always make the effort to remember your patients names.
stop calling them sweetie or darlin’ or honey when you do forget them.
focus less on producing nurse practitioners and more on empowering nurse mentors.
slow down, loosen up, engage in plenty of intercourse and raise your voice.
become an advocate for improving our profession. Be focused. Be credible. Be tactical.
stop seeing patients as problems and start respecting them as complex beings with their own values, needs and priorities.
Mentorship: Perhaps the most useful tool is finding a mentor to both guide and listen during the reflective process.
Journaling: Some find it useful to keep a journal or written narrative of their experiences. The very act of structuring and arranging your thoughts, and funnelling them through your left hemispheres onto paper may be very illuminating.
Blogging: opens a great potential for reflective practice that has been underestimated and largely ignored by our profession. It provides ample opportunity for interaction, extrospection and cross-referenced reflection.
Month: October 2009
How To Be A Nurse 1
Listen. Really listen as patients are speaking. Give them some time and listen to their words. Watch their body language. Don’t interrupt with your own agenda. Try to connect with your gut feelings about them as you are listening, but don’t pollute those feelings with a judgmental attitude.
Be gentle with yourself and your colleagues. Most of us are lucky enough to have two hands and two legs… but you can only carry so many bedpans at a time.
If you have made a mistake or you feel things are overwhelming you don’t beat yourself up. After all number one, we’re only mortal. Any nurse that tells you that they have not made at least one distressing error during their career is either a liar or haven’t been nursing very long. I’ve made some crackers.
Ask for help often. Ask questions often. Eat chocolate often.
Menengok Keserakahan Indonesia dari Bumi India
Oleh: Syaifoel Hardy
Dalam sebuah ceramah akbar di Dubai-UAE beberapa tahun lalu, saya sempat bertanya kepada Dr. Zakir Naik, ulama besar asal India, ahli perbandingan agama yang tersohor namanya. Subyek pertanyaan saya adalah mengapa Islam boleh dikata tidak berhasil di India padahal India pernah di bawah sebuah kerajaan besar Islam, misalnya kekaisaran Mughal yang terkenal dengan Taj Mahal, atau Kerajaan Mysore yang terkenal pula dengan Istana Maysore yang terindah didunia, bahkan melebihi Istana Birmingham. Dr. Zakir Naik menjawab, bahwa petinggi-petinggi kerajaan Islam di India waktu itu lebih memfokuskan kepada bangunan-bangunan fisik ketimbang dakwah Islam. Itulah salah satu faktor utama mengapa Islam malah menjadi minoritas di sana.
Ingin mengetahui lebih dekat jejak-jejak kebesaran Islam di India inilah yang manjadi salah satu motivasi saya untuk ingin melihat dari dekat apa dan bagaimana sebenarnya India. Disamping tentu saja banyak hal yang melatar-belakangi kunjungan saya, misalnya silaturahim dengan rekan-rekan kerja saya yang sudah mengundurkan diri, melihat institusi pendidikan serta mencari buku-buku India sesuai dengan profesi saya. Continue reading “Menengok Keserakahan Indonesia dari Bumi India”