Pain. It’s part of our human experience, acknowledges Christy Secor, DNP, RN, CDWF. She writes (in an upcoming JCN article), “The pain we witness in others’ lives can be physical, emotional, mental, relational, or spiritual. Pain is an important measure within our overall nursing assessment. It’s a sign providing information about acute injury, trauma, inflammation, infection, or rehabilitation ..read more

How does hospitality show itself in a nursing context? As the JCN editors prepared for the recent Journal Club webinar on “Understanding and Supporting Minority Student and Nurse Perspectives,” the term kept popping up ..read more

When I reflect on what citizenship means, I think of Ephesians 2:19: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”  I also think about what U.S. citizenship has meant to my mom.     ..read more

Life is hard. In the midst of adverse circumstances, it’s easy to lose heart. We pray and nothing seems to happen. We want to give up; we’re so weary of waiting, watching, and weeping. We continue on, doing life in our own strength … trying to check all the boxes while in our heads wondering if this is the way it’s supposed to be.   ..read more

She entered the room like a warm ray of sunshine with a welcoming smile and a heart filled with joy! This novice nurse checked IVs, gave medications, and assessed the comfort of our loved one, Andrea. Her confidence was palpable as I carefully observed her with my seasoned nurse eyes and intuition ..read more

Dialogue is to love, what blood is to the body. When the flow of blood stops, the body dies. When dialogue stops, love dies and resentment and hate are born. But dialogue can restore a dead relationship. Indeed this is the miracle of dialogue: it can bring relationship into being, and it can bring into being once again a relationship that had died. From The Miracle of Dialogue by Reuel Howe ..read more

How do I look at failure in my own life? How has failure played a role in my own professional practice? Am I learning the lessons God is wanting to teach me ..read more

Looking Back Think back on the past six to nine months. Take time now to reflect. Don’t rush — take a few days to think through these ..read more

I woke up the other day with two papers due, 10 text messages that deserved thorough and urgent responses, three meetings to plan, and an achy neck that desperately needed physical therapy. I knew what I had to do. I walked to the park, put on some worship music, opened my Bible, and prayed ..read more

There’s a picture on my phone that’s hard for me to look at. It’s of me lying on the sofa with our four-year-old daughter lying on my chest. She’s completely bundled up in a thick, furry blanket. It wasn’t a cold day, but because of how sick the cancer had made her, it was the only way she was comfortable ..read more