In a review by Nes et al. (2021), they found that technological literacy in education has been lacking and recommends there be an increase in bringing about stronger competencies in digital literacy for both educators and educational institutions. In an age of click-bait and misinformation, our opinion gets muddled and taken as truth, and driving it home are digital echo chambers, as brought up in our forum 1 discussion. Echo chambers are found to exist in different forms of social media platforms and have been described to drive an entire group with similar opinions to more extreme positions (Cinelli et al., 2021). In the cases of Gab, Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter, echo chambers have been reflected to dominate online dynamics (Cinelli et al., 2021). It becomes increasingly important that as nursing professionals, we become digitally literate and understand our social responsibility in our digital practices associated to our digital identity, especially considering how easily our personal and professional lives can intersect.

This eBook by Cheryll Brown is available to read through and is relevant to this week’s Open Our Minds learning activity. It puts you in a “learning perspective” seat regarding digital literacy and encourages you to reflect on your digital footprints, how digital literacy has evolved over the years and stresses its importance in order to become a digital citizen, and prompts you to explore your digital identity. What I found resonated with me was the call to action - to become a digital citizen. As a nursing professional, there are socially responsible digital practices that I need to continue to be open about in learning and mindful about when I engage in digital practices in my personal, work, and learning (like in this forum discussion) life. It covers terms like positionality, critical digital literacies, and topics like being a digital participant online and how that maps along the “Visitor and Resident map” which can show your digital identity engagement (White, 2013). 

In regards to nursing professionalism on social media use, keeping your personal and professional online life separate becomes one way of upholding your profession and remaining accountable to the nursing profession and the public (INRC, 2016). 

References

Brown, C. (n.d.). Chapter 1: Introduction to digital literacy. In M. Schwartz (Eds.), Digital Citizenship Toolkit [eBook]. Ryerson University. https://pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca/digcit/chapter/chapter-1/

Cinelli, M., Morales, G.D.F., Galeazzi, A., Quattrociocchi, W., & Starnini, M. (2021). The echo chamber effect on social media. PNAS, 118(9): p. 1-8.

International Nurse Regulators Collaborative [INRC]. (2016, Dec). Social media use: Common expectations for nurses. https://www.cno.org/globalassets/docs/prac/incr-social-media-use-common-expectations-for-nurses.pdf

Nes, A.A.G., Steindal, S.A., Larsen, M.H., Heer, H.C., Laerum-Onsager, E., & Gjevjon, E.R. (2021). Technological literacy in nursing education: A scoping review. Journal of Professional Nursing, 37(2): p. 320-332.

White, D. (2013, Sept 13). Just the mapping. [Video] Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSK1Iw1XtwQ

Our hands are used constantly in our daily lives. In nursing, we use it to mix a patient's medication, to reposition a sedated and paralyzed patient, to suction down an ETT to relieve SOB, to wipe clean eyes, to help a patient stand up from bed to chair, and to hold a hand when it's needed. My hands are a means to communicate action, intervention, and support. My hands is here to advocate and fight for inequality and uphold social justice. My hands are here. 

Nursing is an engagement between the nurse, nursed and their environment at that point in time, whether it be at the hospital setting or in the community, there is a synchronicity that allows meaningful connection that transcends our current reality (Lim-Saco, Kilat, & Locsin, 2018). The nurse and nursed is actively involved in creating, building, and maintaining the therapeutic relationship in order to fulfill the commitment to contribute to the overall wellbeing of the person (Lim-Saco et al., 2018). This active participation and recognition allows for a dynamic transformation in “real time” and contributes to the overall wellbeing of the persons and transcends the HST (Lim-Saco et al., 2018). The nursing process in engaging with the person’s being then allows the nurse to be dynamically present with the nursed in a technological environment, like ICU, “honours the self and others, sustains human dignity, preserves humanity and upholds human caring through the synchronous symphony of the caring elements” (Lim-Saco et al., 2018, p. 9). 

References

Lim-Saco, F., Kilat, C.M., & Locsin, R. (2018). Synchronicity in human-space-time: A theory of nursing engagement in a global community. International Journal for Human Caring, 22(1): p.1-10.

[This is a critical reflection discussion post that I shared on my NURS608 Philosophy and Critical Foundations in Nursing course recently. It is a moment that I experience early in my nursing journey and one that I have often looked back on. I hope this entry provides a look into the kind of nurse and person I want to be for those who are under my care.]

I was placed in a Nursing Home during the Fall semester of my 4th year. I was assigned an elderly female resident with a history of dementia and tasked with handling her ADLs and nursing care under my preceptor’s guidance and supervision. Staff had told me that she had one son but that no one visited her. While I was taking care of her in her room, I saw that her bulletin board only had one card and it was a birthday card from the nursing home staff. I felt overwhelmed with emotion and had to step out of her room to cry. I imagined my parents or grandparents and how they’d feel. I felt loneliness and sadness overcome me. I knew at that moment when I cried that my emotions can compromise patient safety and asked my preceptor if she can take over the resident’s care so I can be excused for a moment.

I value patient safety and I felt that crying brought me to an emotional place that compromised my judgement and therefore the decisions I make. This would have placed the safety of my patient at risk. I realized that there was another side to empathy, like a double-sided mirror as described by Kesbakhi & Rohani (2019). Although there is the benefit effects of psychological satisfaction, it can cause negative effects like burnout, fatigue, and anxiety (Kesbakhi & Rohani, 2019). It became important for me to safeguard my emotional wellbeing not only for my patient’s safety but also for my own. Compassion fatigue or burnout is a common issue in nursing and that the ability to self-regulate emotions during empathic interactions can decrease the risk of burnout (Hunt, Denieffe, & Gooney, 2017). Being able to self-regulate during empathic interactions is personal and is still something I try to be mindful about. 

This experience certainly didn’t deter me from bringing empathy and compassion into my practice - in fact, it guides my practice. I continue to connect with the patients and family that are in my care while trying to keep a healthy and professional distance. I naturally am empathetic towards the vulnerable and have learned that empathy bridges the gap between medicine and humanity because it adds an element of unconditional and excellent care that upholds the respect and dignity of a person.

References

Hunt, P.A., Denieffe, S., & Gooney, M. (2017) Burnout and its relationship to empathy in nursing: a review of the literature. J Res Nurs 22(1-2), 7–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744987116678902 

Kasbakhi, M.S., & Rohani, C. (2020). Exploring oncology nurses’ perception of the consequences of clinical empathy in patients and nurses: a qualitative study. Support Care Cancer 28(6): 2985-2993. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-019-05118-z