When I started out on my journey of becoming a nurse I quickly realized I needed to define my theory. I already knew I wanted to be a nurse. It was like a calling. But I needed to define what I wanted to offer as a nurse.
I realized then being a nurse wasn't really about me. It was about service, to someone else. One of my favorite quotes I have heard attributes to Mother Theresa, "I did everything my love could do." Everything my love could do... was I then trying to define love? I didn't think so. But I was definitely trying to define health. Because that is what I want for the people I care for, health.
"What was health?" I asked myself. "How do we define it? How do we create it?" And most importantly... "How do we give health to another, when so much of health depends on the individual???" Mental state, physical state, outlook on life, practice of living, all these things do indeed attribute to our quality of health, and none of them do I as a nurse REALLY have control over.
So what did I have to give? to create health in a person. What did I have control over? What was me that would make me a good nurse. And so it began... the process of defining me, as a nurse. So when people left my care, they were better off for having met me.
We get what we give...
We get what we give...
This used to mean, what comes around goes around. But when thought of in a larger aspect, it turned to, "If we give health to people we get health from them."
So what was health. What is it that, if exposed to by another person, makes people healthy?
I started back with my mentor... Love.
This used to mean, what comes around goes around. But when thought of in a larger aspect, it turned to, "If we give health to people we get health from them."
So what was health. What is it that, if exposed to by another person, makes people healthy?
I started back with my mentor... Love.
Love
Love makes people healthy. Approach with the attitude that all that they are is acceptable to you and the rest, whatever is making them un-well is un-useful, but will still be addressed with empathy.
Empathy
Be empathetic.
Webster's defines empathy as "the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another." In other words it is the ability to project yourself into a situation similar to the situation of another person, and be compassionate about that situation. It is not pity, which is more like sympathetic. Sympathy to someone who has come to you in suffering is more like a co-dependent situation where you become just as helpless as the sufferer in correcting the situation.
We are empathetic so we are not indifferent to the suffering of another. As a nurse we know your pain, and feel the gravity of the situation, however we are outside of it. Because we want YOU to be out of it as well. If both of us suffer neither can be well.
Empathy leads me to act, with kindness, compassion, to alleviate suffering. Empathy leads to mercy.
Webster's defines empathy as "the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another." In other words it is the ability to project yourself into a situation similar to the situation of another person, and be compassionate about that situation. It is not pity, which is more like sympathetic. Sympathy to someone who has come to you in suffering is more like a co-dependent situation where you become just as helpless as the sufferer in correcting the situation.
We are empathetic so we are not indifferent to the suffering of another. As a nurse we know your pain, and feel the gravity of the situation, however we are outside of it. Because we want YOU to be out of it as well. If both of us suffer neither can be well.
Empathy leads me to act, with kindness, compassion, to alleviate suffering. Empathy leads to mercy.
Protection
If I am to continue to create health, I want to protect, with all my care, those I am healing. And try to encourage those around me to do so as well. If someone in the situation is creating harm, try to alleviate it. Change it back to health. Healing creates only health, harm only sickness.
Peace
There is no greater environment I can create than a peaceful situation. If I am calm, others feel it to. Most healthcare professionals will sense the mood of those around them, the team, the cared for, and those that are caring, like family and friends who may be involved. If we have peace, we have mindfulness, and if we have mindfulness we can act with purpose instead of chaos.
If someone is calm, peaceful, they are better able function. To explain symptoms, situations, and even fears about their care. And they will not be interfering with treatment.
But most importantly a peaceful person is healing themselves as well. Chaos and fear only exasperates sickness. The body reacts in a negative way. Health is positive.
If someone is calm, peaceful, they are better able function. To explain symptoms, situations, and even fears about their care. And they will not be interfering with treatment.
But most importantly a peaceful person is healing themselves as well. Chaos and fear only exasperates sickness. The body reacts in a negative way. Health is positive.
Positive Reinforcement
Reinforce the behavior you want to see.
A person in panic, or just illness needs to be well. But only the dead are totally unwell. There are always signs of health you want to see. I once helped a friend who had the stomach flu and could not seem to stop vomiting. I waited until a break occurred and had them start counting with me. And as soon as I saw they were not vomiting I ask them. "See, it is working, you are feeling better." They stopped vomiting and started using what worked.
How many times have you seen someone walk into a room and say, "Your (loved one is) not doing so well." Immediately what you say is projected and that person becomes a little more 'not well'. We have to think about what we say and how we say it when dealing with others, anywhere...
