[Sharon]

Do you think nurses learn by sharing stories? Have you ever shared or heard a story that had an impact on someone else or yourself? Share a story on the online discussion forum that had an impact on your nursing practice. It can be a story someone has shared with you or one you shared with others. (you may use pseudonyms to retain confidentiality).

[Chad]

I believe Nurses and everyone actually learns from stories. I’m gonna use example of a movie, a documentary. In the documentary story called ‘forks over knives “, it details process of beef farming practices and treatment of cows and living conditions . After viewing this “story” , I was unable eat meat for almost a month.

In my practice in community nursing I use many stories to help teach clients. One example is oncology clients , new to chemo TX. I tell them about a past client who after 3 or 4 days post tx felt very weak and nauseous, dehydrated, not eating. I tell them how someone recommended bone broth to them and it was like night and day. The client was able easily drink the bone broth and had energy and was able tolerate well.
I then explain how bone broth has protein, collagen, electrolytes and , some studies suggest it even helps with white blood cell production.

Another example I can think of is, this Nurse who took a online course. The Nurse in question, did the readings, responded to and read the posts and in the end they successfully completed the program and Obtained a certificate in leadership.

[Jennifer]

Great post, Chad! It made me laugh. I can relate to all of your examples, and I hope your last example means I will have a similar success story to share one day! Your last point also brought up an interesting perspective: the stories we tell ourselves can be just as impactful as the ones we share with others:-)

[Elena]

Storytelling is part of our human nature. We are people because we can talk and tell. Stories are the base in every learning process and so important to become part of the society we live in since we were very young children. They are also an important part of every culture and help shape the way we think.
Yes, I think nurses learn by sharing storie. Our stories are often connected to our real experience with patients and they often expand our knowledge. I remember many stories in my first years as a nurse, stories told by more experience nurses regarding the nursing practice back in time. I can remember now how nurses used to not use gloves to change diapers to babies, or how the urine test was done smelling and tasting urine searching for infection or glucose (the story was that the head Pediatrician used to dip one finger in children urine and then lick it). Those stories taught me that medical and nursing practice fortunately can improve and be improved every day!

[Chad]

OMG I can’t even imagine not wearing gloves.
I think old Nurses and Dr would even add they used smoke cigarettes in the hospital. Less knowledge and awareness back then I assume.

I 💯 agree Elena that stories are part of human culture, from childhood to adulthood.

And your story Elena has left me with an image of the Dr licking his fingers. I can only imagine his/her face afterward.

[Emma]

When I started in my place of work I remember all the “seasoned” nurses telling stories about their time working there. They use to talk about how they did certain tasks without the technology we have now. They also often stated that they have also learned lots from newer nurses because of the change in education. When we go and clean out some cupboards we often find some old instruments that have now been replaced with disposable, and back then they just had to hand wash the instrument and it would be good to go. However now we would have to go through a whole sterilization protocol.

Nursing is a never ending evolving career and we are often reminded of this from stories and Items that we find.

[Karolina]

Talking about the old time Elena, I remember my instructors so focused on making bed technic and putting things away only certain way, not crossing hands during procedures etc.

[Nadia]

Elena< Nursing has really improved . I remembered learning about how mental health facility used to be seen as the asylum and client were treated horrible. The families would even think of it as demonic.

[Leona]

Nursing is not just about learning from books, lectures or clinical guidelines. It is also about learning from real life situations, including the challenges, successes, and mistake we encounter while caring for patients. We also learn from the experiences of other. Sharing stories helping nurse grow professionally and provide safer, more compassionate care.

I remember a story shared by my fellow nurse about her experience working in a suburban hospital (in another country) where resources and medical supplies were limited, they need to be resourceful, well organized ,and creative in managing the available supplies to meet the needs of their patients. Despite these challenges, they remained committed to providing quality care to patients. Her story reminded me of the importance of adaptability, teamwork and making the best use of available resources while always prioritizing patient safely and well being.

This experience showed that even when resources are limited, teamwork, sound clinical judgement and proper prioritization can make a significant difference in patient care. I learned that safe and effective care depends not only on having advance equipment or abundant supplies but, also on the knowledge ,skill and dedication of healthcare professionals.

[Dayna]

Thank you, Leona for sharing this. I completely agree that we learn from our experiences. After training as a nurse in college, you leave college thinking you are all set and ready to take on the world. After I graduated and started my first job, boy was I wrong. I learned so much in my first 5 years of nursing. Even after 20 years, I am still learning new things. This job is very educational with something new to learn in the making.

Thank you for sharing this!

[Emma]

We had a resident move into our home for hospital. She was fairly active prior to her hospital admission, she was admitted with a stroke. When she moved into our home she had left sided weakness which required her to be in a wheelchair, little to no movement in her left arm and impaired movement to the left leg. She was beyond defeated as she was also having trouble swallowing, resulting in being on pure food. I continued to promise her with PT and OT that we would help improve her quality of life. explained that we had another resident awhile back whom was also a fresh stroke who came in determined to gain her strength back so she could go back into the community. She put the work in and we got to see her walk out the door with little assistance.

