Intensive Care by Echo Heron

There is so much I can say about this novel, but for the sake of time and to entice more readers I will only speak to a few main points I took from it.

One of the first things I would like to point out is that Echo was a mother while also going through nursing school. She raised her child to the best of her ability and did have some "real-life" events that threw her off her guard at points. The fact that she included these life events in her book as well really influenced my perspective of her as a nurse and her as an author. 

It truly is easy to become swept up in the grandeur of medicine and forget about the bad days, hard decisions, and inevitable consequences of others' decisions. Intensive Care is a great reminder of the challenges nurses face. It is also a gleaming example of all that is important about nursing. The compassion Echo shows her clients is incredible! I think every nurse strives to provide the best care for their patients and the stories Echo shares are only a few examples of the ways we can do so.

That being said, I encourage all healthcare providers and families of healthcare providers to read this in order to gain a deeper insight into one woman's perspective of the healthcare industry. It hopefully will gain us nursing students some compassion and nurses a little more respect than frequently experienced.

Close Your Eyes

As I was walking to the grocery store this morning, I realized how much I love Fall. The beauty that surrounds us in nature this time of year is abounding! I could not help but stare at all the buildings and trees and smile. NATURE IS BEAUTIFUL!

Later on in the day I was administering medications via intramuscular injections (I was giving shots) to the manikins in lab and noticed across the lab that people were self-administering capillary blood glucose (CBG) tests. What was interesting about these people was not the fact that they were voluntarily "sticking" themselves, but that they were not even looking at what they were doing. I understand that for some, needles and probes are scary and feel the need to avert their eyes while experiencing a procedure using them. I, however, feel quite the opposite - I get scared when I cannot watch! My imagination goes wild with all the things that are going on just out of eyesight; it is why I have such a hard time watching horror movies. My paranoia is not unjustified - the vulnerability I experience is discernible.

Much of healthcare relies on actions done out of the presence of patients. Take for example, medication administration. We are taught as nurses to do three checks: one before removing medications, one immediately before dispensing medication to take to the patient, and one at the patient's bedside. Each check assesses the six rights of medication administration: (1) right patient, (2) right medication, (3) right dosage, (4) right route, (5) right time, and (6) right documentation. The checks are in place to prevent medication errors which can possibly lead to harmful effects on the patient. As nurses, we prepare the medications out of sight of our patients and they rely on us to administer them correctly.

After considering the perceived vulnerability during lab, I reflected on my walk earlier today and realized that I could have experienced Fall in the briskness of the air or the sound of crunching leaves beneath my feet. Not being able to observe life makes me uncomfortable, so I wonder why I feel differently toward healthcare. Both closing my eyes and relying on healthcare providers exhibit a sense of trust in the environment or world order. Could it be that human interaction means more to me than interaction with life in general? What does that mean with regards to my life, my character, me as a person? Is this the precursor to an existential crisis or am I just tired?