provider in question. What shifts is not the patient’s request, but how that request is interpreted.

Reasonable requests, like “Can I get another blanket?”, can feel like someone specifically trying to irritate the provider by adding to their workload or asking for something “frivolous”. And, no doubt, there are people who will make frivolous requests all day long – I actually had a patient ask me for a blanket and then throw it on the floor just to see what I would do, and tell me that that’s why he did it. But even when good people ask for the same thing, it can feel like a demand, like a stress.

Just as a heads up, this isn’t a complete list, and writers need to consider additional factors to a character’s happiness such as depression and PTSD from repeated exposure to trauma.

But Aunt Scripty, You Didn’t Answer the Question!

I know. Sometimes the answer to “Are you happy?” is “I don’t know.” There are elements that make me very happy about my jobs. There are elements that make me very unhappy about my jobs.

It’s very, very possible to also be in a position where you love the work and hate the workplace – either with bad coworkers, bad management, or bad policies.

Personally, I have two jobs. I’m happier at one than at the other, for a lot of reasons. I wish I was paid what I’m worth at either one–medics are drastically undervalued financially, and that puts real stress on my real life.

But I think the answer to “are you happy with what you DO” is yes. The work itself makes me happy. I’m proud to be a paramedic. I’m happy when people rely on me for their darkest moments. I’m less proud of when they rely on me to drag Drunk #5 off to the hospital again. But I never roll out of bed and question whether what I do is necessary or good. So there’s that.

xoxo, Aunt Scripty

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[nurse-x-ramblings]

Journal of a New Graduate:

Day 1:

I’m a new grad, I went to a great school, didn’t miss a clinical, a good study group, focused prep for NCLEX, passed with relief at only 75 questions, accepted into the first position applied for - the position I’d dreamed of all through nursing school. It just seemed too good to be true. I’m excited to be here in nursing orientation, excited but nervous about what the next twelve weeks will bring.

Day 7:

I’m a bit confused with what I’m supposed to be doing. My educator seems to be disorganized, giving me the wrong packet, one that’s supposed to be for another nurse, and vaguely waving her hand she’ll get it to me “at some point”. That was two days ago, I’m in the Library, doing some online learning that I happened to find out about from a fellow new graduate. I hope that’s what I am supposed to be doing. My educator waved me off again, saying she would catch up with me at some point. Sure.

Day 12:

I’m on the unit. Gulp. I completed the online learning, mostly in my own time, since the modules I was doing wasn’t actually what I was supposed to be doing. I completed the work on my own, as my educator emailed me a packet late Friday, stating it needed to be completed by Monday. I was two days late, despite staying up late every night to do it. Today I’m on the unit, I’m shadowing my preceptor, who wasn’t told I was coming. I’m beginning to think I chose the wrong place. My Preceptor seems really annoyed, muttering to another nurse that she was tired of orienting new nurses. I feel like I don’t belong.

Day 18: I’m tired, and It hasn’t even been a month yet. My preceptor yelled at me for fumbling with an arterial line set up, saying I would have to do this on my own someday, and I shouldn’t be expecting her to be right next to me every time. I sat in my car on my lunch and cried, so no one would see. Fine. I can take the yelling, except I haven’t ever actually seen an arterial line before, just on the computerized learning module. I haven’t practiced with one yet. I don’t belong here.

Day 24: I saw my educator today. I’d forgotten what she looked like. She pulled me into a mid point evaluation with the nurse manager and preceptor. They all looked grim. I wasn’t progressing in the way they’d hoped, or expected by this point. They wrote up my error in levelling the EVD, when I had never seen one before, despite my asking my preceptor for help, only to hear the same, “You have to learn to do these things on your own.” They wrote a verbal warning that I wouldn’t make it through orientation with my slow time management skills, and I just sat there and nodded. They didn’t ask me how I was feeling, and I didn’t want to tell them. They already wrote me off a long time ago.

Day 30: I asked my preceptor today what her experience was like as a new graduate. She said I had it easier than her, then she turned away. Whatever.

