nurses of a certain age

We Agers Are Experts On Our Own Aging Experience

Originally posted on Engaging With Aging:
With that expertise come responsibilities Many of the people who study old people, theorize and write about us, take care of us, or relate to us are not “old’ themselves. They experience old age second handedly. Earlier in my life as a nurse I often had older patients. As…

Meeting Nancy Panko

I was one of about thirty authors who attended the program, Authors in Your Backyard: A Celebration of Local Writers, held at my neighborhood library on a Sunday afternoon not too long ago. I arrived with copies of my book: Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic, and the syringes to lure readers to my table. I didn’t…… Continue reading Meeting Nancy Panko

The Physician Supports the Nurse

I am following a physician’s blog: Suneel Dhand. Reading his post for the first time, I had a gut feeling I would like this guy. I think he represents a new and steadily growing wave of physicians who are becoming more aware of the effects that good communication has on patient outcomes and improvement in…… Continue reading The Physician Supports the Nurse

Nightingale Tales

My new project involves interviewing my classmates from nursing school. We “older nurses” are dying off. Who will be around to tell our stories? As I gear up to start this project, I’m educating myself in the art of interviewing. In the meantime, a serendipitous thing happened. Lynn Dow, RN, wrote about her long career…… Continue reading Nightingale Tales

Nurse at the Switchboard

Ten of us from a class of 44 traveled to Cape May, New Jersey to attend our 55th nursing reunion. We first met as young Catholic teens in the late ’50s enrolled in the diploma program at Saint Peter’s School of Nursing in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Hard to believe we are now in our…… Continue reading Nurse at the Switchboard

No Edit Too Mundane

This is the week we spend our annual family vacation at the beach. While I have enjoyed the ocean and sand, I took some time to complete an assignment. One of my stories had been accepted by Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine, a digital journal. It could be published as soon as this…… Continue reading No Edit Too Mundane

Leaving Our Legacy

I have been thinking for a long time about the fact that we older nurses are dying off. We will take with us our memories of nursing history. I have always loved to hear from other seasoned nurses about how they size up their nursing careers as they look back. What was important at the…… Continue reading Leaving Our Legacy

Excepted from Off the Charts, May 31, 2017 AJN Facebook Readers on Influences, Public Attitudes to Nursing, Practices of Yesterday by Betsy Todd, MPH, RN, CIC What do you remember from early in your career that would never be seen or done today? We “nurses of a certain age” remember!—and we’re amazed at how…… Continue reading Nurses of a Certain Age