This is the time of year when we get together with friends and family and look at each other in silence while on our devices updating the world about the amazing time we are having with our nearest and dearest. Sometimes we even speak with each other!
For nursing staff, it can also a time for involuntary and unpaid clinical work. As a trusted and respected profession family and friends will speak to us about a variety of clinical issues. ‘He’s a nurse ask him’. Friends and family can expect us to have specialist knowledge of anything and everything clinical. I used to feel a failure when friends sought clinical advice about things outside my scope of practice and which I was incapable of giving, I am less harsh on myself now.
One Christmas my relationship with my grandmother took an unexpected turn. We deviated from our well-practiced conversations about whether I had a girlfriend YET, to a new uncharted topic, her pelvic organ prolapse. The horror of her words, “You’re ‘medical’ I can tell you“. Given my near zero knowledge and skill in gynaecology perhaps another relative would have been better placed to offer advice, ANY OTHER relative! I made some reassuring noises about my pleasure that she had spoken with her doctor then tucked into some turkey.
It’s flattering and tempting to meet the expectations of friends and family and be the font of all clinical knowledge. However, this is unrealistic with the countless specialisms within nursing and there are dangers in stepping outside of our scope of practice. It is also nice to have a break from work and not run informal clinics when you are trying to watch a Christmas movie. It is important to set our own personal and professional boundaries.
Conversations during the festive season can also focus on the doom and gloom of the health and social care system and the challenges facing the nursing profession. We can be more inclined to talk about our worse days, like when we have been short staffed or when we have had to support a drunken and abusive patient. These stories can garner sympathy and admiration and perhaps illuminate the challenges of our working lives. I like a good moan and people seem more interested in what’s wrong than what’s right. But do we spend as much time talking about the other aspects of nursing, the ones that made us choose this profession?
What has made you proud this year? What positive impact have you had on people’s lives? We will have supported people to be healthy, saved lives, minimised suffering, provided comfort when people most needed it, and met interesting people from all walks of life. This is also the reality of nursing, but do we tell these stories? We do have a responsibility to highlight where improvements are needed, but only focusing on the negatives of our work can make us feel less motivated and lower our mood. Life is about balance, which I shall be reminding myself of when tucking into the tin of Christmas chocolates!
I will be spending some time reflecting on 2025 over the festive season. I always am invigorated by a new year and am looking forward to meeting and working with you in 2026. Whatever you have planned I hope you manage to get some rest and recharge while connecting with friends and family.
For nursing staff, it can also a time for involuntary and unpaid clinical work. As a trusted and respected profession family and friends will speak to us about a variety of clinical issues. ‘He’s a nurse ask him’. Friends and family can expect us to have specialist knowledge of anything and everything clinical. I used to feel a failure when friends sought clinical advice about things outside my scope of practice and which I was incapable of giving, I am less harsh on myself now.
One Christmas my relationship with my grandmother took an unexpected turn. We deviated from our well-practiced conversations about whether I had a girlfriend YET, to a new uncharted topic, her pelvic organ prolapse. The horror of her words, “You’re ‘medical’ I can tell you“. Given my near zero knowledge and skill in gynaecology perhaps another relative would have been better placed to offer advice, ANY OTHER relative! I made some reassuring noises about my pleasure that she had spoken with her doctor then tucked into some turkey.
It’s flattering and tempting to meet the expectations of friends and family and be the font of all clinical knowledge. However, this is unrealistic with the countless specialisms within nursing and there are dangers in stepping outside of our scope of practice. It is also nice to have a break from work and not run informal clinics when you are trying to watch a Christmas movie. It is important to set our own personal and professional boundaries.
Conversations during the festive season can also focus on the doom and gloom of the health and social care system and the challenges facing the nursing profession. We can be more inclined to talk about our worse days, like when we have been short staffed or when we have had to support a drunken and abusive patient. These stories can garner sympathy and admiration and perhaps illuminate the challenges of our working lives. I like a good moan and people seem more interested in what’s wrong than what’s right. But do we spend as much time talking about the other aspects of nursing, the ones that made us choose this profession?
What has made you proud this year? What positive impact have you had on people’s lives? We will have supported people to be healthy, saved lives, minimised suffering, provided comfort when people most needed it, and met interesting people from all walks of life. This is also the reality of nursing, but do we tell these stories? We do have a responsibility to highlight where improvements are needed, but only focusing on the negatives of our work can make us feel less motivated and lower our mood. Life is about balance, which I shall be reminding myself of when tucking into the tin of Christmas chocolates!
I will be spending some time reflecting on 2025 over the festive season. I always am invigorated by a new year and am looking forward to meeting and working with you in 2026. Whatever you have planned I hope you manage to get some rest and recharge while connecting with friends and family.
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