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Nurses' Week activities to be held May 6-12 Sunday, May 6 Post and Courier Sunday Paper  Dedicated to Nursing—Special Section  Nurse essays “Focusing on Outcomes” Video and popcorn 9 to 9:30 p.m. 2West Classroom Monday, May 7  Nurses Week Awards Ceremony and Proclamation 9:30 to 11:15 a.m. Speaker: Dr. Gail Stuart Unit and Divisional RN Award Winners Basic Science Building Auditorium Noon “Reducing Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality  in Diabetes” Partnerships Grand Rounds Presenter: Dr. John A. Colwell Host: American Diabetes Association Room 809 Storm Eye Institute. RSVP: 792-2409 CME credit available 9:30 to 10 p.m. “Healthcare Humor” Video and popcorn 2West Classroom Tuesday, May 8 Financial Investing 101 10 to 11 a.m. Host: American Express—Frank McGuire Room 419, Clinical Sciences Building 1 to 2 p.m. Nursing Unit and Divisional Award Winners  Announcement. Communications meeting. 2 West Amphitheater 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. “Delegating Dilemmas” Video and popcorn 2 West Classroom “Professional Recognition Program” 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Clinical Services, Institute of Psychiatry, CMH and Ambulatory Care Services Room 809, Storm Eye Institute 8 to 9 p.m. “Financial Investing 101”  Host: American Express—Frank McGuire 2West Classroom Thursday, May 10 “Motion to Promotion” 9:30 to 10 a.m. Presentation by MUSC College of Nursing outlining the variety of degree programs. Speaker: Stephanie Auwaerter Room 419, Clinical Sciences Building 10 to 10:30 a.m.  “So You Want to Be A CNL (Clinical Nurse Leader)?” Speaker: Pat McConnell/Carol Dobos Room 419, Clinical Sciences Building 12 to 1 p.m. Videos: “Focusing on Outcomes” and  “Delegating Dilemmas” Bring your own bag lunch.  Room 419, Clinical Sciences Building 9 to 9:30 p.m. “Motion to Promotion” Presentation by MUSC College of Nursing outlining the variety of degree programs. Speaker: Stephanie Auwaerter 2 West Classroom 9:30 to 10 p.m.  “So You Want to Be A CNL?” Speaker: Pat McConnell/Carol Dobos 2 West Classroom Friday, May 11 “Caring For Each Other” 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Speaker: Jane Assey 2 West Amphitheater Partnership Luncheons and Dinners Patient care units and departments are encouraged to share a pot luck meal with co-workers today. 7:05 p.m. Charleston RiverDogs Baseball Games Celebrates Nurses. All nurses are invited to show their MUSC, UMA or CMH ID badge at the gate and get in free. Joseph Riley Field, Lockwood Drive 9:30 to 10 p.m. “Healthcare Humor” Video and popcorn 2West Classroom Saturday, May 12 “Delegating Dilemmas” Video and popcorn 12 to 12:30 p.m. 2 West Classroom 5:30 to 6 p.m. “Focusing on Outcomes” Video and popcorn 2 West Classroom   Care for a patient can bring healing to a nurse Carmen—a story of faith, love and learning Lucinda Magwood, RN MUSC Burn Center The nursing management of burn patients requires utilization of the nursing process, development of critical thinking skills, and knowing that one's professional growth and knowledge is enhanced upon recognizing the importance of the multidisciplinary approach to burn care. The collaborative effort of the nurse in identifying immediate treatment needs when interacting with the physician is crucial, in addition to effectively utilizing the clinical resources available.  Meeting the psychosocial needs of the burn patient can be very demanding and stressful for both the patients and their families, as well as the staff.  Familial issues unique to the burn patient makes one more aware of the need to establish collaborative relationships to improve the care delivered to our burn patients. While interacting and providing nursing care, latent anticipatory fears and anxieties are revealed throughout the various phases of management of the burn patient which are the emergent, acute, and rehabilitation phases. The nurse must be considerate of the patient’s rights, beliefs, and values. While caring for Carmen (alias), I found several issues that needed to be handled with profound compassion and empathy, which meant that I too, needed to be cognizant of not imposing my beliefs and values on my patient or her family while rendering care. Carmen was a 22-year-old Spanish-American female who had sustained second and third degree burns to approximately 85 percent of her body.  Her burns were a combination of partial-thickness and full-thickness burns with a severe inhalation injury, which required her to be on life-support equipment. The injuries were a result of her stepfather dousing her with gasoline and setting her aflame. She was initially hospitalized at a Burn Center in another southern state but because of the severity and intensity of the burn injury she was transferred to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Burn Center.  Carmen arrived unstable at MUSC by MEDUCARE Lear jet transport. She was receiving resuscitative life saving treatment including intubation, fluids, pain medication and the administration of blood products. However, as I spoke to the family upon her arrival a primary issue of concern for Carmen's mother was the fact that her daughter was a Jehovah’s Witness. One of Carmen's religious beliefs was that regardless of her physical need, she did not want to receive any blood transfusions.  Reluctant to continue to administer the blood after learning of Carmen’s belief, I contacted our nurse manager and the medical director. The medical director and I spent an extended period of time with Carmen's mother. He explained and discussed treatment options with her and most importantly that Carmen needed the blood because of her critical status and the reality of death.  Carmen's mother agreed with the medical treatments and need for blood but requested that we make a special effort to circumvent Carmen's awareness of the transfusions by covering the blood product and keeping it out of sight.  