Day 40, last day orientation: Today, I met a patient who probably saved me (even though we’re supposed to be saving them, I suppose). She was young, maybe 21, s/p cardiac arrest r/t overdose on red bull, Her family and friends perched on seats at her bedside, praying. “Get them out,“ barked my preceptor, “you always spend too much time talking to the families. Just another young punk overdose.” So, after 40 days of following her instructions, today I did the opposite. Today I closed the curtains in the little corner room of the ICU, and I sat with the family, and asked them to tell me about her; tell me about your daughter, tell me about your sister, tell me about your friend. Tell me about how she’s been feeling, tell me about what she did the night before the ER. “She was quiet, she wanted to be a nurse, but she just kept failing all her exams. We think she might have tried to take her own life, but the doctors breezed through all that. They just assumed she was some wasted teen on a Saturday night trying to get high.” And I knew, it wouldn’t matter what my preceptor had said about taking too long with patients, some day I would speed that up, it wouldn’t matter that I had fumbling hands with A-line, someday I would get it, someday I wouldn’t be so nervous. It wouldn’t matter that every day I felt abandoned by my educator or preceptor, or apologetic for the disappointment they thought I was, as one day I would have the confidence to not look for that validation. It would matter only that I could listen, and maybe use what little skill I had, not learned from any textbook, not garnered from any preceptor, something that would remind me to keep fighting for the patients who couldn’t fight for themselves. Someday I would be faster at that, too. And so, on the very day I planned to quit, the very day I “graduated” from my preceptorship, I survived. I survived orientation, and it wasn’t because anyone had fought for me. It was because I fought for myself, alone.

~ As told by a graduate nurse, 6 years before she became a preceptor, a mentor, and a charge nurse who remembered what it was like to walk in a new orientee’s shoes.

[onceandfuturekiki]

I’m a Catholic who is morally opposed to abortion.

But I’m against most legislation against abortion.

Because here’s the thing: Abortion is never going to just go away. It’s never going to stop. Passing harsh restrictions limiting access, banning it all together, it’s never going to magically make women stop having abortions. It’s never going to lead to abortion no longer being a thing that happens.

Abortion has been happening since long before this modern age. The practice dates back to at least 1550 BCE Egypt. Hippocrates, the greek physician upon whose practices the Hippocratic Oath is based, provided abortions. Women got abortions in ancient times when the methods were risky at best and life threatening at worst. They got abortions in Colonial America when the practice was shamed and had to be done in secret.  They got abortions before Roe vs. Wade was passed, and they’ll continue to get abortions no matter how many restrictions and bans are put in place.

This is not an issue that can be simplified by putting it in religious and moral terms. It’s not an issue that can be simplified by saying it’s “about life”.

And if your goal is to stop all abortion forever, well… for one thing, you’re looking at the issue all wrong and you’re going to be pushing a boulder the size of the universe up a very steep hill for the rest of time. You’re also ignoring history and statistics if you think that outlawing abortion will make any kind of movement toward that goal.

Illegal abortions before Roe v. Wade were not some kind of rare thing. They were common. Estimates put the number of illegal and self-induced abortions that took place in the 1950s and 1960s between the hundreds of thousands and around one million. And thousands of women died from illegal and self-induced abortions. In 1930 abortion was listed as the cause of death for at least 2700 women. These numbers decreased with the introduction of antibiotics that could fight infections that came from these procedures, but by 1965 illegal abortions still made up 17% of all pregnancy and childbirth related deaths. And those number are almost certainly quite a bit higher in reality as many women who died or became sick as the result of an illegal abortion were not reported as such.

I don’t think a lot people really consider what illegal abortion means. Many just assume that it’s just the same thing that happens in the legal clinics, but it just happens without being protected by law. This is most often not the case. Without legal protections for abortions, doctors who perform the procedure can’t easily get the materials needed to make abortion as safe as possible. And without any kind of oversight to ensure safety that the practice would get were it legal and regulated, the people performing it, whether it’s a well meaning doctor or a person looking to prey on women in desperate situations, are accountable to nobody. There’s nobody making sure they’re safe.

This is already happening. Abortion providers are being shut down at huge rates, leaving some entire states with only one provider, if that. Many women who want an abortion but can’t get one because they’re unable to travel to another state to acquire one (whether it’s because they can’t afford it, they have no transportation, their family situation makes it impossible) aren’t just going to “oh well, I guess I’m going to just have to have it.” Despite popular opinion among anti-abortion advocates, abortion is not an easy choice for most women. It’s not just some easy method of birth control. The rates of abortion throughout history show that, as do many testimonials. If a women wants, or needs an abortion, she’s going to do whatever she can to get it. And if she can’t get one by safe and legal means, there’s a decent chance she’ll get one by any means necessary. Which means either looking to illegal, unregulate, and unsafe providers, or incredibly dangerous self-induced methods.

This is happening now. Further restrictions, more clinics being shutdown, will not somehow magically make it stop.

Before Roe v. Wade, hundreds, and sometimes thousands of women died every year from abortions because they were illegal and therefor unregulated and unsafe. Today,  yearly deaths from abortion rank in the 10s. Not the 10s of thousands. The 10s. And yes, some of that has to do with improved technology and methods. But even in 1976, just a few years after Roe v. Wade, death as a result of abortion had fallen to 1 in 100,000.  (These are all numbers from just the US. Worldwide numbers tend to follow similar trends.)