A person in panic, or just illness needs to be well. But only the dead are totally unwell. There are always signs of health you want to see. I once helped a friend who had the stomach flu and could not seem to stop vomiting. I waited until a break occurred and had them start counting with me. And as soon as I saw they were not vomiting I ask them. "See, it is working, you are feeling better." They stopped vomiting and started using what worked.
How many times have you seen someone walk into a room and say, "Your (loved one is) not doing so well." Immediately what you say is projected and that person becomes a little more 'not well'. We have to think about what we say and how we say it when dealing with others, anywhere...
Empower
Empower people to understand there IS something they can do to make the situation better. Always. If they stay calm, health comes faster. If they think positively they will feel better.
I like to explain to people that the human mind and body is an incredible thing. And even advances in medicine have come from people that believed there was a way to heal what seemingly before was unhealable. Our hearts and mind, working as a unit, is a very powerful force. We have the ability, as human beings, to move mountains of obstacles and injuries if we believe it can be done.
I like to explain to people that the human mind and body is an incredible thing. And even advances in medicine have come from people that believed there was a way to heal what seemingly before was unhealable. Our hearts and mind, working as a unit, is a very powerful force. We have the ability, as human beings, to move mountains of obstacles and injuries if we believe it can be done.
Confidence
My mother once sent me a story of a man who had been in a car wreck and was badly injured. When he got to the hospital and saw his caregivers where looking at him with dread he smiled and said,
"I want you to know I want to live, and I am going to act like I am going to live. And it would help me if you too acted like you expect me to live." Immediately everyone around him calmed down, smiled and started acting confident everything was going to be ok. He overcame some very grave injuries and went on to live his life.
Confidence in our ability to become healthy is the only way to become healthy. If we believe we will stay ill, our actions follow the logically unhealthy determination. Because we will not see any other course to follow. We will be un-well.
"I want you to know I want to live, and I am going to act like I am going to live. And it would help me if you too acted like you expect me to live." Immediately everyone around him calmed down, smiled and started acting confident everything was going to be ok. He overcame some very grave injuries and went on to live his life.
Confidence in our ability to become healthy is the only way to become healthy. If we believe we will stay ill, our actions follow the logically unhealthy determination. Because we will not see any other course to follow. We will be un-well.
Dignity
Every human being, EVERY human being, deserves dignity. They deserve to act in a dignified manor, and they deserve to be treated in a dignified manor. Talk to people like they are humans, not patients, unintelligent about their situation and helpless to act upon it without our lofty position.
Harmony
When all things come into unity, harmony occurs.
Harmony as in the unity between what has occured, self and team, and those we have come together to heal. A harmonious situation feels like anything is possible just because we are here. All things have become focused in the now. And we are together to accomplish a single objective. All obstructions are accepted as what is and all healthy actions are accepted as here and forthcoming.
We will move with Grace.
Harmony as in the unity between what has occured, self and team, and those we have come together to heal. A harmonious situation feels like anything is possible just because we are here. All things have become focused in the now. And we are together to accomplish a single objective. All obstructions are accepted as what is and all healthy actions are accepted as here and forthcoming.
We will move with Grace.
Grace
Elegance, beauty of form, manner and motion. Mercy, clemency, honor and dignity flows together and becomes. We have acted to create love and we are grace-full.
We are courageous and we overcome.
We are courageous and we overcome.
Encouragement
This entire process, which can take mere minutes to evolve, needs encouragement every step of the way. If we stifle ourselves with nay-saying we are all lost. We come away from each moment feeling like nothing. Empty. Helpless.
Everything needs encouragement to grow and function. We encourage each other sometimes in the simplest ways. "You are doing great." "I am here with you." "Good Job!" Offer a hand. A pat on the back. A smile. Thumbs up. Anything that will help along the way to say "We are going to make it through".
Everything needs encouragement to grow and function. We encourage each other sometimes in the simplest ways. "You are doing great." "I am here with you." "Good Job!" Offer a hand. A pat on the back. A smile. Thumbs up. Anything that will help along the way to say "We are going to make it through".
Hope
Hope will bring light to the darkest situation. Without hope nothing works.
Hope is an immediate reinforcement that health happens. Instantly we feel health, just sitting there waiting for us to catch up.
Give Hope with gusto.
Hope is an immediate reinforcement that health happens. Instantly we feel health, just sitting there waiting for us to catch up.
Give Hope with gusto.
