“Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts.” Florence Nightingale penned this almost 150 years ago and it addresses so many of the issues that 21st century nurses face today.
In celebration of the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale, 2020 has been designated the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife by the World Health Organization. It is no small irony, given the crucial role nurses have played worldwide in the COVID-19 battle. Nurses have been on the front lines of this pandemic, providing direct care to infected patients, working around the clock to care for and protect them and to prevent further spread of the disease. Sadly, many have lost their lives doing the work they love.
The FAWCO Health Team wants to end our 2020 contribution by celebrating this profession, the nurses worldwide who generously serve and heal, and our own FAWCO nurses. To that end, we offer a small glimpse into the lives of two FAWCO nurses: Dawn Pleasant Parker, presently living and working in Saudi Arabia, and Rozanne Lofaso Van Rie, a retired nurse residing in Belgium.
“The beauty of being a nurse,” shares Dawn, “is that it is a lifelong learning profession. You really do have to keep up with all of the latest information related to the area of nursing you are working in. Even when renewing your nursing license, individual states have mandatory educational requirements. I love learning continually. Certainly, in this recent pandemic, we have had to digest a huge amount of information in a short period of time. I think I have always been proud that for the last 18 years, according to a Gallup poll, nursing has been rated the #1 profession for honesty and ethical behavior. I think, in general, the profession of nursing is highly respected.” Rozanne adds, “Nursing is a sustainable career as long as you want to be in the caring industry! It is very flexible and offers a person so many fields of study – really, there are hundreds of options, from direct care to management and from young to old. Nursing is interdisciplinary. It is a team sport – you are one part of a wonderfully made body. Each part relies on others to get the job done.”
DAWN:
“My father was a career military man with four daughters. He always told us to get a profession that you can support yourself on. Don’t rely on a man to support you. Dad’s advice, along with a summer job in Okinawa at Camp Kue Army Hospital, gave me a taste of this profession. Many of the surgeons at the clinic had been stationed at M.A.S.H. units in Vietnam, so I learned a great deal. There was a nurse there who was really outstanding. She impressed me with her knowledge. She, along with my sister who was also a nurse, stood out as examples to follow.
When I was in school, I did my clinicals at Parkland Memorial Hospital. I saw my first Level 1 trauma activation, and being a bit of an adrenaline junky, from that day on I knew I wanted to do ICU or emergency nursing. It was like watching a symphony that was well conducted, and I was hooked. I have been able to work in both areas, with some of the best doctors and nurses in the world.
I learned how to become an effective nurse leader while working for the Medicine Department at Parkland. My colleagues there were phenomenal leaders, and I really feel that experience set me up to have the courage to do what I am currently doing. My work has enhanced my life in so many ways that it is hard to even know where to begin. I have always felt it was a privilege to be with families at their very best of times and at their very worst of times. The loss of a child, the birth of a beautiful baby, the passing of generations. I have been there to hold a hand of a scared patient near the brink of death and share in the joy of a new birth. You can experience twenty emotions in a day. You see the impact of making one bad decision; you see the best and the worst of people; you see that life is fragile and yet that people are very tough and resilient.
I really would change very little about my career or my choices. As a single mom of one child, Patrick, I sometimes made decisions about work based on whatever provided me with the best schedule to be able to raise my son and spend the most time with him. The beauty of a career in nursing is that the possibilities are endless. The field is so vast that you can do anything from work in a Level 1 trauma center to in a school or on a cruise ship….you name it. There are really very few professions that have as many options as nursing does. Back in the early 1990s, hospitals began to reevaluate how nurses worked when we were experiencing a real shortage of nurses. One hospital in Dallas introduced the “Baylor Plan,” which allowed nurses to work two 16-hour shifts on the weekends and enjoy the same benefits as those working 40-hour weeks. It really revolutionized how hospitals began to look at ways to attract nurses by offering shifts that were more amenable to nurses who had certain schedule needs."
ROZANNE:
“Once a nurse; always a nurse; I like to say. Even though I am retired from nursing professionally, I still practice nursing with the people that are in my life. The nursing skill set is both science and art; and helping people when they find themselves or someone they love in a situation that takes them down the road through a difficult chapter in life is part of the nursing privilege. Caring for people takes many forms – even guidance helping them to ask the right questions of their doctors, giving consideration to their families and being proactive for themselves.
