As I think back through my first day of learning to think differently about every aspect of my current nursing career and future career in nursing administration, I am feeling overwhelmed with excitement about this transformed mindset. Before arriving, I expected to learn and grow as I would in any other patient care conference or educational activity offered through my employer or school. I can not believe how different this is from what I envisioned! I feel inspired and motivated! I want to soak everything in!!! I am surrounded by people that are here with my same desire to become the best healthcare provider, team-mate, teacher, and patient advocate possible. There is a common goal to not take the easy or comfortable road, but instead find solutions that change the entire culture of health care to one that is not only safe, but the best all-around care imaginable. And the faculty have experiences that I would be impressed to even read about, and I have the opportunity to learn from them all week! I am so excited for the health care leader and provider I will become from this experience, for the changes I will be able to make, and for the opportunity to bring this knowledge back to school and work colleagues!
I have a couple of quotes from today that I will take with me to guide my care. The first was John Nance’s comment when discussing our OR case study. He said “The surgeon was hopeful that the sponge would turn up without causing harm, and he unknowingly made his hope his fact.” (Not sure if I got that word for word, but that was the meaning.) I think we all have the potential to do that without realizing we can cause harm by not gathering actual facts. I also like Dr. Mayer’s comment early today when he started with “Our first job is do no harm”. If we heal the condition the patient trusted us with, but cause a different problem from carelessness, we haven’t done our job. Finally, Helen Haskell had several amazing quotes. I can not even imagine how she has the strength and courage to let her son make such a difference for so many people. It felt powerful when she said “He died because he was in the hospital, the one place I couldn’t get him the help he needed.” We all worry about how long it will take to get someone to the hospital if a life threatening emergency occurs. Lewis was there…where we all think we’ll be safe in an emergency. But, his mother stated that this safe place with all the necessary resources and expertise was the only place she couldn’t get him help. The discussion that followed about always considering the worst possible cause is not what I typically see or do historically, but will consider when putting together symptoms from here forward.