#nrsgblr

[youngandnursey]

As I think about graduating in just a little over three weeks my chest flutters with anxiety, but it’s also so so surreal. 

I’ve learned so much in university. So much about myself and who I want to be in the world. I’ve met people who’ve shown me love and grace. I’ve learned how to be a good friend and family member. I’ve started to become a nurse even as I am still overwhelmed at the prospect of caring for the world. 

Friends like these have carried me through this journey. So much more to write, but back to work on my Capstone paper for nursing synthesis. 

[youngandnursey]

For my senior practicum we all are completing a service learning project in groups. My group and I were tasked with producing a health-promotion project with a Seattle-based organization called Recovery Café. We decided to collaborate with another organization that runs a local urban farm. The research literature was pretty clear that gardening has considerable impacts on mental health & promoting community. I was so happy with how our first garden work party turned out. A group of members from the Café along with us nursing students took a short walk to this garden & spent the next couple hours weeding, planting new things, & harvesting radishes & lettuce. All this produce got to go back to the Café to feed all sorts of folks during the week. It felt so refreshing to be out in the garden & special to be doing so alongside folks who were excited & grateful for the experience.

[youngandnursey]

Nurse Notes

January 27: perhaps the thing that most scares me to work with kids is not being well enough myself.

Discomfort & unease may just give way for questions.

February 8: I like seeing the changes on my patients’ faces as the shift progresses... even the more stoic ones sometimes seem to smile as the day goes on. Looking for the balance between cheerfulness & solemness in their situations. Maybe sometimes proximity & the comfort of presence, even without the perfect words can be a transmission of compassion?

March 8: Is nursing what I think is caring? Or, what is caring for the patient? Are these the same?

I am wondering what makes a “good nurse”...

April 27: Nursing is such an act of being. You really can’t just do the tasks—you have to be & stay present. You have to notice & appreciate & stay curious with patients. To care, especially for those in vulnerable positions of illness, requires willingness to stay present even in the fatigue & even with the threat of indifference.