We become old when we lose the ability to accept change.
I Wish I Said It
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Commitment Makes You an Artist (or Nurse)
If you aren’t reading the blogs at TheONC, you should. I’ve incorporated much new information from my blogger colleagues into my nursing practice. If you haven’t created a login and joined this lively online community, today is a great day to do so!
pencil on paper by jparadisi
Commitment Makes You an Artist (or Nurse) is my contribution this week’s discussion. Creativity, like nursing, requires time and practice. In this article I offer some practical advice to get you started.
While I’m on the topic of commitment, today is Certified Nurses Day. I hold OCN certification as an oncology nurse. In the past, I was pediatric CCRN certified. Specialty certification is a powerful way for nurses to commit to their practice. Congratulations to nurses who have taken this extra step in professional development and providing excellence in patient care!
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Never Stop Developing Your Curiosity: New Post This Week for TheONC
This week, I’ve written a new post for TheONC titled, Never Stop Developing Your Curiosity. I discuss the role curiosity plays, not only in creativity, but also in patient care, such as helping a patient deal with chemo induced alopecia.
TheONC is an online community for cancer care teams with blogs and discussions covering a variety of oncology topics. Recent posts discuss palliative pain control, stem cell transplant, cancer risk after solid organ transplant, music therapy, and more. Individuals involved in the care of cancer patients can register for a site login, and join the conversation. Follow on Twitter @The_ONC.
Solar Flares
I am a nurse. I believe full moons have influence over hospitals. I also believe in the electromagnetic power of solar flares. Last week, hospital staffs in the Northern hemisphere had the joy of exposure to both. While I can’t speak for healthcare providers as a whole, I experienced a few incidents last week, which I attribute to solar flares.
First, I noticed communication glitches in communication David and I. Since communication is a core strength of our marriage, it was weird. Standing in the same room, conversations went something like this:
Me: “Hmm. We’re out of butter, let’s put it on the grocery list.”
David: Silent.
Me: “David, did you hear me say we’re out of butter?”
More silence. Half an hour later…
David: “We’re out of butter.”
Me: “I know, didn’t you hear me say that half an hour ago?”
David: “What? Oh, you better put butter on the grocery list.”
Me: “Can you hear me when I’m speaking to you?”
David: “Are you saying we don’t need butter?”
At the infusion clinic, a nurse complained people were not receiving her messages. Another nurse looked up and said “Solar flares.” The first nurse said, “Weird, you are the second person to say ‘solar flares’ to me today. Solar flares?”
“Yep. There’s a solar storm headed towards Earth this week. It’s all over the news.”
“Really, I hadn’t heard.”
That was Thursday.
On Friday, we lost login ability to the electronic health record, once logged out, therefore access to patients’ charts. All the records were secure and intact, we simply couldn’t access them for a short, but inconvenient time. Our fabulous IT team fixed the problem reasonably quick. We weren’t informed what happened, but I blame solar flares.
On Sunday, our car’s GPS system acted up, eventually righting itself. Solar flares.
I wish everything in life were so easily diagnosed.
Do you have a good solar flare or full moon story to tell?
New Post for TheONC: Learn to Say Know
The new post I’ve written this week for TheONC the Blog is Learn to Say “No.” In it, I share how I learned to take back control of my time and relationships, the first step towards carving out the personal time necessary for creative growth.
TheONC is an online community for cancer care teams with blogs and discussions covering a variety of oncology topics such as spirituality, treatment regimens, research, and more. Individuals involved in the care of cancer patients can register for a site login, and join the conversation.
Did You Get Your Relational Aggression Vaccination This Year?
Mean Girls (First Communion II) mixed media on paper by jparadisi. Published March 2011 by the American Journal of Nursing.
2012 marks the latest arrival of flu season in twenty-four years. So far, nurses remark how little flu they’ve encountered in the community, and it seems sick calls are fewer this year.
If the flu season is mild, the prodromal symptoms of Relational Aggression are virulent. Common symptoms include: nurses addressing coworkers with aggressive voices and or words, withholding information benefiting a coworker, speaking patronizingly, disregarding a coworker’s contribution to a conversation, or ignoring him or her altogether. These behaviors sprout in every workplace from time to time. When it happens at mine, I feel a bout of emotional flu coming on.
It is paradoxical. A nurse who’d go beyond the call of duty for quality patient care will turn and rip a carotid artery from the neck of a coworker with the ferocity of a wolverine, metaphorically speaking.
