Why am I a nurse?

There are different reasons why people decide to pursue a certain profession. Being proficient at something, having a personality that is fitting for a job and good pay are all fine reasons to follow a professional path. But with nursing it's not enough to just be willing to pursue a career in the field of medicine. A successful nurse should have human qualities that are essential to the profession such as empathy and compassion. I think this is what separates nursing (and health care in general) from a lot of other fields of work.

Is technology helping or hurting?

There is much debate going on on the topic of technology in health care. Some say that you should embrace the "next big thing" and keep up with the times but is that approach really working for nursing? As nurses, we value a lot of traditional things like empathising with our clients, comforting them, giving advice and so on. It seems like technology would hinder this contact with the patient. However, we and our patients benefit from online resources and faster communication - it's not all that bad, it seems. So once again, the moderation seems to be the key here and too much technology can hinder the link between the nurse and the patient, but we can't remain in stone age either!

What makes a good nurse?

Hi everyone,
As nursing students we have to combine our studies and nursing practice in our lives. Most of the time it's not that easy and sometimes one would wonder, is it the same thing that makes a good student/parent/friend and a good nurse. We know that a good nurse is characterized by such qualities as compassion, tolerance, humor, humbleness, empathy. Maybe we should try and embrace these qualities in the everyday life as well.
Until next time, goodbye.

Balancing life and work

Hello everyone. I haven't had much time to write here lately. You know how it is, classes, work, homework - everything piles up and leaves little free time. We learn that stress can lead to all sorts of illnesses but our lifestyle isn't exactly stress-free. In fact nursing is one of the most stressful jobs there are. So, we should try to take care of ourselves, try to find a bit of time for ourselves and not get carried away by the routine.
For my communications class I'll be doing a short presentation on proper hand washing technique. It's sometimes scary to see how many people are not washing their hands properly or at all after using a public washroom and before eating. All that bacteria ends up in public places and gets transferred easily. I think now that it's almost winter and everyone's immune system is weakened, it's especially easy to catch some sort of an infection. Chances of this are smaller if you and the ones around you would wash their hands properly.
Until next time, bye everyone and take care of yourselves.