Generations

For my least enjoyable class this semester we had to write a blog entry reflection on the class once a week, among other very-less enjoyable things.

(You can check out all eleven or twelve of them here, if you promise not to judge my absolute lame-ness ... and if you really care)

Most of the blog post's were BS to get the grade, but I actually enjoyed this week's topic. It was a silly chapter about the changes that nurses are expected to be making in their lives, and careers, as treatment options change and technology advancements influence healthcare.

I admit, I really didn't even read the chapter, but I was moved by the realization that even though all the members of my family have all lived such completely different lives, we will always have this something that connects us (and not just me to my Great Grandmother ... all of us). This is what I wrote...

Week Eleven

The environment of healthcare is forever changing. Healthcare attitudes and sciences are forever evolving. There are always new ways of doing things, based on new studies, and new technologies changing the way we do our jobs and care for patients.

Nurse's jobs are always changing along with the healthcare industry. My Great Grandmother was a nurse, and went to nursing school during the 1920's and 30's. Comparing what she did as a nurse to what my Mom and Aunt now do as nurses, and what I am just learning to do as a nurse, I have personal witness to the radical changes.

When my Great Grandmother went to nursing school you could only be an unmarried, young woman. She lived in dorms with the rest of her class and spent all her time doing only nursing school related activities. I guess doing nothing but school hasn't changed since then, but now the nursing population and the population in nursing programs are very different. There are now men, married people, people with kids, people who have decided to make a career change later in life, people from all different ethnicities, and even still, the young, unmarried woman.

They way that diseases and conditions are treated and managed have changed over the years, also. My Great Grandmother was diabetic. She managed her diabetes through strict diet and self-awareness. She would be a very rare case nowadays, when most people are able to use insulin or pills without any kind of lifestyle change.

Through all these advances in technology and science we have made our lives easier, more comfortable, and lazier. I would want to be able to discuss what was required of my Great Grandmother as a nurse, and how similar practicing as a nurse now is to then. I know that through all the changes there is still the basic need for nurses to really care and be concerned with their patient's health.