[NPInfo] My Reply...Back to Sue

Sat Sep 8 08:29:01 PDT 2007

I completely agree!  The nurses have lost that caring, which is what I call on my webste "holistic therapeutic care", to me it is the essence of what a nurse is, and  now a nurse practitioner, if they want to call it the "caring" theory which not only attends the physical but also the spiritual and emotional side of the patient and family, that is wonderful. It is a concept that is so difficult to explain, and yet I think in the truly inspired nurses that went into the profession, it was already part of their personality, and that is what attracted them to the line of work. I have had some people say "holistic" sounds like you are doing acupuncture or just alternative, and no, to me it embodies the entire person, and the entire aspect of care, which is so much deeper than the c/c someone came in with. I have always been a patient advocate, and usually the nurse in general has been , but I have seen things change and it is awful. We must focus as Priscilla said on this
 concept of patient centered care. But to me it keeps going back to "treat others as you would treat yourself".. how is the best way you would want to be listened and cared for ? And the human touch, and a hug at the appropriate time, or allowing someone to cry, and just listen is priceless. You are right it is the ART of nursing that is being lost, and when I see it , it is heartbreaking, the hardness you see in some of the nurses out their today, and the unsafe practices, let alone the lack of being able to "tend" to someone. Carla

Priscilla Merrill <prispunnyfnp at metrocast.net> wrote:  Amen to that! Couldn't have said it better, Dena. I'm truly heartsick to
see this part of nursing go by the wayside. True nursing care for the most
part has gone down the toilet as nurses are more and more multitasked and
forced to be documentation/computer queens. My friends that have stayed in
nursing are few and far between and burnt to a crisp with the new mountains
of expectations, shorter than ever staffing and the fluffing has suffered as
have the patients. That's been my mantra over and over on these threads- -
the patient MUST be our center. It's not all about money, power, prestige,
turf, role delineation -- we must put CARE in the center and all would be
happy.
OK, I salute you my JANGO sister! This obviously made us fluffers from a
very early age. When you take care of men and do your hs perineal care, does
that make you a Fluffer-Nutter? And as my 2 cents, there's a difference
between comfort and fluffing and waking folks for mundane tasks when you
don't have to. That's why they call it the ART of nursing. OK< flame suit
on, POOF.

Priscilla Merrill FNP

-----Original Message-----
From: npinfo-bounces at nurse.net [mailto:npinfo-bounces at nurse.net] On Behalf
Of Dena
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2007 2:39 AM
To: 'NP Info'
Subject: RE: [NPInfo] My Reply...Back to Sue

I remember back in the '80s working 3-11, pushing a cart from patient to
patient starting at 9:00p.m., handing out a hot wet washcloth, a towel,
changing the drawsheet, putting a new pillow case on the pillow before
fluffing it, and offering a back rub to everyone. It was my favorite part of
the shift. Did I ever think I was playing the stereotypical handmaiden role
while I was doing it? No-- I only knew I was helping my patients relax and
feel better. Several years ago while working agency on the floor for extra
money, I fell back into the same pattern and the nurses were astonished.
None of them had ever heard of p.m. care before. When working the day shift,
I was shocked to find out that none of the nurses apparently had ever heard
of a.m. care or baths before either.

My girlfriend's 20 yr old son was in the ICU a couple of years ago with
bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax and was, appropriately, scared to death.
He later told his mom (a NP herself) that the best nurse he had was one who
gave him a back rub one night and then pulled up a chair and spent 20
minutes just talking to him. That was what he needed more than anything else
at the time.

I have often said that people go into nursing for one of two reasons-- the
art of nursing (the nurturing, hand holding, talking) or the science of
nursing (the machines, the numbers, the technical aspects). I'm definitely
the hand-holding nurturer type, always have been and always will be-- and I
will never apologize for it.
Dena Galler

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Carla R. Anderson, FNP-C
  Healing Presence Family Practice, PC  
  carla_rayne at yahoo.com
  503 819 9726