Banning abortion does not stop abortion. Safe, legal abortion saves lives.

If you care about life, that is not something that should be ignored. And I continue to stress, nor should the fact that banning abortion will not stop abortion. It never has and it never will. Many countries where abortion is illegal actually show slightly higher abortion rates than those where abortion is legal.

That last sentence is the really important part. Not just because it further shows that banning and restricting abortion does not stop or even reduce abortion, but because it demonstrates a far better alternative if you want to reduce abortion.

No, countries where abortion is legal don’t have lower abortion rates because of some weird logic of “if you can have it you don’t want it”. It because usually, legal and accessible abortion goes hand in hand with accessible and affordable contraception and sexual education.

Abortion  isn’t going to magically go away. If you’re opposed to abortion and you’re putting all your efforts toward ending it, you’re fighting a losing battle and ignoring areas that can help abortion rate be reduced. That’s what people who say they they’re for protecting life should be focusing on. Ways to reduce abortion.

Banning abortion isn’t going to do that. Minimizing the number of women who get pregnant who don’t want to be is.  That doesn’t happen by telling women not to have sex. It happens by making sure contraception, all forms of contraception are inexpensive and readily available to all women and men. It happens by making sure men and women get comprehensive sexual education before they start having sex. It happens by making sure men and women know how to effectively use contraception before they start having sex. So yes, that means comprehensive sexual education in middle school and high school (at the very least). It’s important for men and women to be educated in the ways both the male and the female body work, how sex and reproduction work for both genders, and exactly how different forms of birth control prevent pregnancy.

It also happens by more support and funding for programs that provide healthcare for women during and after their pregnancies for women who can’t afford it. It happens by support and funding for programs that help and support financially struggling women and parents who choose to keep their baby. It happens by support and funding for programs that provide healthcare for children in low-income families. It can’t be ignored that one of the motivations for a woman to seek an abortion is often not being able to support it. And unfortunately it’s not uncommon for states with the stricter abortion laws to also have the fewest policies in place for these kinds of programs and this type of support.

Abortion is not the beginning of the equation. It’s the result of complex series of events and circumstances, and often those circumstances are things completely beyond the control of the woman seeking and abortion. The problem isn’t solved by outlawing the result of that equation. You have to change the circumstances that lead to it.

The pro-life movement needs to realize that abortion is not something that can be simplified to a one sentence tagline about caring about or protecting life. Not when criminalized abortion leads to hundreds to thousands more losses of life. Not when criminalized abortion does nothing to stop that loss of life. They need to realize that you don’t solve a problem by trying to stop it at the finale step, that you have to go to the root of the problem and start there. And the root of the problem is not that abortion exists. It’s that our country has startlingly poor sexual education for a developed country. It’s that because of that, people don’t know how to use birth control effectively, they don’t know how reproduction and the reproductive system of the opposite gender, and sometimes their own gender, works. It’s because many types of contraception are not as inexpensive and accessible as they should be thinks to things like the Hobby Lobby ruling.

Look outside of your bubble. Do research. Don’t get all of your information for Christian and “pro-life” sources. Be curious. Be skeptical, but also open minded. Look into your sources and make sure the sites/journals/etc. aren’t exclusively a pro-life OR a pro-choice site/publication/etc. I’m not sure there’s any such thing as a completely unbiased source when it comes to things like this, but make sure you’re looking a the most unbiased choices you can find. Think about what being pro-life actually means beyond the usual taglines.

Banning abortion is not “pro-life”. All of the statistics show that to be a fact. If you’re going to call yourself pro-life, you need to look at options that are actually effective and that don’t lead to even more death.

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/abortion/a/ancientabortion.htm https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/banning-abortion-doesnt-actually-reduce-abortion-rates-at-all

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/women-in-countries-where-abortion-is-illegal-just-as-likely-to-have-one-as-countries-where-it-is-a7025671.html

https://www.guttmacher.org/journals/psrh/2004/01/public-health-impact-legal-abortion-30-years-later

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-a-grimes/the-bad-old-days-abortion_b_6324610.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/03/back-alley-abortions_n_5065301.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-burkhart/access-to-contraception-a_b_7595654.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/01/abortion-womens-health_n_5912648.html

http://www.nationalpartnership.org/issues/repro/reports/a-double-bind.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/

[huffleporg]

People who are morally against abortion but are against making abortions illegal are people everyone should learn from. You do not have to be in favor of something to recognize that people have a right to it. It takes strength to support something you are morally against.

[wtffundiefamilies]

So people CAN be anti-abortion and pro-life.