The knowledge of Carmen’s belief presented some personal conflict and challenge to respect her belief system, to understand her medical need, and to provide care while not infringing on her rights. I felt very burdened by the situation! Having a strong personal belief in God, I wouldn't want my belief system disrespected or infringed upon. I considered that Carmen apparently had a strong belief in Jehovah, and just as I believed that God would take care of me, Carmen believed that Jehovah would take care of her. I wanted to save Carmen’s life!  I thought about the pain and anguish her mother was suffering because of her injuries, and her decision to allow the blood to be given. No greater love is the love of a mother for her child. Together Carmen’s mother and I prayed, and it was at this point that I suggested that Carmen be told about the blood transfusions.  Reluctantly, her mother told her, and although Carmen was on life-support equipment, she was alert and shook her head no, indicating that she didn’t want to receive the blood! Her mother became very upset, and I stepped in to remind Carmen of her faith in Jehovah and of her mother's love and fears, as well as her mother's concern for her religious beliefs.  Almost instantly she relaxed and consented. Together we prayed. I now felt at peace in rendering nursing care. I had assured respect for her rights and beliefs.  Pain was another issue for Carmen. One unique resource that I learned of when performing wound care is the psychiatric liaison nurse for the Burn Center, Ramita Bonnadonna. I requested a consult for my patient from Ramita. She was immediately available and became a key partner in the care of my patient.  The effectiveness of therapeutic touch and imagery in conjunction with pain medication during dressing change is very beneficial for the patient as it makes the dressing change go very smoothly.  Also the therapeutic relationship that develops between the patient and the psychiatric liaison nurse helps to develop trust.  Carmen’s wound care was very painful for her and Carmen agreed and consented with a nod of her head for this intervention. Throughout her therapy, Ramita was a calming presence during dressing changes using  imagery and therapeutic touch to relax and enable Carmen to tolerate the dressing changes.  The therapeutic relationship that evolved was both rewarding for not only Carmen and her mother but for me as well. Carmen's mother also voiced latent psychosocial fears and anxieties about scarring. Her mother showed a picture of Carmen to me. Carmen was very beautiful. Her mother voiced that she couldn’t understand why her husband would harm Carmen when he loved Carmen so much. As Carmen's mother cried, I lovingly gave her a therapeutic hug, and encouraged her to meet with the psychiatric liaison nurse. Ramita was a compassionate caregiver for my patient and her family. Sadly, Carmen succumbed to her injuries a few weeks later.  The special relationship I shared with Carmen continues to be evident in my nursing career. She taught me the value of interdisciplinary partners to provide the most optimal care for my patients. It has been approximately ten years since her death. Her memory and her story of this unexplainable domestic abuse continues to live in my heart and my daily work.  Because of my education from Carmen, I have now incorporated burn injuries that occur as a result of domestic abuse and violence into the MUSC Burn Outreach Program. The significance and impact burn injuries have on the victim and society can be devastating. But, as a burn nurse I have the resources available to me and my patients that support my continued dedication to nursing practice.  Often I am amused at the anecdote, “Burn nurses are a special breed,” but it is the burn patients who help us to be the best nurses we can be!   Of death, life and an ICU nurse's renewal Cameron Evers, MSN, RN Continuum of Care Manager Division of Outcomes Management, Research and Development  Several years ago I came to a crisis in my professional life. When I looked at my future, I could not imagine continuing 20 more years of rotating 12 hour shifts in a very hectic, busy intensive care unit. The work had become common place and routine. I took a colleague's advice. I cut my hours back and joined the pool of nurses who floated throughout the hospital. One day, I was assigned to care for a young man who had suffered a traumatic head injury and had been declared brain dead. The organ transplant team members were trying to locate family, hoping this man's death could help someone through organ donation.  As usual, I did all the routine nursing things for the patient. I bathed and turned, watched the heart monitor and administered intravenous medications. A few hours after beginning my shift the family had been found and the young man was prepared for organ donation.  The charge nurse called me to the phone and told me the young man’s mother wanted to talk to me. I listened to this mother, crying 700 miles away, tell me about her son. He'd run away from home and she had not seen him in 18 months. This was the first news she’d had of him since then. He was 18 years old. Time was critical. There was no way she would be able to tell him goodbye before he was taken to the operating room. She asked me to do it for her. She asked me to please sit with him and hold his hand. She told me she didn’t want him to be alone. I reassured her and told her I'd call when it was over. When I went back into his room, he was no longer the patient in room 7. He was a young man with a life that was soon going to be over. True to my word I held his hand and told him his mother loved him. I smoothed his brow and combed his hair. I walked with him to the operating room and made that call to his mother. At home, I couldn't stop thinking about the young boy and his mother. Two days later, the supervisor asked me to work an extra shift in the cardiovascular intensive care unit. I walked into my patient’s room. He’d had a heart transplant two days previously. The first thing he said to me was, “I am so blessed.  I was dying and now I can breathe again. I wish I could thank the person who did this for me. I wish I’d known him.” Instead of looking at monitors and equipment, I pulled up a chair. “Tell me about it,” I said. A few months later I enrolled in graduate school for an advanced nursing degree. Through a re-connection with patients who were people I got a shot of enthusiasm for the profession which cares.