Today, a little longer entry, where I read a letter I received from my local nursing chapter of a well known professional nursing organization. The names will be blocked/changed, but the essence will be unaltered. It's just a glimpse into the world of, "The Underside of Nursing".

Igor, Editor Sept. 22, 1993
The Underside of Nursing
PO Box 371
Paradise, Ca 95969

Dear Igor:

I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors for the Sacramento Area Chapter of the _WXYZ Critical-Care Nurses.

We have been on your mailing list for The Underside of Nursing for some time now. Discussion of your publication has been addressed at numerous meetings. As nurses, we feel that humor is an important part of life as well as healing. However, the mien of the humor in your publication is uncomplimentary to nursing, personally as well as professionally; unsavory toward the patients for whom we care; and fetid toward healthcare in general.

While we do not in any way wish to infringe on your right to free speech, we do not wish to support your humor, even passively. Therefore, we are hereby serving notice of our demand to have our address removed from your mailing list.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Broomhilda , RN, XXXX
President Emeritus - wxyz organization.
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What the heck, they were getting a free subscription! I guess they wanted to make a "public" announcement, that our points of view were somewhat opposed.
Here is my editorial response:

9-29-93
To the President Emeritus, of the Local Chapter of wxyz.

Broomhilda,

Thank you for your letter. I will indeed remove you from my mailing list. However, I wonder why you are unable to understand that I am clearly a staunch patient advocate and definitely, a nursing advocate as well.

As a wxyz member and wxyz card holder, I recognize the need for professional attitude, research, etc., and "professional" humor too. I have read a number of other healthcare humor publications and they read like the "Readers Digest". Pleasant humor that barely touches the real pain that nurses and their patients are subjected to. I am just trying to fill those "grey areas" where few dare tread.

Sure, I sometimes display a "fetid" outlook on healthcare. I do when I see medicine intervening in peoples' lives when they clearly don't need treatment, when the discussion of life-threatening risks are minimized, when family members care less about their loved one than we do. I go home and cry, just like you would, when my acute MI patient in the process of an evolving septal injury has unrelieved crushing chest pain for 12 hours, and the attending physician won't come to the bedside at four in the morning to evaluate this patient. This is not something to be lightly humorous about. Nor is my suffering likely to be relieved by reading some research about doctor/nurse communication!

Broomhilda, I write about real life. It isn't always nice, courteous or professional. I write for nurses who daily must undergo incredible risks to their own health, in terms of exposure to deadly diseases, high level unrelenting work related stress, unexpected death and long term painful suffering of the patients they care for. I am sure it would be great to do critical stress debriefing every day, but that isn't practical. I am just doing my part.

Igor, Editor
The Underside of Nursing
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There you have it dear reader, the way things were back in 1993; before the age of the blog.

Fibril_late; 9/93