It has been a little over two years since retiring from nursing. Do you miss it, some ask?
Yes, I miss the comraderie, I miss my patients but I do not miss the politics of it all.
I do not miss the long hours and the short and sometimes non-existent breaks in the day,
but I do miss precepting the new nursing students and I miss all my friends at the hospital.

The technology is rapidly changing and nurses are adapting to those changes in the midst of providing care to their patients,
and I know from talking with you that the changes in technology have both positive and negative effects.
Hopefully with time, the kinks will be worked out.

Before retiring, I told the student nurses that I precepted that the changes they would see in their careers as a result of technology would be phenomenal
and I think we are already seeing that with computerized charting as well as tele-medicine.

Sadly some of the diseases that we thought were virtually irradicated are now back in the news. Just this morning I read about polio being again on the rise.
And now we must contend with the "super bugs" that are resistant to antibiotics... organisms we had never heard of years ago.

As I prepare to have surgery done tomorrow, my first contact this morning was with a nurse I had worked with prior to retiring.
I immediately recognized Kathy's voice on the phone as she introduced herself and was calling to get admission information.
At first she did not realize who she was calling as my records are listed under my first name of "Linda", but I have gone by my middle name of Fay for most of my life.
Kathy was one of the many excellent nurses I worked with through the years... conscientious, caring and very upbeat, and it was so good to hear her voice and talk with her.

So tomorrow, I am sure a nurse... or several nurses will touch my life as I touched my patients' lives in years past.
I look to them for their expertise and their comforting ways.
I put my trust in their hands and am thankful they are there in my time of need.

To all the nurses out there, I wish you a Happy Nurses' Week 2014.
You are very much appreciated for what you do and I cannot say enough good things about those of you who have chosen nursing as a profession.