Tag: healthcare

An open letter to the President Elect…

Kathy S. Parish6 Comments

An open letter to President-Elect Donald J. Trump:

Let me introduce myself. I am a 66 year old baby boomer, born-again Christian, nurse with a Master’s Degree. I have worked almost 40 years in the profession of nursing, the last 20 years as a nurse practitioner in a cardiology practice, all in a small city in central Arkansas. I have to maintain a national certification in nursing to do so. I am married and have children, grandchildren, and a great-grandchild, so the future of this country is very important to me. You would be most interested to know that I have never registered with a political party and have considered myself an independent voter for all of my adult life but I found myself becoming an “almost” Republican since it had been decades since I voted  for a Democratic presidential candidate–until this year. I’m sure that puts me way down on your list of anyone with anything of any value to say. I doubt that you will ever see what I write. There are some things that I just am compelled to put out there for your consideration, if by some miracle you should see it.

I wish I knew you better. You have been elected President of this great country. I want to respect you. I promise to pray for you. But, through all the debates and tweets and news reports, I feel I have failed to come to know you as a person. Do you read the Bible? Do you pray–sometimes with every breath–as you are making decisions that may make or break this country. Have you read the Constitution? Do you value the Bill of Rights–not just the one about bearing arms, but the one about free speech? As a New Yorker, do you remember the inscription on the Statue of Liberty–the part about sending us your weak and poor? For, you know, other than our Native American brothers, we all come from immigrants–if you trace our lineage back far enough.

You see, somehow, the performances at debates and rallies never let me meet the man that I hope and pray you are. It is unfortunate that there is no “national certification” for one to be eligible to be President of the United States. I confess that all I know about you is that you make lots of promises, you put on a good show, you resent all criticism (and reply with a demeaning tweet about anyone who dares to voice an opinion other than yours), and you are, as promised, turning Washington “upside down”.

I am afraid of so many things that your Presidency may bring. As you select your Cabinet and make some unconventional appointments, as you are blessed with control of both the Senate and the House (and soon, perhaps, the judicial system)–where is the balance of power that our founding fathers designed? I am afraid of some of your promises. The Accountable Care Act has allowed many people in Arkansas to afford healthcare. Please don’t repeal it just because it bears President Obama’s signature. Sure, it’s not perfect, but citizens can at least see a doctor now and get their medicine and go to the hospital with some hope of avoiding bankruptcy or ruined credit. Hospitals can get paid for care previously written off as indigent care. Fix it, don’t repeal it.

I don’t understand your utilization of Twitter. It just doesn’t seem very statesmanlike. Just as I am letting words fly from my computer keys, words I may regret (if I ever post this), you react so quickly to criticisms that are spoken, printed, or inferred by the press or a gifted actress or a news commentator. Let me give you a little tip–much worse things are going to be said during your Presidency because “you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.” Are you going to react to every incident defensively, demeaning the culprit? At first I assumed that you did it because your ego is so huge. Now I wonder if your self-esteem is poor enough that you have to “take down” anyone who isn’t your fan. You do realize presidential ratings are not like the Nielsen’s? Do you not ever regret a tweet posted in the heat of the moment? I hope you do, because then I could relate to you.

All this is said to remind you that the Presidency is not a reality show–it is reality. The reality of this office demands revealing some part of your humanity–compassion, patriotism, self-control, faith, and most importantly, humility–not just brash boasting about how wonderful you are and how you are going to make America great again. I believe it’s going to take more than you.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV

The people of America need to come back to the values that this country was built upon. For too long many Americans have felt that this country owes them something, while they are willing to do nothing to help this country. Too many work the system instead of working a job. Too many protest authority instead of respecting it. Too many take the road of violence to solve their problems, and, thus, create even more problems. Too many have forgotten that “In God We Trust” is this nation’s motto.

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. Titus 3:1-2 NIV

This is my pledge, Mr. President Elect, to try to lay aside my doubts about you, to remember that God is in control and that He, in His wisdom, allowed you to win this election, to pray for you, and to pray for this nation. I pray that others, including you, will join me.

Nursing, Past and Present

Kathy S. Parish5 Comments
The way it was.....
The way it was…..

I remember my days as a young nurse, days all in white, head to toe, with white dress and stockings and freshly polished white shoes. There were bandage scissors in my pocket, and a watch with a second hand on my wrist. I was an oddity in the small community hospital–an RN with a four year college degree in nursing, stethoscope hung round my neck, daring to listen to heart and lung and bowel sounds as I made rounds to assess the thirty patients on the medical ward where I was charge nurse. The LPN, displaced from the charge nurse position by my arrival on the scene, was somewhat dubious of this upstart young nurse who thought nurses’ notes ought to say more than “a good day” or “slept well” or “up in chair” and “ate well”.

I remember the excitement I felt the first time I recognized the signs of congestive heart failure in the patient before the doctor had diagnosed it. And the satisfaction of receiving a call from the OR with the surgeon’s message, “Tell Ms. Parish the appendix was hot.” It was oh, so satisfying, since I had called so many times to convey my concern for the patient that she was finally taken to the OR. The memories that fill my mind, the stories I could tell, the love that I have had for this profession sometimes overwhelm me. Often I have said, “I came up in the glory days of nursing.” No IV pumps–we counted drops to control the flow of IV fluid. I can shake down a mercury thermometer and take temperatures without the aid of a machine. I can use manometer and stethoscope to check a blood pressure–no Datascope needed here. I wrote legible, meaningful notes and enjoyed the confidence placed in me by both my coworkers and the physicians with whom I worked.

It’s all changing now, you know. Some things are so much better. It is nice to have an IV pump to control the flow of intravenous fluids and blood and medications. And it’s nice to have patients on continuous cardiac monitors that detect changes real time. Temporal scan thermometers are cool. Heart attacks can be stopped by a trip to the cardiac catheterization lab and an angiogram and balloon angioplasty with stent. Slow heart rates can be corrected with pacemakers. Sudden death can be aborted by implantable defibrillators. There are now a multitude of medications to treat hypertension and diabetes and high cholesterol that were not on the market when I started.

Some changes, though, leave me with a sense of sadness. The paper chart that used to be the story of the patient’s hospitalization, to be safeguarded and reviewed and valued as a communication tool is becoming obsolete. Electronic medical records are the future, and the future is now. Please understand that I’m not bemoaning the advent of electronic records in their totality. They’ve made my life easier in so many ways. And, to the extent that they contribute to a seamless delivery of care to the patient in a high quality manner, they are a gift to both patient and practitioner. But, in some of their incarnations they serve only to tie nurses to computers and turn physicians into clerical workers, and those iterations bother me. Are we losing some of the humanity of healthcare? Is the relationship of caregiver to patient being disrupted by the presence of mere machines?

But, there’s no going back. So the white cap is on a closet shelf, and I wear scrubs instead of white. And I struggle to adapt to the changes while still cultivating the patient and family relationships that make this profession so rewarding. I remind myself that life itself is a series of changes, as is the profession I have chosen and enjoyed for so many years, and I try to develop a sense of anticipation that better things will come from this struggle.

The way it is.........
The way it is………