We’ve Almost Made It Through a Week! March 27, 2020

Hi Everyone!  I didn’t write anything yesterday.  Truthfully, the situation hit me hard yesterday and I wasn’t in a place to be encouraging or positive.  In an effort to feel useful, I went and donated blood, and that made me feel better (not physically – it wiped me out – but definitely mentally).  I also contacted BC Marketing and told them I really need some photos of nursing students because I can’t keep boring all of you with photos of my pets!

This is Ruby.  She’s a 13 yo Jack Russell Terrier.  She’s probably the only dog in the world right now that’s not that happy to have her family home all of the time.  Truthfully, she’s kind of a cranky old lady.  But, it has nothing to do with her age.  She was a cranky young lady, too.  She had a rough start to her life and is not that pleasant of a dog.  But we’ve had her for 12 years and we love her and she’s family, cranky or not.  She doesn’t really like to be bothered, so I think Ruby would prefer that we just go back to our normal routine of leaving the house for work.  

Things have gotten real with these shelter-in-place orders, right?  And watching the coverage of the hospitals in New York is heartbreaking, to say the least.  The nurse friends I’ve talked to are tired, overwhelmed, and scared.  Because of my age, many of my nurse friends are advanced practice nurses.  My friend, Steph, who never would have guessed that she’d be in this position, is currently without work.  She’s a CRNA and her employer has canceled elective surgeries, so there’s no work for her.  Another friend is an ARNP and is facing the same problem.  She works with an orthopedic surgeon, who does mostly hip and knee replacements.  Those elective procedures have been canceled.  My friend, Lori, who has worked in the OR since 1986, two years after we graduated from nursing school together, has been told that she needs to work on a med-surg unit now.  She’s pretty scared about that, after 34 years in the OR!  I think I am most worried about those nurses who graduated within the past year.  It’s unthinkable to have to face these challenges in the first year of practice.

I participated in a nursing education call with the Board of Nursing yesterday.  This was a regularly scheduled call and they avoided discussion of the current crisis we are facing in nursing programs, making it clear that this will be discussed next week.  If you are currently in Trends, though, they did share some important information regarding your application for the NCLEX.  For best results in getting your authorization to test in the shortest amount of time, you should apply to test and register with Pearson Vue right around the time of graduation and at the same time.  Applying early does not get your preferential treatment and it does not get you an earlier appointment.  Absolutely no applications are considered until the graduation lists arrive to the Board from the nursing programs.  Submitting applications early just increases the possibility that your application will get lost in the shuffle.  I got this information straight from the Board of Nursing yesterday.

So, today is much better and I’m looking to the future.  I had a conversation with Nancy O’Donnell-Wilson, VP of Advancement and Executive Director of the BC Foundation this morning.  Nancy is quite the adventurer, climbing mountains and exploring seas.  I’m going to paraphrase here, but she told me that when she is out stand-up paddle boarding on the ocean (is she crazy??) and a boat goes by and creates waves, she’s found that if she looks down at the water or at her feet, she becomes unbalanced and is in danger of falling.  But, if she keeps her head up and looks toward the calm water, she is able to stay steady and balanced.

Let’s all look toward the calm nursing program waters ahead and move forward.  We are working on a plan for summer and will have it to communicate to you by April 2. You know that as always, I’m praying for all of us and today I’m wishing you a nice, quiet, calm, and HEALTHY weekend.