Transformational Times
Words of Hope, Character & Resilience from our Virtual Community
Friday, May 7, 2021
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In this Special "It Takes A Village" Issue:
Director's Corner
Perspectives/Opinions
Poetry Corner
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Olivia Davies: To Kill A Year
Your Turn
Announcements & Resources
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Director's Corner
Transforming Health Care and Health Professions Education in Times of War, Pandemic, and Disaster: Lessons from Two Founding Mothers
by Adina Kalet, MD, MPH
This week, the Transformational Times celebrates National Nurses Week with contributions from MCW nurses and nurse practitioners. Dr. Kalet reflects on the lives and contributions of the founding mothers of the modern nursing profession, and how they remain exemplars of the character, caring, persistence, and grit needed to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic with a health care system that is both more humane and scientifically cutting edge …
As a little girl, I was enthralled with biographies. I read a slew of stories with simplified messages where the “(s)hero” triumphed over adversity, had eureka moments, left the world a better place, and – usually - lived happily ever after. Two of these stories have stuck with me. Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale, both self-educated, 19th century nurses, profoundly transformed health care and health professions education during times of crisis.
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Perspective/Opinion
Marking the Moment...and Continuing Forward Together
by Jennifer Popies, MS, RN, ACNS-BC, CCRN-K; CVICU Clinical Nurse Specialist
Ms. Popies, a Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Cardiovascular ICU, writes about what it has been like to be part of the team caring for desperately ill patients with COVID-19 over the past year. Recently, the caregivers in the unit paused to reflect on the one-year anniversary of the pandemic and to bear witness to what the year has meant …
It is overwhelming, humbling, and simultaneously a source of pride - as well as pain - to think of all the precious nursing moments with patients and families that I have borne witness to or been entrusted with in heartfelt conversation over the past year. Gestures that may seem like the smallest details of a patient’s care became some of the largest measures of bringing humanity to the bedside.
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Perspective/Opinion
Developing a Nurse Innovator's Mindset During COVID
by Kelly Ayala, DNP, BSN
Dr. Ayala, a Nurse Practitioner Hospitalist at Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital, discusses how MCW and Froedtert can consider engaging nurses as a group to improve care through innovation and the use of hackathons…
How might we? I wonder… What if?
These questions are often in my thoughts now. My mindset has changed in the past eighteen months, not only because I’ve lived through COVID-19, not only because many of my patients have died this year, not only because I am a mom with kids and wife of a husband working in another hospital system, trying to get through this challenging time. Rather, my brain has taken in the concept of innovation and design thinking and applied it to my NP work as a creative outlet, a way to heal, a support for challenging work, and a way to create patient-centered solutions while also harnessing the talents of our staff — especially our MA’s, CNA’s, RN’s and APRN’s.
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Perspective/Opinion
COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic Reflections from MCW's Research and Clinical Nurses
Compiled by Hope Campbell, MSN, RN
Ms. Campbell, a research nurse in the Department of Neurology, volunteered in the MCW COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic. In honor of National Nurses Week, she offers her reflections on that experience and has compiled messages and thoughts from several other nurse-volunteers …
Happy Nurses Week to all the MCW nurses and nurse practitioners!
When I started working remotely in March 2020, I felt helpless and guilty that I was in the position of being able to work from home while my nurse friends were working on the front lines in emergency departments and ICUs. I felt like I should be out there alongside other nurses caring for the very sick. My position as a research nurse made me feel like an imposter.
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Opinion From the New York Times
Death, Through a Nurse's Eyes
Video by Alexander Stockton and Lucy King
This short film allows you to experience the brutality of the pandemic from the perspective of nurses inside a COVID-19 intensive care unit.
Opinion Video producer Alexander Stockton spent several days reporting at the Valleywise Medical Center in Phoenix. Two I.C.U. nurses wore cameras to show what it’s like to care for the sickest Covid patients a year into the pandemic.
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Olivia Davies is a graduating 4th year medical student who will be starting her residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital this summer. Her poem, To Kill A Year, will be featured in the upcoming edition of MCW’s Auscult Literary and Arts Journal.
To Kill A Year
I wish I could show you in news clips
The loud clang of the beginning,
The silent empty of the middle,
The painful drone of the end
I wish I could show you in pictures the loss,
But it was hidden behind, between, below
masks
the most deafening silence
the most provocative noise
I wish I’d never have to show you at all.
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Brewers games!
- Alexandra Harrington, MD
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Respond to next week's reflection prompt:
What is your favorite children's book?
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Residents and Fellows:
What are you looking forward to in the next academic year?
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Additional Reading
Does a Measure of Medical Professional Identity Formation predict communication skills performance?
By Adina Kalet, MD, MPH; Tavinder Ark, PhD; Verna Monson, PhD; Hyuksoon Song, PhD; Lynn Buckvar-Keltz, MD; Victoria Harnik, PhD; Sandra Yingling, PhD; Rafael Rivera Jr., MD, MBA; Linda Tewksbury, MD; Penelope Lusk; and Ruth Crowe, MD, PhD
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You are cordially invited to a celebration
for the
2020-21 KINETIC3 Graduates of the Excellence in Teaching Track
This celebration will include a welcome address, as well as an individual celebration of each of the graduates. We hope you will join us to congratulate them on their accomplishments!
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June 2, 2021
Live Virtual Event
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm CT
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The Transformational Times publishes weekly, delivering stories of hope, character and resilience to our virtual community. |
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Editorial Board: Kathlyn Fletcher, MD, Adina Kalet, MD, Wendy Peltier, MD, Erin Weileder, Olivia Davies, Scott Lamm, Eileen Peterson, Sarah Torres, & Anna Visser
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