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Nurse Leader Weekly, April 14, 2008

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"I don't like this side of the bed. No, I take that back. I loathe this side of the bed. It scares me, it makes me angry, it makes me cry. I have no control over this side of the bed, I have little identity, I don't have much of a voice. All this and more ran through my mind as I sat at the bedside of my 15-year-old daughter recently. It had been a long time since I had been part of the patient equation of the hospital rather than the nurse. It was just as much fun as I remembered.

Our daughter, Grace, is our baby, the youngest of our four children. Grace is a typical teenage girl. She slams doors, she cries at the drop of a hat. She grazes all day rather than sitting down to a meal. She is funny and emotional and dramatic, and she is a world class champion at texting on her cell phone. All of our children have been blessedly healthy, but Grace is our emergency room child. You know, she is THAT child, the one who falls, who hits her head, who goes through a fence on a horse, the one who had more stitches by age 5 than her other three siblings had, combined, by age 20!

A few weekends ago, she came home from a school-sponsored trip on a Saturday afternoon unexpectedly pale and pouty. She can be dramatic, but is rarely pouty. I should have known then something was up or something was wrong."

In an article that first appeared on StressedOutNurses.com and was later published in the U.S. News & World Report health blog. Karen L. Madsen, MSN, APRN-BC, shares her experience in the ER as both a mother and a nursing professor on the other side of the patient care experience. Click here to read the entire post and respond with questions or comments. Now with instant comment capability! There is no need to log on. Just click on the comments link and let your voice be heard.

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