When I was 15, I became a ‟candy striper” – indicative of the pink and white striped uniform that teenage girls wore when they volunteered in the hospital. I loved every minute of that experience and that work, and along with my collection of Cherry Ames Student Nurse books, I was hooked on the profession. Helping people seemed natural for me, and nursing offered me such a wide choice of specialization.
Shortly after my graduation from nursing school and on the first day of my state board exams, my father died of leukemia. This put off my registered nursing career by a year while I waited to retake my boards and I passed the year working as a nurse. The exposure to the oncology unit while my dad was hospitalized for this unknown blood disorder helped me to settle on Oncology, Palliative Care and Hospice and Pain Management as my journey in nursing.”
DAWN:
Currently, I have been a Nurse Leader in a military hospital in Saudi Arabia. My 3-year plan has turned into 11 years and counting. This has been such an adventure. My primary role is in developing future Saudi Nurse Leaders, and it is incredibly rewarding. Coming from Texas, I was always impressed that anyone that I have ever known who worked here said it was the best experience they ever had. This has proven true. An average day for me begins at around 5 am. Since nurses work 12-hour shifts, I get to work at 6:15 am to process any night staff issues; half of my staff are expatriates, and usually there are some issues to help with. Supporting them is important to me, as they carry large responsibilities at work and at home. We really emphasize a very high standard and patient advocacy at my facility, where we are undergoing accreditation by Joint Commission International, which is a US standard. The beauty is that we really have an opportunity to learn from each other. Some nurses who are not used to having all the latest equipment are masters at making things work when you don’t have all the latest in technology. Perhaps at home they are caring for people even in small villages.
It really makes you grateful for the training and education that you have received. In North America, we are blessed to be well educated and have a robust health care system. I have worked with such extraordinary nurses and midwives from Ireland, England, South Africa, Malaysia, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Scotland, Germany, Jordan and [elsewhere in] the Middle East. Each group brings a unique value to the patient’s experience. The image of nurses has changed over the years. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, nurses were not always portrayed as the strong, smart professionals we are trained to be, but more like handmaidens to the physician. It was a female-dominated profession as well, which has been slowly changing over time. Nursing has become a profession opening up to men who tend to gravitate to areas like the Emergency Room, ICU, and more of the higher-demanding work areas. Years ago in Oregon, they had a national campaign that targeted recruiting more male nurses into the profession. The “Are you Man Enough to be a Nurse?” campaign was successful overall (Oregon Center for Nursing, 2004). One thing that has made an impact is that male nurses in a recent poll make, on average, 10% more than their female counterparts American Health Line (June 25, 2018). So in some ways it has made women in nursing better at negotiating their salaries.”
ROZANNE:
“Advance Care Planning (ACP) is a huge opportunity for me as a retired nurse. My training has enabled me to have difficult yet supportive conversations with patients and their families so that the last chapter of life is transformed. This is even more important for those of us living overseas with family members back in the States or from other cultures. Advance Care Planning is a process that enables people to plan effectively and be ready for whatever comes down the road, medically speaking. ACP reduces stress, improves care and maintains connection amongst loved ones. I am very passionate about the benefits of this kind of prevention as it gives voice to the person’s desires. My Oncology Case Management experience has been a very rewarding aspect of my nursing career. Aging with dignity is an important part of life, and as a medical professional, I cannot stress enough the unique opportunity we have to encourage and facilitate these conversations, as difficult as they may be.”
Nurses have been and will always be on the front lines caring for the young, the old, the dying, and those being restored to healthy living. This profession is a cause for celebration as history speaks to the steady stream of nurses caring for those in need. We honor those nurses who this year have made the ultimate sacrifice losing their lives during COVID and thank the thousands of nurses past and present who will show up day in and out to care for and save lives.”
For further information:
Nursing specialties:
https://www.allnursingschools.com/how-to-become-a-nurse/
https://nursejournal.org/community/20-best-nursing-career-specialties-for-the-future/
https://www.registerednursing.org/nursing-careers/
https://www.allnursingschools.com/specialties/
Men in Nursing:
https://nurse.org/articles/Male-Nurses-And-The-Profession/
https://www.registerednursing.org/sexism-nursing-problem-not-like-you-think/
https://www.elitecme.com/resource-center/nursing/gender-roles-in-nursing
Nursing around the world:
https://nursegrid.com/blog/nursing-around-the-world-similarities-and-differences/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095771816000037
https://naibuzz.com/10-countries-with-the-highest-nurse-salaries-in-the-world/
Photo credits: Florence Nightingale - Canva, Dawn Parker and Rozanne Van Rie