With lots of of encouragement with this resident we were able to get her walking with PT regularly, improvement with her diet texture. We helped her come up with solutions and adaptions that could be made for the hobbies she once loved to be able to do them again. I remember the first day she swallowed a whole pill, she had tears in her eyes. I gave her a big hug and told her that I knew she could do this and she did. She thanked me for never giving up on her, and I reminded her that she got herself to this stage because of her determination.

[Jennifer]

What a beautiful story, Emma! Stories like this make me proud of our profession and remind me why I want to continue helping people. They may not be flashy or make headlines, but they are real, and they impact lives every day. Through your dedication, you were able to give this patient the strength and motivation to positively change her life. I don’t know what could be more important than that.

[Dayna]

I agree that that nurses learn by telling stories. When working in the health care field, we are always coming across different situations, events and incidents that we learn from. This especially goes for when we are learning a new task from a mentor who has experience in that part of the field. An example of this would be a nurse learning how to complete a VAC dressing on a client. No client/patient is the same for this kind of dressing. We always end up finding different strategies to complete this task to fit the individual person which can help teach others.

I have a story that I tell quite frequently. I tell this story to the PSWs I work with as well as caregivers in the home (spouse, children, friends). This story is particularly surrounding clients with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and ways we can help cope and manage.

This story would be considered a “first hand experiential”, and it came from my experience when working in LTC on a locked ward. I tell this story to new nurses/psws who are not familiar with sundowning or redirection. I also tell this story to caregivers to our client to help them manage when their loved one cannot settle. There have been many times where caregivers would be concerned about telling lies to their loved ones and felt it was un-ethical. Here is my story:

“When I was working in LTC, I worked on a locked ward where most of my residents had dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or cognitive impairment. There is one resident that I will never forget. We will call her Sally. Sally had dementia and she had a tendency to sundown quite quickly. Throughout the day, Sally always seemed to revert back to her days when she was a young mom, and days where she was a young child herself. Sally got anxious and agitated quite easily where she didn’t know where her baby was, or she was waiting for her mother to come pick her up. After brainstorming and discussions with the recreation therapists, we decided to give Sally her own baby. Sally carried this toy baby around with her everywhere. She didn’t want to leave it alone as she felt it was her responsibility. There were often times when I would babysit for her while she went to eat her meals. This baby had it’s own sleeping area in the nurses office. The days where Sally was concerned about her mother picking her up was usually around supper time, which is the time the sundowning usually begins. The staff and I always ended up redirecting Sally, saying that her mother had called and asked us to give her supper because she had to work late. This helped Sally settle and helped aid her into the dining room to have her meal. ”

I find this story helpful as it shows we aren’t “lying” to our residents/loved ones. We are aiding them to settle to promote their wellbeing.

[Elena]

Thank you for sharing your story. I agree that communication is very important when caring for people with dementia. We need to adapt the way we communicate to their needs and feelings. In Sally’s case, the staff found a way to calm her and help her feel safe. I think sharing stories like yours is a good way to help nurses, PSWs, and family caregivers learn how to communicate with patience and kindness.

[Jennifer]

Storytelling has been part of humanity for thousands of years. Storytelling touches the lives of every human walking this planet and nursing is no exception. I feel storytelling is a necessary component of the nursing profession. Learning, building relationships, advocating for change, understanding, remembering, can all be done through storytelling, just to name a few of the amazing key components.

An example I would like to share is how a camping trip this fall has changed my entire perspective on Indigenous peoples and the land they share with us. Camping at Killbear Provincial Park on September 30th-the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation- I had the privilege of listening to stories shared on the radio and reading a wealth of information distributed at the visitor centre. Learning through the stories of so many Indigenous people impacted by colonization, such as the tragic story of Chanie Wenjack, has heightened my awareness of the deficits and discrimination that still exist in our healthcare system today. Inspired by those stories, I seized an opportunity I might previously have overlooked: attending a conference called Decolonizing Indigenous Health Systems. This event was incredibly insightful and emotional. I walked away seeing how much work still needs to be done, but I am hopeful that we are moving towards reconciliation and that I can be a part of it.

[Karolina]

Stories are very important tool in learning and memorizing. I remember one of my colleague/ work buddy that I was paired with as a new grad. He was an excellent teacher while he was giving me an opportunity to think for myself. He was giving me kind of homework after each shift that we worked together to learn certain medications that we often used in the unit and procedures. I still remember things that he was teaching me 20 years ago. He was often giving examples from the unit and his past experience. I am still thankful for all he did at the beginning of my nursing carrier.

[Nadia]

I think as nurses we do learn from stories since we learn from our hands-on experiences. My stories as a new PSW/ student for bedside care is always to remember to read your POC before attending to a client. This one time I thought I knew my client care well. When my assigned client rings the call bell I decided to attend to my bell. When I got there, the client had a bowel movement and needed to change. I decided to proceed by myself, not knowing she is a two-person care. I was able to remove the soil brief, but right after for some reason the client got hold of the soil brief and kept wracking at me with it. I was sweating and I pressed the call bell for help; since , I felt it was out of control. when my partner came in the room , she said you know she is a two and the client has dementia and gets aggressive when you needs to be change. That’s the day I learnt that the importance of double-checking my client plan of care and ensuring I am attending the rightful client.

[Author]

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