In the lead up to International Nurses Week this year May 6th – 12th. I have been running a little side project to showcase “the incandescent art of the bedside nurse”.
The response has been incredible, and I am sure you will agree, there have been some moving and inspiring contributions. I would like to shout out a loud yell of thanks to those who have taken the time to share their stories with us. YAAAAAHeeeeeoooowwwww!
Um…I think I just fractured my uvula.
If you have not caught up with them all yet, you can browse the entire Book of Nurses here.
Nurses week is still a ways off yet….but I would really like to continue posting at least one story a day up until May 6th.
SO. If you have enjoyed reading these posts and you would also like to read more… please help to motivate others to contribute by dropping some words of outrageous encouragement in the box below.
For those hesitating to submit. Don’t worry if you think you are no-way experienced enough or totally not interesting enough or cant write hardly well enough.
Honestly, every one of you has a story to tell, and the rest of us are waiting to read it. At least I am.
Once finished: email to #####@gmail.com (except replace the #’s with the word allcalm ).
Dont forget the pic. ( I will also be happy to make your page anonymous if you would prefer.)
IF you know a nurse who may also have a story to tell…forward this on to them.
Thank you!
- OK then, to start off tell us what country/area you live in, how long you have been nursing for, what areas you have worked in and the specialty you currently work in.
- What made you decide to become a nurse?
- (New nurses): Did you find your training prepared you for what actually goes on at the bedside? What sort of things really opened your eyes when you first began working ‘on the floor’?
- (‘Older’ nurses): How have you seen the profession change over the course of your career? Do you see a positive future for the nurses that are graduating now?
- Tell us a story: an amazing, funny, moving or memorable moment from your book of shifts.
- Not just a nurse: what about when you are not at work? What do you get up to in the rest of your life? (If you could include an amazing, moving or memorable moment….that would be cool)
- Piss and Vinegar: name 3 things that really get under your skin, push your buttons, or generally irritate you at work or outside of work.
- The nurses desk: What is the one thing you would like to say to the rest of the nurses or general public out there.
————————————-
I would really like to get some submissions from nurses working in other cultures and countries such as Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe….it might be tricky getting the invite out to those areas, but you could help by forwarding this to anyone you know who knows someone who is a friend of a brother of a nurse who works in say Nigeria. You get the idea.
Hi there,
I just wanted to write a quick note to both you Ian and all those nurses who have taken time out to respond to the series of questions. I only signed up to your blog a couple of weeks back and was intrigued when the first of the daily ‘book of nurses’ email arrived. The subsequent days have seen me take 5 mins out with a cup of tea or other morning break appropriate beverage each morning to read the nurses’ stories. I started by enrolled nurse training 8 months ago and with my future career not far off starting I feel both overwhelmed and enormously excited. The book of nurses posts have been informative and touching and increased my excitement about the new start, and for some of the more experienced nurses instilled in me maybe a little envy of their skills and varied and fulfilling careers. I hope to be able to say the same down the track. Thank you SO much for enabling this Ian! Best wishes. Joanna