Monday, September 21, 2009

Nurses Can Be Heroes Too


I have finally found another set of hospital drama series, except that this time, it's about nurses.  Finally!!! Name:- Hawthorne.  It's real, interesting and just as good as another tv series.  It starts Jada Pinkett Smith (Will Smith's wife) and my other favourite actor Michael Vartan.  I love the fact Hawthorne view patients care from nurses point of view from hospital bedside crisis, to how nurses are generally treated by patients and doctors, the good and the bad, the pressure of following hospital protocols even when it may not apply equally to every patient, the decisions made by nurses to whether doctors decision may sometimes be questionable and do you say it out loud or just keep it under the raps? When is it the 'right' time or situation to judge or decide if you can over ride a doctor's decision, and to do so, do we approach another doctor and ask their point of view? Would that undermine the first doctor's ability, accountability and his reputation?.....It also shows nurses from a fallible situation when they are caught in under pressure during emergency situations, but who does the responsibility fall to, the doctor, nurses, management.....? The show addresses when nurses face issues of feeling 'adequate' as just caregivers and not to feel 'inadequate' if they are less of a medical professional in a day's work.

I think the only thing I would say about nursing chief officer is I wish and hope clinical nursing officers (directors and chief) would be as compassionate as Hawthorne.  She's passionate and skillful.  In my previous nursing career, I have met only one that was like the ' Hawthorne'.  She didn't hide behind paperworks, desk meetings and coffee breaks....she got her hands 'dirty' and was out there in the trenches with the rest of the clinical nurses......she didn't let the documentation and meetings bog her down and away from clinical work.

Hawthorne.......watch it........The nurses version of Grey's Anatomy