Social work
I'd like to thank you for publishing "Hold the Phone? Nurses, Social Media, and Patient Care" (May, 2015) and creating dialogue about the positive uses and potential abuses of social media in healthcare. At our facility, we have access to and use various medical informational websites and apps at work. Our patients can e-mail their healthcare provider, access lab results, and schedule appointments through our clinic-wide website. While improved patient-provider communication and clinical access to up-to-date medical information are clear advantages, the disadvantages, including the potential for violating privacy policies, can't be overlooked. Facilities must design and implement a policy for nurses regarding the proper use of social media so everyone is on the same page to achieve the best patient care possible.
-LEIGH MCLAUGHLIN, RN
NORWELL, MASS.
An intimate acquaintance
By definition, nurse is a noun or a verb. In practice, nurse is a noun and a verb. I recently gained intimate knowledge of the world of nursing as a bystander. In the course of a year, I would spend over 100 nights as an inpatient and many additional days as an outpatient. A diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia gave me a front row seat to the nursing profession, where I witnessed the "heart of healthcare."
Each of my nurses would do a brief, routine assessment and ask questions most 19 year olds don't want to answer. Time and again my nurses treated me with respect and compassion. When the attending physicians visited me, I witnessed the interwoven responsibilities of the nurse and physician. Much more than simply there to dispense pills, nurses are highly educated and knowledgeable.
Nurses knew that one patient's life would come to its end soon, but his nursing care didn't change because of that. They shared such happiness over the great test results for another patient that one would think she was a family member. Shared grief and shared happiness; nurses are angels on earth.
I often wondered how the nurses could maintain their hectic pace day after day. There is a reason that nurse is a noun and a verb-they earn it. As a future physician, I plan to do my part to enlighten all whom I come across with my definition of nurses, the heroes in healthcare.
JACOB ADASHEK, BA
Pomona, Calif.