Medical Training

While attending and celebrating the 30th American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA) annual conference with 500 nurses, we also acknowledged both the International Year of the Nurse and the Centennial of Florence Nightingale’s death.  The setting for this momentous occasion was in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which offered views of both flat land to the east and rugged mountains to the west.  This approprié location enhanced the messages from our keynote speakers, Jean Watson, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, FAAN and Janet Quinn, PhD, RN, FAAN as they increased our awareness of how far nurses have come since Nightingale’s influence on nursing.

This year with the coming together of nurses, whether they are a LVN, LPN or RN, we have the support to emerge forward in our profession.  Quinn displayed the stages of the butterfly metamorphosis to depict the stages of our nursing profession.  For years nursing programs, including LVN and LPN programs facilitate the transformation from nursing student to nurse.  Today the veteran-nurses, as well as the new-graduate nurses, are encouraged to transform from the struggle of a 100-year chrysalis stage to unite as emerging butterflies.  Janet used the analogy of butterflies to symbolize nurses, and gardens to symbolize hospitals that support the nurse.

Quinn suggests that instead of buying or transporting more nurses to fill nursing positions in hospitals, build healing habitats within a hospital, similar to building a garden to attract and sustain the life of butterflies.  This is an exciting time to be a nurse, and especially for those entering RN, LVN, or LPN schools to become a part of this year’s AHNA conference theme, “Re-Visioning Environment: Creating a Habitat for Healing.”For more information about the AHNA conference refer to www.ahna.org

The answer to this question is that both LVN / LPN schools and the state of California require boundaries.  According to Anne Katherine, M.A., author of Where To Draw The Line: How To Set Healthy Boundaries Every Day, “A boundary is a limit that promotes integrity.” One type of professional boundary-setting discussed in her book involves the use of dress and attire.

Have you ever wondered why a LVN or LPN program, such as Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts requires the students to wear professional uniforms?  Katherine says, “Our appearance and attire are the first signals we send to people.  By our attire we reveal who we are, [and] what we care about…” The next time you go to a health clinic notice how safe or unsafe you feel in response to the attire worn by members of the office staff.  If you find yourself wanting to run out the door, it might simply be your sensitivity to the nurse’s jewelry that looks like s/he fell into a fishing-tackle box, or the fashion-torn jeans.  There is nothing wrong with jewelry or fashionable clothing.  The key is to find a balance between personal expression and sending a message that relays “Don’t worry – I won’t hurt you.” As you become more aware of how appearance can either stimulate fear or foster reassurance, the nursing-career-focused attire can become a tool to support both therapeutic and professional relationship.