Hitting a Wall with No Head Injury

Semester Saturday can with a lot of information about finding rhythm instead of balance in life. The phrase, "You can have it all, " means nothing, especially if you work in healthcare or access healthcare. If you incorporate, Todd Henry's philosophy, one could argue a healthcare system with the right rhythm could thrive. A hospital system or leader in a hospital system can't simply have balance, a daily rhythm of give and take must be part of the culture. For example, the emergency department operates on the philosophy of rhythm: treat the most life threatening (the most energy or time) first, then create a rhythm to care for patients accordingly. People, like time can't be evenly balanced as some patients require more energy than others, especially in the hospital. Healthcare systems often define balance as the important milestone to define success, however balancing a system will only stifle creative energy. As with the emergency department, some projects will take more energy and time, than other projects creating a system of rhythm of inputs and outputs, without expending energy of just balancing.

My personal rhythm was tested at the beginning of this year, I hit a wall and I cease to exist as a student. I was working very hard to climb out of the rabbit whole I found myself in, not knowing if I would graduate this year. I found a scholarly project to improve pain assessment and management for a floor in a community hospital. Working with nursing staff and empowering them, is truly the heart of nursing leadership. The quality improvement project is longitudinal project to help change the culture on assessment, communication, and management of pain for hospitalized patients.

I do find celebration in my scholarly work with the nursing staff. The in-services have been engaging and filled with nurses truly wanting to provide better patient care.

Other information I obtained at Semester Saturday centered around writing a great abstract to submit for conferences. I received important knowledge regarding writing

and presenting scholarly work. I look forward to sharing my DNP project through professional conferences.

DNP Essentials II, III, IV, VI.