What nurses can teach us | Christie Watson | TEDxVienna

Nursing cannot cure us, our human condition, this messy magic of being human. But here’s the thing, nursing doesn’t seek to cure. Nurses can remind us who we are, or who we are meant to be. It is nurses who can save us. Christie Watson is a writer and Professor of Medical and Health Humanities. She is Patron of the Royal College of Nursing Foundation. Her book Tiny Sunbirds Far Away won the Costa First Novel Award and along with her second novel, Where Women Are Kings, was widely translated and achieved international critical acclaim. The Language of Kindness, published in 2018, was a number one Sunday Times bestseller and Book of the Year in the Evening Standard, Guardian, New Statesman, the Sunday Times and The Times. It has been translated

[KiwikimNZ]

I am a nurse of 25 years. I am tired. I have given my whole life, but those “Betty” moments are the moments that keep you going. It is so sad that nurses are now the enemy in societies eyes, it makes you want to give up, but I will always put my hand up no matter how tired I am.

[slooftaroof]

I am an ICU nurse that has definitely experienced compassion fatigue and burnout in the past, hearing this TED talk brought me to tears in reminding me why we do what we do and how integral compassion is in the fabric of society

[kateguillemette]

I am a LPN student who heard this for the first time today in class. I have rewatched it 6 times since. I have never agreed with words being said more than these. What a gift it is to be able to live a life of compassion.

[DO.Dr.JM]

Nurses are often overlooked as one of the greatest resources in the healthcare world. I am a current 2nd year medical student preparing to enter into my clinical rotations this summer. In the world have healthcare and ethics one of the key principles is Justice. This justice often refers only to the patients’ health and their degree of care, whether the actions being taken on behalf of the patient are legal and ethically sound. Justice works in harmony with the other 3 pillars of ethics in healthcare, autonomy, beneficence, and non-maleficence. Together these four pillars provide safety for those individuals who are exposed to the healthcare system and protects their rights to the treatment they deem best for themselves. However, I think the emotion with which Christie presents her Ted talk shows the need for these same principles to be applied to the front-line workers in the healthcare system. Nurses are often taken advantage of by being forced to work short staffed, working overtime, cutting their budget, requiring more of them, and giving them less resources, etc.… I think if we expect nurses to treat our patients with beneficence and non-maleficence, then we need those who are in charge of hospitals and clinical settings to treat their nurses and other workers the same way. Like Christie said, when people look back on this time, they are going to look back on the compassion that was demonstrated, and hopefully we can see compassion given not only to those sick patients but compassion given to those who are giving of their time and energy to heal the sick by working long hours, short staffed, with limited resources. Thanks, Christie, for sharing this message hopefully with your selfless presentation on compassion others will return the favor and show greater compassion to those working on the front lines of healthcare whether we are in a pandemic or not.

[immigrantamericannurse]

Thank you so much, Christie, for sharing and for bringing to light our duty to save lives. I am a nurse, BSN RN. I saw so much during covid, and my heart felt so betrayed. I could not believe that our patients were dead and stored in RVS on my hospital parking lot because the morgues were too full.

[HassanAliNursing]

I'm first year nursing student.. I'm proud to be nurse❤️

[blueprairiedog]

I've been an RN for 42 years. I can't return to the hospital because there's no value placed on listening, comforting and supporting people. There's no time for anything that doesn't have a billing code, yet that's where much of healing occurs.

[nursienice]

Thank you for this!! I'm so weary, as a nurse! I needed this desperately.

[marimelsid]

inspiste our society not appreciate us but being a nurse is the best choice that I had ever taken, I proud to be a nurse 💙.

[knittylane]

Aha! There’s a phrase for why I retired early: compassion fatigue. I was both of my parents 24/7 home hospice nurse before their deaths at home. When I returned to my bedside nursing job on my cardiac unit, which I had loved, I just didn’t care anymore. I felt empty. Like I had nothing left. Not wanting to give my patients less than they deserved I retired. Now I know I wasn’t just selfish for not wanting to work anymore. Thank you for the TEDX talk!!

[lucymacnamara]

Wow, so thought provoking, emotive and yet it’s all so simple. Amazingly eloquent and beautifully said, Christie 💕

[hettiebester]

Thank you so much for this message. Im in the nursing profession now for 40 years, mostly in critical care. Yes, I'm tired, physically, mentally and emotionally. Working trough extreme suffering during the pandemic, I wanted to throw in the towel. But there is still so much suffering out there. And after hearing this message, I will still go out and make a difference.

[djeyoys]

Thanks for your working and thanks a lot for all nurses in the world

[johanneberube]

Hi! You are very intelligent and good-hearted. I wish everybody would listen to your message... Thank you 💖🌹

[bralinx.official]

Its really beautifully and emotionally said. Great thanks Watson, you really representing our feeling as nurses.

[dianacaporiccio]

Beautifully said! Its the "Betty's" that keep us going in our demanding line of work.

[aneetarose]

Dear Ma'am Christie I seen seen your vedio today.Its amazing and wonderfully said.Thank you for such a beautiful speach.God bless

[okekeanyanna]

This is beautiful, it offers a great deal of encouragement, strength, endurance in this tough call.

[nadiahassan]

Thank you for inspiring and excellent speech 💬 👏

[amboumndum]

Am so touch about the move you took to see into your dream