I
got
rhythm
February 10, 2022 --
An insight about nursing from when I was a student and thinking
deeply about it: What makes an expert nurse?
I remember distinctly a comment made by one of my clinical
instructors. She observed that I was having difficulty finding my
"rhythm".
Rhythm was a well-chosen word. When you're an expert, you
know without hesitation what is your top priority, what to do now,
what can wait, when something is a crisis and you must hurry, and
even more importantly when it's not yet a crisis but it could become
one. All these things are about time management.
Music, too, is all about time. Skilled musicians (for a few years in
a former career this was how I made my living, though having worked
with a few geniuses I wouldn't have rated myself above "competent")
always know where "one" (the first beat of every measure) is. Their
job, too, is about time. Finding that rhythm -- more a head thing
than a hand thing -- is about mastery, flow.
Exhortations from our professor to find out when meds are due but
not look them up until time permits -- get our head-to-toe done
first! -- help us develop time management instincts.
Perhaps a better word than instinct is reflex.
A reflex is an action taken as a result of a decision made at a
sub-cortical level. When you know something thoroughly, you do it
without having to think about it. You just know. That's where I
strive to get to.
I feel like it's a long way away yet, but at least I have a sense of
where I want to go. It will take years of practice to arrive at that
sense of confidence, of mastery. Someday I will have that rhythm.
Go nurses who've got rhythm!
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