Nurses and Pharmacists: For Valentine’s Day All We Want Is Respect

jparadisirn,

I’ve written before that I am happily married to a pharmacist. Sometimes when we come home from work, we commiserate together in shorthand about our hospital shifts. When we are grumpy, we play “I work harder than you do,” in which we childishly throw out episodes from our day to prove who had a harder shift and should buy dinner. Usually I win, because as a nurse, I am the one working hands-on with patients. However, I concede that being responsible for every medication calculation, preparation, and drug interaction (and more) is a tough and stressful job. Safe medication administration is a foundation of patient care. I also acknowledge that nurses are occasionally a little difficult to work with (I  was actually once present for a code blue when a stool softener was ordered STAT).

Anyway, for David and all my pharmacist friends, this one’s for you. Special thanks to the friend who brought this video to my attention.

Late Entry: I did have the Pharmacy Respect video here earlier, but I have removed it.

Published by jparadisirn

JParadisi RN, OCN emeritus, is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus in painting and writing. Her paintings and short stories have been published nationally. She has exhibited artwork in galleries throughout the Pacific Northwest. Julianna is a frequent contributor to Off The Charts, the blog of the American Journal of Nursing as a blogger and illustrator.

2 Comments

  1. Julianna- Read your AJN Reflections article in February’s issue and was moved to look up your web site for more. The story behind Love You to Death is paticularly interesting and parallels what my husband & I have found after 50 years married; despite the ups & downs of the early years, as you settle into the long term relationship the feeling becomes a sense of devotion, a deeper feeling so well-defined through your story of the elderly couple. Author Joyce Carol Oates, recently a widow after 40+ years of marriage, wrote of her experience following her husband’s unexpected illness & death.
    I am also an oncology nurse & writer (AJN’s October 2010 Reflections “Paper Chart Nurse”,& other journals including Annals of Internal Medicine May, 2003,On Being a Patient:”Any Oasis Will Do”. As a nurse, writing is a great release. You have creatively taken the expression of nursing to several levels & I thank you.
    Joyce Hislop,RN,OCN

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  2. Joyce,I read “Paper Chart Nurse” in the October AJN, and that makes your beautiful comment even more meaningful to me. Thank you for sharing from your own experience.For me, the best part of contributing to the American Journal of Nursing has been connecting to the other writers,poets,artists,and readers, realizing that the work contributes to a larger conversation and community.

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