Makin’ it by the skin of my teeth today!
Good shift at work today. I’m so fortunate to have such amazing colleagues. Today, one of my co-RNs brought an electric razor from home and gave my patient, a chronic case, a full shave and haircut. Just because. The man was so thrilled he smiled all day.
Today’s RN innovator is a working nurse and gifted story teller. Check out her latest tale at the bottom of the e-mail I sent to our Google Doodle friends.
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To: proposals@google.com
From: 12hourRN@gmail.com
Subject: Why Nurses Need A Google Doodle: #RNgoogledoodle Innovator No. 8
April 13, 2014 11:08PM
Hey Doodlers!
You thought I forgot, didn’t you?? Nope, just work/life all day.
Welcome to week two of yours truly trying to show you why American nurses need one of your famous Google Doodles this coming National Nurses Day. Less than 3 weeks to go, and yet millions more innovative nurses to teach you about. How will I fit them all in??
Today’s RN innovator serendipitously picked herself. I had most certainly planned to send you an email about Theresa, but when she showed up in my inbox this morning, it was clear today would be that day.
Originally a PhD-prepped writing expert, Theresa Brown left a lecturer position to become an RN. She quickly blended her two careers, and penned a book about her first year as a nurse after she sent a post-work-vent-piece to the NY Times that landed her a column and a book deal.
Her book is exactly that – a testament to her first year as a nurse. In it, she fumbles and sometimes falls (literally), learns about the good and bad side of the profession, and makes her way through those torturous first days of utter responsibility.
Her piece in the Sunday Review section today calls attention to the hard reality of death in nursing, and the importance of speaking frankly about it. Many of her other pieces deal with the policy side of nursing and medicine, and how these two disciplines mix and sometimes clash.
She is innovative, to be sure. She has broken into main steam media, and has managed to stay. While her voice is decidedly a nursing one, she tackles issues with purpose and sometimes gall unparalleled in columns written by other clinicians.
I do hope to see, and work to see, more “RN” on bylines in our nation’s papers. Theresa started a path for us, using her prior career to amplify her current. Many nurses want to do the same, and should follow her lead.
Zzz,
Amanda Anderson, RN
Amanda J. Anderson 