[bibliophilekindagal]

Perfect

Today I was apart of the perfect code. When our overhead chimes rang, everyone started running to room 31. This would be the third time she had gone into V-fib. The last two she came out of on her own. This time she didn’t. The patients tech, Tony, immediately started quality CPR. (Seriously, if I go down at work I want Tony to do my compressions). The crash cart was literally right outside her door and we wheeled it in within seconds. The board was slipped under, pads attached, and documentation started. It was at this second that I remembered to hit the code blue button. Cindy got the ambu bag attached, Tony kept on compression, Andy noted everything and Harper took on as team leader, while I was on the EKG/defibrillator. I saw fib still, ramped it to 150j and cleared everyone. BAM! As soon as she was back on the bed T restarted compressions. But he didn’t have to do them long cause she came out of it fighting! In the 35 seconds it took for all the this to happen the code team arrived. Then the real chaos started with RT getting a mask on, lab poking and pulling, Docs getting report from the patients nurse, House Sup getting an ICU bed and everyone else standing outside the door, waiting to be called on. But it was like Tony, Cindy, Andy, Harper and I were all alone for a single second more. We had done it. As 20 people filled the small room the patient looked up at me as I held her hand and asked me “Did I die?” I looked down at her, blue lipped and pale, and down at the cold clammy hand I was holding and honestly said “You tried to. But we just weren’t having it today”.

It was the perfect code.

[nurse-nightingale]

Beautiful.

[mother-trillest-deactivated2019]

PSA

Why do normal people have this huge bug up their ass about nurses who “can’t get the vein” or “blow *3* of the veins” when it comes to drawing blood or inserting IVs? A) Venipuncture is a *learned skill* most nurses don’t have a chance to hone because hospitals and clinics have their own lab personnel. B) Nurses can’t be great at everything they do. C) You telling them how to do their job doesn’t actually help. D) Shoving a needle into someone is nerve wracking - just shut your damn face for a few minutes and let them concentrate!

[nurse-nightingale]

Preach! IVs are my weakest link and I’ll be in the ER soon sooooo I’m hoping I’ll get better.

[vdoming931]

Not sure if you are a student or not…If so, you school should have equipment in the school nursing lab to practice. Iy I I

[mother-trillest-deactivated2019]

In my nursing school, we got 2 or 3 days in our skills lab to learn and perform this skill on a fake arm. I personally had no chances in my clinical rotations to actually perform this on a real person.

The problem here is not the “should have access,” it’s the actual time spent learning and performing it on real people. Most students don’t have this chance at all.

[nurse-nightingale]

******The problem here is not the “should have access,” it’s the actual time spent learning and performing it on real people. Most students don’t have this chance at all.****** YES. And I know @rad-anatomy went through an ADN program. I went through a BSN program and I've the same complaint. Here in the states, I feel like for nurses, we learn how to do IVs in school but we're really only given the chance to hone this skill post graduation and that's if you're in a nursing field where you practice clinically.

[mypatients]

What are your favorite and least favorite things about being a nurse?

Favorite thing: the people

Least favorite thing:  the people

[proveitmakemefightme]

Perfection

[illbeyourmursesomeday]

NURBLRS, SO WHAT DO YOU DO?

[illbeyourmursesomeday]

I adjust the brightness of the light at the end of the Tunnel.

I am a Hospice Nurse.

[flyingeagleclaw]

I stop and start hearts and help radiate people to look at their guts. I am am Emergency Room nurse.

[sarcasticbabywhispererjess]

I pump bodies full of drugs to treat pain and artificially normalize their vitals until their bodies are healthy enough to do it on their own… or not. Forcibly shove tubes into bodies. Measure all the bodily fluids. Keep the Grim Reaper at bay (which is sometimes an exercise in futility). Constantly record every little thing I do… if it wasn’t charted, it wasn’t done. 

I am an ICU/Critical care nurse.

[theglowstickchronicles]

I touch a lot of groins and yell at Baby Boomers about their salt intake.

I am a cardiac stepdown nurse.

[caringintensely]

[adventuresinnursingschool]

I am in my 2nd semester of year two of the bsn program and I will be fasttracking through this summer all the way till August 2018. So I will be going six semesters straight without a summer break….just wondering if anyone has done a program like this and if you have any advice?? I’m already feeling so tjeee and burnt out and looking ahead is daunting!!!

[mother-trillest-deactivated2019]

I did the fast track for my ADN and it was torture, but I believe it was best for me to get it done and over with as quickly as possible. I made the most out of my 2 week breaks and just kept chugging on.

[nurse-nightingale]

While I didn't fast track my BSN degree, I did work full time mostly throughout the entirety of the nursing program and I'm telling you the same thing; I made the most out of any and all of my breaks and kept chugging on.