Reading recent posts of fellow nurse bloggers, it appears RA season is in full swing. Last week, Joni Watson at Nursetopia blogged about Emotional S & M Nurses and Sounding Boards; Kathleen Bartholomew blogged about RA at NurseTogether.
Last month I read When Nurses Hurt Nurses by Cheryl Dellasega, PhD. She defines Relational Aggression as
“…gossip, exclusion, teasing, tormenting, undermining, cyber slamming, and a host of other verbal and social behaviors designed to wound another person.”
Dellasega encourages nurses stop RA through identifying their own behavior perceived as aggressive by their coworkers. She unfortunately notes, however, most hardwired aggressors aren’t interested in reading a book like When Nurses Hurt Nurses (probably because their behavior works for them). She suggests coping with RA by
“learning to communicate effectively, adjusting your attitude, collaborating around a common goal, managing stress, and sometimes just forgiving…”
I’m practicing her advice. Some days it works. Other days, I want to lash out, “I am not ignoring your snarkiness because I’m stupid, or don’t recognize your aggressive behavior. I am nice to you because I have integrity. I am a professional,” but I don’t (remember, learn effective communication). Instead, on those days, I resort to forgiveness. Joni Watson provided a lovely affirmation by Mother Theresa titled Anyway. Wish me luck.
Instead of mandatory flu shots, perhaps nurses need vaccination against Relational Aggression.
Sometimes, work feels like the flu.
Have you experienced relational aggression at work, regardless if you are a nurse? How do you cope with it?
I Wish I Said It
I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork. — Peter De Vries
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New Blog Up at TheONC
I’ve posted a new blog at TheONC: How to Assess Whether You Need Creative Resuscitation.
Moving an Art Studio: Boxes and Baggage
The old studio had charming, arched windows. photo: jparadisi 2012
In December, I moved my studio. Construction needs of the landlord required vacating a few art studios, including mine. Fortunately, another was available in the same building. The caveat: I couldn’t move in until December 1, and had to vacate the old studio by December 31, 2011. Between holiday busy-ness, and increased census at work, I threw everything haphazardly into boxes, dumped them equally haphazardly into the new studio, and locked the door.
After the holidays, selling art, a new writing opportunity, and knitting socks distracted me.
This is the third studio I’ve rented since making that commitment to my art. I prefer studios in romantic old buildings. These often change owners, require new construction, or are torn down altogether. Renting studios adds a Bedouin characteristic to an otherwise stable life. In true nomadic spirit, I schlep boxes of art supplies, broken pieces of junk I hope to transform into art supplies, empty yogurt cups for mixing paint, notes from art school, good work from my student days, poor work from my student days, several unfinished paintings I intend to return to, and the equivalent of a paper ton in past issues of Art Forum, Art News, Modern Painters, Women in the Arts, and Cabinet magazines.
Now it is nearly March, and I begin the onerous task of organizing a new studio.
Opening its door, I confirm no “studio elves” have magically transformed my stuff into an organized workspace. Studio elves exist; they are called interns. They work for free, but you have to be a famous artist to have one. Or, if you are rich, they are called studio assistants. You have to pay them. I cannot afford one.
Friends offered to help, but I turned down their offers. The truth is, I want to sort through the fossils of my art life with the care of an archeologist. I’m not sure what I hope to find, but here’s some random thoughts I had while hauling bags of yogurt cups to the recycle bin:
- Why do I have hundreds of empty yogurt cups? How much paint do I hope to mix in my lifetime? Why do I eat so much yogurt?
- Art students draw lots of naked people. I have seen more fully naked people as an artist than as a nurse.
- Bad paintings, like bad relationships, don’t improve over time. Get rid of them.
- Sometimes junk is junk. Quit trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
- Some paintings are good even if everyone doesn’t understand them. Believe in yourself.
My new studio is brilliantly illuminated by skylights. photo: jparadisi 2012
Obviously, this is a metaphor. Ideas and beliefs no longer serving us gather like old junk behind a closed door while we are distracted by new experiences. We lug them home and to work where they sabotage us. They are heavy, dragged from place to place, taking up space better occupied by a richer life.
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It’s a Skill If You Can Repeat It
It's a skill if you can repeat it, right? photo: jparadisi 2012
Hey, I finished a second pair of socks, knitting two at a time on a pair of circular needles! This is probably a yawn for experienced knitters, however, I never knitted socks at all until this year, so for me it’s an accomplishment. Cross that one off of the New Year’s Resolutions list!
